Shane O’Neill has been on a surf trip before…sorta. “I went to Malaysia with Julian Wilson once,” he told us the other day at Arto Saari’s house. And for those who don’t know him, he’s considered to be one of the most technical street skaters in the world and recently competed against Paul Rodriguez in the final four of The Battle at the Berrics. “Julian surfed the wave pool there and I did a street demo.”
Shane is from Melbourne, Australia and now lives in LA. And he will be attending a very interesting trip with us this summer so we figured we should introduce you — we’ll have more on that trip later this week. One thing Shane did validate for us though is just how lucky we are to go on surf trips.
“Most surf trips seem to be in Fiji, with hot chicks everywhere…skate trips are usually sweaty and in some random town. Not that sexy.”
Check back later this week for more on what’s sure to be the wildest journey ever for What Youth…
Shane O’Neill at Arto Saari’s house Collected Thoughts 042
Warren Smith describes what happens when Dion Agius is the boss Collected Thoughts 043
“Lucky Enough to be in the right place at the right time.” Collected Thoughts 099
If Nate Lawrence’s lens could talk…..Indonesia.
Be Like Mason Ho Collected Thoughts 098
“Why can’t everyone just be a little bit more like Mason Ho?” —Nate Lawrence
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
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…
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
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
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
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…
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
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……
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….
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…