We Shouldn't Be Friends

Great surfing, like we just watched at the WSL CT Fiji Pro, can seem like magic to the rest of us. What are they DOING out there? All that timing, power and flow, coloured by small yet unmistakable flashes of individual...

The better half of the WSBF team is on site at what might prove to be the CT event of the year. But there’s so much more to Teahupo’o than terrifying competitive angst and the most Instagram-worthy barrels in human...

There’s never been a time quite like this one. Since Surfing World published issue 428, “Shark Country”, there’s been three shark fatalities around the nation and one very seriously injured swimmer at a Sydney metro...

Does anyone really think they’ll get old some day? The whole notion of ageing seems to run counter to surf culture’s obsession with youth — after all, at some level, maybe staying young is what it’s all about. But how...

It’s one thing watching a surf movie, or any movie really. It’s quite another thing to make one. “Now Days”, the recent release via Red Bull’s highly skilled and solidly funded media team, is a classic example. It come...

What’s a “designer?” Can a designer even tell you? Trent Mitchell is a highly gifted photographer and graphic artist who’s well into one of the most interesting career arcs of his generation. If you’ve seen his book...

What happens when you sell a business? Everything changes, that’s what happens. Which means very interesting times ahead for all the people involved in the amazing, entertaining, possibly confusing yet all round...

Talking for a living isn’t the cakewalk people assume. This is especially true in sport. Even if you have something to say, it can be spun by circumstance — maybe you don’t mesh with the commentary team, maybe nerves...

Ever been sacked from a job you love? Even better — ever thought you might be sacked, and had to hang around for days in the office corridor waiting to find out? This is what a coupla handfuls of professional surfers...

While we’re on the subject…competition! In case you haven’t tried it, Hannah’s recently gone there on your behalf, and she’s rapidly finding out what a triple-edged sword it can be. You THINK you’re ripping, everyone...

In the past four days, we’ve seen a classic, vaguely farcical, perhaps even hilarious story play out at the very top end of organised competitive surfing. On the surface it looks pretty simple: the WSL CT pros are cut...

2026 is pro surfing’s 50th anniversary, and it’s been fifty years of epic carnage. 28,000 surfers. Over a billion dollars of investment. You can love it, hate it, or just not care about it, but you can’t really deny it...

It’s not secret to anyone who’s tried it: comedy is HARD. And given the number of people who’ve tried it and failed, comedy based on surfing is even harder. It’s weird, because we all know a heap of funny shit happens...

The gossip mills began churning about a year ago. Liberty Brands, the retail curator arm of US private equity play Authentic Brands — which owns most of the surf industry’s most familiar brand names — fell over, taking...

Four attacks. Numerous in-water sightings. A whole coastline of surfers wondering — who’s next? It’s safe to say this has not been the January anyone in NSW was expecting. But what’s behind the past few days of mayhem...