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

Nate Lawrence nearly robbed To get you this Collected Thought Number 107 lineup shot

what youth nate lawrence collected thoughts indonesia

I nearly got robbed trying to get a lineup shot.

I probably deserved it though. After all, I am exposing surf spots. And taking photos of a wave and making it look prettier than it is. The wind? It was onshore. The crowd? It was packed. But that’s the thing with us sketchy photographers, it’s all an illusion. A way for us to get paid to, well, surf. But let’s get back to the real story. The near robbery. Cause that’s why you’re still reading this.

Me and a few buddies went on a surf trip. Not to this crowded onshore wave you see in this photo. But to a beautiful offshore bay with no one around. Where’s the photos? C’mon, I’m not that stupid. So we surfed three times a day and after the second day we couldn’t paddle anymore so I decided to go and try and get my surf trip paid for. Take a few lineups and tell my boss (hey Travis!) that I was busy shooting this swell. The photo would look that good that he wouldn’t really notice the attached invoice for the rental car, hotel and gin and tonics.

We left in the evening on a Saturday night to drive to Desert Point (oops). A rental car guy from my last trip had warned me not to drive to this area at night. He didn’t even want to rent me the car once he heard where I was going. So I was telling this story to James and Scotty who were in the car with me. Not 10 minutes later I see a parked motorbike in the middle of the road. Then I see a person walking out trying to block the side of the road I was driving on. Already being warned about this area, I had planned in my mind what I was going to do if someone tried to block the road. So I sped up and drove directly at him.

My brights were on and as we got closer he started reaching around to his back with both hands like he was pulling a gun or knife out of his back pocket.

I sped up even more and at the last moment I swerved the car off the road and went around him. All of us ducked as we went by him as we thought there might be a bullet fired at the car.

I continued to drive super fast, not sure if he would follow on his motorbike. All of our hearts were beating fast. Was he behind us? Did he actually have a gun? 10 minutes later we reach our hotel and explained to the staff what just happened. They told us to hit him with the car next time.

I looked at them with confusion, then I looked at James…All this for an average lineup shot? —Nate Lawrence

Greyson Fletcher riley blakeway team average waht youth

Greyson Fletcher and Riley Blakeway at the premiere of Team Average 2.0 Collected Thoughts 063

Last night we went out in LA to support our good friend Riley Blakeway and magazine buddies Monster Children for the premiere of their Team Average project: A trip featuring surfers and skaters shredding together across a foreign land. This time it was New Zealand with Chippa Wilson, Dylan Rieder, Greyson Fletcher, Alex Grey, Jack…

Craig anderson collected thought what youth

Craig Anderson and Kai Neville plan the future Collected Thoughts 062

Road trips are like tidal waves, the stories drift like the soundtrack. It was maybe around Wollongong zone on a recent road trip south where Craig and I started talking about the future. Jobs after surfing and hopefully a dreamy retirement. No hucking yourself into the flats on howling onshore wedges — just the old…

Pipeline hawaii what youth

Beyond the Pipe Cam Collected Thoughts 061

There’s a lot of mud on the backroads and wind on the water. But it’s Hawaii and it’s really good to be here. The North Shore sweats counterculture and bleeds secrets. Secrets about brave, intense people who appreciate respect, a firm handshake and shoeless feet indoors. It’s been a pleasure spending our first day reacquainting…

Christian Fletcher in bali 2013

Christian Fletcher, Bali 2013 Collected Thoughts 060

Hunter S. Thompson claimed: “There is no honest way to explain [the edge] because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.” And while we certainly know that’s true, we seem to have found someone who’s managed to straddle it longer than anyone, refusing to fall off…

Pontas Al polar skateboard company what youth arto saari the copenhagen project

Deadline Update Collected Thoughts 059

OK, we’re not as fucked as before. But when you make a lot of rad shit, this sort of thing happens. And someone famous once said, miss a deadline or blow the budget no one remembers. Do shit work, they remember forever. Something like that. Anyway, we’re very hard at work on Issue 6, The…

Creed McTaggart surfing in panama what youth

Creed McTaggard in Panama Collected Thoughts 058

“I could picture myself just going there and hiding out for like 4 months and losing myself — just getting super spiritual and surfing.” —Creed McTaggart There wasn’t a lot of hoopla and planning that went into this trip, just a couple quick plane rides, a bumpy van trip down a dirt road and then…

Noa Deane South Africa what youth

A dispatch on airwind from C.S. Louis in South Africa Collected Thoughts 057

Editor’s note: For those of you familiar with our printed books, you may recognize the name C.S. Louis from a variety of pieces he’s written in them. He’s long-winded and a literary and literal contradiction. But he keeps us on our toes and always shoots us straight. He ran into Brendon Gibbens and Noa Deane…

Noa Deane and brendon gibbens in south africa what youth

South African corner pocket Collected Thoughts 056

Brendon Gibbens and Noa Deane are on the run. Bali to Oz to Indo again and now they’re hunting ramps in South Africa, Brendon’s hometown. Apparently they’ve stumbled upon some ridiculous cross shore winds and some crazy back beach setups like this one. They’re both filming for an upcoming project that we’ll fill you in…

Dolan Stearns what youth skateboarding

Dolan Stearns tre flip, Lake Henshaw Dam Collected Thoughts 055

“I was nervous for sure — but more nervous-excited just to skate the spot.” Dolan Stearns recently stomped this tre flip at the Lake Henshaw dam. It’s an ad in Thrasher. It’s a famous spot (Geoff Rowley backside 3’s into it in Extremely Sorry), and you’re definitely not supposed to be there — let alone…

what youth in spain

Bullshit rodeo in Spain durring filming for This Is Us: France Collected Thoughts 054

As Dane Reynolds pointed out to us yesterday on Instagram, there is a new film coming out called, “This is Us.” It is about the boy band One Directions and the trailer has 11 million views — so it would appear they’re doing quite well. Psyched for them. Funny, the concept isn’t much different than…

what youth issue 6

What Youth Issue 6 is finished Collected Thoughts 053

Someone was looking out for us this week. A two week long flat spell has plagued southern California — and we hardly noticed. We’ve been locked in the What Youth laboratory, staying fit on the mini ramp, icing our brand new Merricks, just waiting for this day, today, when the printer man walks into the…

Dion Agius what youth surfing

Fortunate cookies durring a wild deadline week Collected Thoughts 052

Dion Agius literally walked the hard drive from the editing bay out into the parking lot Friday night to play Nti Sheeto for the first time in front of well-over 300 people at our HQ. We warmed up the crowd with a classic screening of Ozzie Wright’s 156 Tricks and then hit play and rocked…

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