Surfing, Skateboarding, Music, Photography, Travel, Culture and general antics of the youth on the run.

Ben Nordberg and Curren Caples, Venice, California Collected Thoughts 033

Ben Nordberg and Curren Caples in Venice photographed by Scott Chenoweth What Youth
01.16.13 – TAGS: ,

PHOTO: Chenoweth

Ben Nordberg is a 23-year-old professional skater from Bath, England and Curren Caples is a 17-year old professional shred-on-everything-he-rides from Ventura, California. This odd couple find themselves sharing four walls in Hollywood (actually Curren has only stayed at their apartment for three nights in almost four months, but still, roomies!). They’re Flip Skateboard teammates and spend their days doing rad shit like surf and skate. Curren told us Ben is skating’s style equivalent to Craig Anderson. See for yourself by hitting play on Ben’s super sick Flip video part that he recently released and you’ll quickly see why Curren says that.

The waves were flat across most of California yesterday and the wind was arctic and howling, so instead of hunt for waves that didn’t exist, we called Ben and decided to follow him around for a day. We saw lots of Los Angeles. Got coffees. Toured their place, which happens to be right in the shadow of Hollywood High and The Roosevelt Hotel. Went to an Irish pub. Ate mac and cheese. And did a few snake runs at the always eclectic and packed Venice Beach skate park.

We’ll be releasing a short film from our day with Ben very soon. And then, we will all have a new friend.

what youth collected thoughts nate lawrence indonesia

“Lucky Enough to be in the right place at the right time.” Collected Thoughts 099

If Nate Lawrence’s lens could talk…..Indonesia.   

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Be Like Mason Ho Collected Thoughts 098

“Why can’t everyone just be a little bit more like Mason Ho?” —Nate Lawrence

what youth surfing collected thoughts nate lawrence raph bruhwiler

Raph Bruhwiler, Canada 2011 Collected Thoughts 097

“Raph is amazing. Canada is amazing. This wave is amazing.  And drinking Iceburgs at Shelter is amazing” —Nate Lawrence

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Mikey Wright, Pipeline 2014 Collected Thoughts 096

“In 2014 I only knew Mikey Wright as Owen’s little brother. Even though he was doing stuff like you see in this photo pretty consistently. Now Mikey is his own brand. He’s not Owen’s little brother anymore. The surfing he is doing is unique. It’s fresh. And pretty soon we could be referring to Owen…

what youth jordy smith surfing in indonesia

Jordy Smith, Indonesia, 2013 Collected Thoughts 095

“Jordy Smith, Indonesia 2013. Everything about this photo makes me want to pack up a bag and get back to this wave. I just hope there’s still no one out.” —Nate Lawrence

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Kai Neville, Indonesia Collected Thoughts 094

“Kai Neville, Indonesia. The winds are light. The swell is picking up. The tank is full. It’s looking like a good time to be in Indonesia.” —Nate Lawrence

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Kelia Moniz, Laura Enever and Monyca Eleogram Collected Thoughts 093

“Kelia Moniz, Laura Enever and Monyca Eleogram. Sunset Elementary. I shot this photo on the basketball courts on the North Shore of Hawaii back in 2012. Each has a different style on land and in the water. But all of the them seem to have fun no matter what they are doing.” —Nate Lawrence

What Youth Craig Anderson

Craig Anderson: “Cameo Mod” in Uluwatu April 2010 Collected Thoughts 092

“April, 2010. Craig had just debuted to the world for the first time in Modern Collective. He blew minds with his backside rotations in shark waters as the “Cameo Mod.” But we still had no idea who Craig was. Chas Smith and I hung with Craig for 2 weeks in Oz a few months after the…

what youth jordy smith surfing

Earth to Jordy…We want more of this. Collected Thoughts 091

Jordy, where’d you go? We wanna see more of this this year. Find good waves. Book those last minute flights. Get back at it. With the boys. Love, What Youth

what youth santa cruz nate lawrence collected thoughts

Santa Cruz, localism, kooks and me. Collected Thoughts 090

I recently made a mistake. I took a photo at a spot in Santa Cruz and posted it on our WY Instagram account. I didn’t name the spot, but I did say it was a wave that rarely breaks in Santa Cruz. And the photo tells exactly where the wave is. Then came the comments……

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Taj Burrow always rules Collected Thoughts 089

Taj just released a rad little video online. It has waves in it that remind me of why I fell in love with Taj’s surfing. I can remember being a teenager and watching Sabotaj on VHS with my buddies. None of us had ever been to Australia. We had never even left Santa Cruz really….

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Flash with Nate Tyler in Santa Cruz Collected Thoughts 088

With all the gimmicks and stunts that have gone down this year it makes me think back to the early 2000’s in Santa Cruz. It was the epicenter of smoke and mirror surfing. We’d either go pull into closeout barrels or use jet skis to whip into 2 foot waves with many of the guys…

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