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

Who’s that British madman? Collected Thoughts 135: The first time Nate Lawrence saw Tom Lowe paddle past him

Tom Lowe, British Surfer, Nate Lawrence
/ PRV
Photo: Nate Lawrence

Editor’s Note: You know we’re up to something when a dude like Tom Lowe’s name starts coming up. The British surfer smiles in the face of horror, and he’s been on our radar and in our inbox. Here’s some scary info from Nate Lawrence about him. Stay tuned for what we’re up to.—Travis 

This might be the scariest wave I’ve ever seen in person. I had just watched a surfer smash his head into the reef and had half his face ripped off. The power of this spooky Australian wave hadn’t caught my attention, until then.  The next set after all that I see this guy take off way deep and looking way too relaxed as a mountain of water came crashing down over him. He paddled by me afterwards and then it all made sense as soon as I saw his face: It was Tom Lowe. This guy is regularly hucks himself over all those scary Instagram-friendly, real life deadly waves. I was once at a remote Indonesian slab and Tom showed up solo on the day of the year. Down at Todos Santos I see him jumping in boats with the Long brothers (that’s some serious waterman cred). He’s just got a knack for being in the right place at the right time, which is usually somewhere very few humans would paddle out and surf.—Nate Lawrence

Collected thoughts what youth andy irons nate lawrence photography

Andy Irons in Bali filming for Trilogy Collected Thoughts 075

Editor’s Note: Nate Lawrence is the youngest of us all. Maybe not in age, but it in life and youth, he wins. You should see his eyes light up around our mini ramp. Our when there’s a Desert Point swell. Or when Japan starts sucking in a Typhoon…he’s a full-on grommet. And while he’s still…

dane reynolds jamie obrein what youth canada surfing

Dane Reynolds and Jamie O’Brien, Canada 2006 Collected Thoughts 074

It was most obvious when we were driving in the car. The drive was long from the ferry to our remote and tucked away tree house. Unending wilderness buzzed by and Nelly Furtado blared. Jamie-O sat shotgun armed with an iPod and USB access in the rental. Dane was in the backseat, unfazed and smirking at the…

Ishod Wair copenhagen what youth arto saari skateboarding

Ishod Wair at Circus Circus in Copenhagen Collected Thoughts 073

Ishod Wair at Circus Circus in Copenhagen shot by Arto Saari

curren caples shot by arto saari in sweeden what youth skateboarding

Curren Caples kickflip in Sweeden Collected Thoughts 072

Arto Saari photographs Curren Caples in Sweden.

collected thoughts dane reynolds dion agius craig anderson what youth france

Dion, Dane and Craig check the Cluster tapes in France Collected Thoughts 071

This is a photo of Dion, Dane, Craig and Bez (Beren Hall) watching some clips after a long morning of shredding at a very fun French beachbreak. I sometimes forget how easy photographers have it these days. And by “these days” I mean the motion picture or video era. You see, not too long ago…

Michel Bourez in France shot by Quinn Matthews What Youth

Morning conversation with Michel Bourez Collected Thoughts 070

I pulled into the Quiksilver Pro Athlete parking lot just behind Michel. As we got close to the front, me and Brandon Guilmette watched him turn the corner hoping for front row parking. We decided not to test our luck and parked at the closest visible spot. Sure enough Michel reversed passed us, in his…

And then we went to France Collected Thoughts 069

Editor’s note: We bought Quinn a ticket to France Sunday, right in the face of an Air France strike, making our purchase more expensive than we’d like, but the show must go on and the youth must run and Quinn must experience. Since then he’s landed in France. He’s hanging with the Hurley crew, waiting…

Gabriel Medina 2014 Hurley Lowers Pro

Gabriel Medina in a Locker Room Collected Thoughts 068

Gabriel Medina…in a locker room?

Craig Anderson Joins Dylan Reider on the Huf Footwear Team Collected Thoughts 067

Surfers and skaters have had a pretty volatile relationship over the years. They’re too dirty and bloody. We’re too jocky and wear too much aloha. And vice versa and yadayadayada. And it wasn’t until recently, when we all started hanging out, that a lot of the same things they hated about surfing were the same…

Creed McTaggart Noa Deane dion agius on the cluster boat trip indonesia what youth surfing

Creed McTaggart, Dion Agius and Noa Deane, morning tea on the cluster boat trip Collected Thoughts 066

We were mostly looking for launch ramps, but sometimes the path to ramps leads you into empty pits and we’d be lying if looking at this bomb out the back didn’t excite us. Although, while most of the boys watched the top shop pit across the reef, Noa Deane couldn’t take his eyes off the…

Arto Saari Copenhagen what youth

Denmark is on the Itinerary Collected Thoughts 065

We write to you sitting next to a document. It is confidential as of now, but it looks cool and it’s filled with potential. Like a jelly donut. During the month of July, we’ll be on the move. A lot. Tackling an itinerary that even our roster of seasoned and experienced travelers outwardly say they…

Kolohe Andino Luke Davis Indonesia boat trip what youth

Kolohe Andino and Luke Davis, LAX Collected Thoughts 064

It was pretty funny to watch these two — along with Ian Crane and Tanner Rozunko — all realize that after all these years growing up together and surfing that they’d never done a big trip together like this. Let alone a trip with Taj Burrow, on a boat for a week. It hit them…

Sign up for letters from What Youth


By enabling this page, you are acknowledging and accepting our privacy terms and conditions.