Issuu

Jackson Bunch

Photo Brent Bielmann

FREE PARKING

Liam Wilson with a heavy hack at Ala Moana Bowls during the 2026 Local Motion Surf Into Summer.

Photo Brian Bielmann

EDITORIAL

Editor / Publisher

Mike Latronic

Photo Director

Brian Bielmann

Art Director

John Weaver

Staff Shooters

Brent Bielmann, Mike Latronic, Keale Lemos, John Weaver

Staff Writer

Kaea Latronic

Contributing Writers

Tor Johnson, Alexandra Kahn, Daniel Ikaika Ito, Nicole Nason, Amanda Blackwell

Contributing Photographers

Christa Funk, Ryan “Chachi” Craig, Dooma Photos, Dayanidhi Das, Erik Aeder, Mark Rodrigues, Aaron Lynton, Kurt Steinmetz, Mike Ito, Tommy Pierucki, Sean Evans, Stu Soley, Tai Vandyke, Mitch McEwen, Sivar Films, Humanocine, Feistan Rivera, Samuel Rivera

Distribution & Advertising Inquiries

Mike Latronic mlatronic808@gmail.com

Sales & Marketing

Randall Paulson randallpaulson@gmail.com

Business Administration

Cora Sanchez corabooks@freesurfmagazine.com

Hawai'i Distribution & Sales

Keola Latronic keolalatronic808@gmail.com

West Coast Distribution & Sales

Chuck Hendsch (619) 227-9128

FREESURF MAGAZINE is distributed at most fine surf shops and select specialty stores throughout Hawai‘i and Southern California.

We do not accept unsolicited editorial submissions without first establishing contact with the editor. FreeSurf, Manulele Inc. and its associates are not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged submissions or their return.

One-way correspondence can be sent to P.O. Box 1161, Hale‘iwa, HI 96712 E-mail editorial inquiries to info@freesurfmagazine.com A product of Manulele, Inc. 2026

SOUTH SWELL

Ala Moana Bowls Oahu, Hawaii

EDITOR'S NOTE

By Mike Latronic

Aloha! This issue's a packed one and that's exactly how we like it.

Leading the charge is an athlete feature on Jackson Bunch. After falling off the championship tour last year, Bunch is pushing it HARD and with three, that's right, THREE victories in a row in the Hawai’i/Tahiti region for the WSL Challenger series, he’s looking unstoppable!

Visually, we're always stoked on the SUMMER gallery. Freesurf is admittedly jam-packed with winter images most of the year but this is a straight-up love letter to South Shore town action. No frills, just the kind of imagery that reminds you why summer in town is also awesome.

On the contest front, Local Motion's Surf Into Summer is back for another year, and as always it's a community cornerstone. Our crew spent serious time in the water and on the shore with amateur divisions where hundreds of athletes from across the islands threw down for some of the best swell of the season. We're also tracking the pro side of things, with PR coverage on the WSL QS Surf Into Summer and the Longboard division. Props to Local Motion for holding it down for every level of the sport.

Zooming out to the world stage, I personally went holo-holo to the WSL El Salvador event and the big boys and girls delivered big. Carissa Moore reminded everyone exactly why she's a five-time world champ and an Olympian!

We also catch up with a story on-tour veteran, Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti and his supercoach Aussie Richard “Dog” Marsh. Leo finally broke through for a championship tour event victory that's been a long time coming. Big respect. There were chicken skin moments aplenty.

Rounding out the issue, we've got our regulars: Industry Notes keeping you current on what's moving behind the scenes, an Environmental News check-in: and it’s literally a whale of a tale! There’s a dose of Good News because the world needs it, and Stuff We Like — our usual grab bag of gear and goodies worth your attention.

And on the art side, we're honored to spotlight Andrew Kenyon's Surf Art on this issue. Art imitates life indeed.

As always, mahalo for picking this one up. Subscribe if you care to. See you in the water.

Mike Latronic Publisher

Photo Brian Bielmann

presented by

Photos Brian Bielmann, Keale Lemos, Kimo Lasswell and John Weaver

The South Shore of Oahu is notorious for its summer crowds, but for one spectacular weekend, a lucky few had the playground entirely to themselves. The **2026 Local Motion Surf Into Summer** absolutely delivered at Ala Moana Bowls, with a perfect 4–6 foot SSW swell lining up just in time for Hawaii’s biggest and most anticipated amateur event.

"Apparently it's like a Bruno Mars concert trying to sign up! The tickets sell out in three minutes! The event is super fun. Everybody's sharing waves, psyching on each other, having a good time. It's really the best contest I've ever surfed. Today is firing. It's legit. It's proper." - Noah Meyers:

Ezra Clark

Greg Nakamura

"This

Hundreds of competitors from across the Hawaiian island chain made the journey to Oahu for their shot at one of the South Shore's most coveted breaks. The ocean did not disappoint. Ala Moana Bowls is a fast, rippable left that rewards surfers who can string together explosive combinations through the openface sections. On its better days, it delivers a hollow, draining inside barrel that separates the committed from the cautious. On a typical afternoon, the lineup can easily pack 30 to 40 hungry surfers. During competition heats, however, that same stretch of reef became an exclusive paradise for just a handful of competitors.

You didn't even need to see the ocean to know the weekend was going to be historic. The energy was palpable before anyone even waxed a board.

"You can always kind of tell what the vibe is in the parking lot before you even see the water," said Beach Marshall Riley. "Everybody was psyching, rushing, pulling their stuff out of their car because they knew that it was going to be firing all day. That first look when you come over the speed bumps right where the canoe clubs are and you see walls of whitewash and nice peeling lefts, you know that the day is on."

is such a great event. It's been so fun to be a part of it. Today, we've got epic surf. You can always kind of tell what the vibe is in the parking lot before you even see the water. You get little glimpses when you pull up. Everybody was psyching, kind of like rushing, pulling their stuff out of their car because they knew that it was going to be firing all day. " Riley

Merrik

Liam Wilson

With a laid-back island vibe, plenty of prizes, and a wide array of divisions for both male and female competitors, the event continues its legacy as one of the state's longest-running and most populated surfing spectacles.

From the groms in the Menehune division all the way up through the Masters, the talent on display made it clear that Hawaii's amateur surfing pipeline is as strong as ever. Securing a spot in the event, however, is a victory in its own right.

"Apparently it's like a Bruno Mars concert trying to sign up!" laughed competitor Noah Meyers. "The tickets sell out in three minutes! But the event is super fun. Everybody's sharing waves, psyching on each other. Today is firing. It's legit. It's proper."

" Oh, the waves are so good. This is what we all hope for, especially the senior men. Going out there and battling normally is no fun. And getting to surf at bowls with only six guys, mostly everybody's happy and friendly out there. And the waves are firing. "

-Jairus Canon

Manalani Cazimero

For the older guard, the empty lineup was the ultimate luxury. Greg Nakamura, who was there to support his daughter, couldn't resist the temptation. "I surf here all the time in the summer, but you got a jersey with five other guys and there's really nothing better than that," Nakamura said. "I even caught a Big Bowl wave in my heat, which is pretty rad."

Senior competitor Jairus Canon echoed the sentiment: "Going out there and battling normally is no fun. Getting to surf at Bowls with only six guys, mostly everybody's happy and friendly out there."

In the Junior Men’s Division, Merrik Mochkatel—a name already generating serious buzz on the competitive circuit— put on a particularly sharp performance in the punchy surf, edging out Max Peters and Kaue Cabral with critical, explosive turns.

As head judge Dave Shipley has noted, what Local Motion does so well is keeping the environment positive and encouraging. Yes, it is a fierce competition, but the uplifting atmosphere is something all the families deeply appreciate.

As the final horn sounded, trophies, prize packs, and bragging rights went to a long list of finalists who earned their place in Magic Island history.

"The waves are pretty much as good as it gets," reflected competitor Diego Santos as the sun began to dip. "Kids are out of school and it's a beautiful day. I mean, just to surf this place, being on Magic Island and firing waves is special."

A big mahalo to Local Motion, the staff, and the competitors who traveled from afar. Ala Moana Bowls showed up in style, and the future of Hawaiian surfing looks brighter than ever. See you next summer!

Gabriel Nascimento

Jairus Cannon

" The waves are pretty much as good as it gets and I’m just stoked to share the lineup with a few of the boys. Kids are out of school and it's a beautiful day. I mean, just to surf this place, being on Magic Island and firing waves is special. " -Diego Santos

Paliku Victorino

MENEHUNE S.B. 11 & Under

1. Ringo Dean

2. Ian Moody

3. Lincoln Patachia

4. Rowan Nixon

5. Rowan Cavanaugh

6. Jaizen Jo Puahi

BOYS S.B. 12–14

1. Cade Bernier

2. Kia Lopez

3. Kapono Miranda

4. Reef Johnson

5. Declan Murphy

6. Chase Friel

JUNIOR MEN S.B. 15–17

1. Merrik Mochkatel

2. Max Peters

3. Kaue Cabral

4. Kielan Jardini

5. Nao Clifton

6. Matias Banto

MENS S.B. 18–24

1. Ezra Clark

2. Matteus Santos

3. Liam Wilson

4. Taj Marzouki

5. Ace Arizumi

6. Dillion Murphy Jr.

MASTER S.B. 25–34

1. Zur Arkin

2. Brayden Yoshida

3. Kylen Yamakawa

4. Paliku Victorino

5. Dylan Gleed

6. Connor Hulsebus

FINAL RESULTS

SENIOR MEN S.B. 35 & Up

1. Tanner Haytin

2. Jairus Cannon

3. Gregg Nakamura

4. Diego Santos

5. Evan Laeha

6. Noah Myers

GIRLS S.B. 17 & Under

1. Skai Suitt

2. U’ilani Nakao

3. Manalani Cazimero

4. Brenice Alama

5. Addison Murphy

6. Nahla Kattlove

WOMEN S.B. 18 & Up

1. Missy Valdez

2. Renee Martin

3. Aika Doughtory

4. Aleu’i Lyman

5. Danielle Zirkelbach

6. Sunny Kazama

LONGBOARD WOMEN Open

1. Bella Eberz

2. Zoe Globen

3. Liya Seibel

4. Sheadyn Friel

5. Cash Hoover

6. Hatikvah Amir

LONGBOARD MEN Open)

1. Kaupena Keaulana

2. Ka’iwa Foster

3. Matthew Vasquez

4. Sam Schatz

5. Nate Schatz

6. Hunter Johnson

2026 LOCAL MOTION SURF INTO SUMMER PRESENTED BY

HTA

The 2026 Local Motion Surf Into Summer presented by HTA lit up O'ahu's Ala Moana Bowls, crowning champions across both the WSL longboard and shortboard divisions.

The action kicked off with the LQS 1,000 longboard event in pumping four-to-six-foot surf. Kaniela Stewart dominated the men's division in a high-stakes bid to rejoin the elite World Tour. After an 18.94 Semifinal, Stewart’s 16.50 total narrowly edged out Nelson Ahina III (16.44) in the Final, securing Stewart the Regional title and a World Tour spot alongside Sive Jarrard. In the women's longboard Final, 20-year-old Sophia Culhane bounced back from missing last year’s tour cut, striking early with an 8.00 to finish with a winning 16.07 total over Kelis Kaleopaʻa (15.40).

As the swell grew into solid six-toeight-foot wave faces, the QS 2,000 shortboarders took center stage. Defending champion Vaihitimahana Inso (18) secured a back-to-back home victory. Trailing late against Moana Jones Wong, Inso unleashed a powerful forehand attack to drop a women’s event-best 9.20, winning with a 17.45 total. On the men's side, Jackson Bunch continued his regional dominance. Facing a stacked final of former CT competitors, Bunch locked in a perfect 10-point ride with a massive air reverse, pairing it with a 9.50 to claim victory with an insurmountable 19.50 total over Finn McGill.

The historic event concluded with Stewart punching his ticket back to the global stage, while Inso and Bunch secured the No. 1 regional shortboard rankings.

Vaihiti Inso Photo Mike Ito / WSL

Vaihiti Inso and Jackson Bunch Photo Mike Ito / WSL

(L to R): Sophia Culhane, Kelis Kaleopa'a, Kaniela Stewart ,Keani Canullo, and Kala Willard.

Photo WSL/ Mike Ito

MAUI'S TRIPLE THREAT

JACKSON BUNCH

Bt Mike Latronic

Maui’s 22-year-old Jackson Bunch is in the middle of what might be the hottest streak of his career, and if you've been paying attention to the WSL Hawaii/Tahiti region events, you already know that. Three wins. Three events. A triple play that has the surf world buzzing. It didn't come without a little drama. When Bunch flew into Tahiti just hours before his event, his boards got stuck on the West Coast. "My surfboards were left in San Francisco," he said. "I was lucky to have my friend from Maui bring me two surfboards that I had given him before, and he brought them.” Bunch has been riding Glenn Minami designs since he was about 8 years old. That's a unique relationship. Most competitors would have crumbled. Bunch didn't flinch and went to work.

He went on to post an incredible 18.50 out of a possible 20 in the Quarterfinals at the TOA Pro Punaauia, followed by an 18.23 heat total in the Semifinals, including a 9.50 and a 9.23 as his single scores, winning the event and then backing it up with another first-place finish the following week. He then capped the triple with a first-place finish at the Local Motion Surf Into Summer at cranking Ala Moana Bowls, putting a punctuation mark on one of the most impressive regional runs in recent memory.

"These last two events, just to get that connection and just get in a good rhythm to make heats and get excellent scores," Bunch said. "It was awesome to get that confidence going. It’s unreal to win three events in a row,

Jackson Bunch Photo Mike Ito / WSL

JACKSON BUNCH / MAUI'S TRIPLE THREAT

especially knowing how tough this regional tour is. The waves have been absolutely firing at the first three events, and I’ve been having so much fun. Honestly, I just wanted to keep making heats so I could surf perfect waves with no one else out there!The momentum this brings for the qualifiers, heading into the Challenger Series is huge. Any extra confidence is a bonus, and I’m really excited to get the season started.”

Long before Jackson was trading heat wins with Tahitian powerhouses, Bunch was one of the most decorated young surfers in Hawaii. With a runner-up finish at the 2023 World Junior Championships, a Quiksilver sponsorship that took him from Hawaii's regional circuit to Australia and France

while still in his teens, and a track record of contest wins up and down the islands, built a foundation any sports competitor would envy.

Way back when Freesurf first sat down with Mr. Bunch, he was all of 10-years-old with a huge smile who listed Joel Parkinson, Mick Fanning, and John John Florence as his three favorite surfers, told us his favorite all time food was cheeseburgers, got straight A's, and surfed every single day. Oh, and don't let that sweet smile fool you. He’s a fighter. Literally and he'd been boxing since he was a wee lad, saying if he ever stopped surfing, he'd probably become a pro fighter. Easy to see, he’s still throwing knockout blows.

After a standout sophomore year on the Challenger Series, he earned the final spot on the 2025 WSL Championship Tour, becoming one of only a handful of Maui surfers ever to reach surfing's elite level. A tough year on tour sent him back to the Challenger Series, but after this triple header Bunch himself put it, "That's the best to start a season. It doesn't get much better. We're surfing in perfect waves and if I were to come up with my dream wave, it would be this."

Bunch is going toe to toe with some of the best in the world and winning handily. His shine is only getting brighter.

Jackson Bunch

Photo Brent Bielmann

APERTURE

SOUTH SWELL

Rob Wurlitzer

Photo Brian Bielmann

Town

Photo Brian Bielmann

Pomai Hoapili

Photo Brian Bielmann

Shaley Mercado

Photo Brian Bielmann

Jeff Hubbard

Photo John Weaver

Photo Brian Bielmann

Sandys

Photo Brian Bielmann

Eweleiula Wong

Photo Brian Bielmann

TEN YEARS IN TH E MAKIN G: RICHARD MARSH, LEO FIORAVANTI

& THE LONG ROAD TO PUNTA

ROCA

By Mike Latronic

There's a moment in every athlete's career, if they're lucky enough, if they hang around long enough, when everything they've ground through finally crystallizes into something beautiful. For Leonardo Fioravanti, that moment arrived on June 13th, 2026 at Punta Roca, El Salvador: the 28-year-old Italian became the first surfer from his country to ever win a Championship Tour event. It wasn't a fluke. He'd been one of the sharpest surfers all week, owning three of the top-five wave scores in the contest, including the only nine-point ride of the event. When the horn sounded, the tears came. Ten years on tour. Ten years of near-misses. And now this.

I first crossed paths with Leo at an ISA Juniors event in Ecuador. He was twelve years old, white-tipped hair, big smile, bigger personality, already sponsored by Quiksilver and surfing better than most kids twice his age. Good surfers from Italy were basically unheard of at that point, so he stood out for all the right reasons in the water. But it was what happened after the contest that told me everything I needed to know about the kid's future.

I was traveling with Team Hawai’i as a media liaison, and after the event wrapped, a small panic broke out among the Hawai’ian coaches when they realized a few of the younger girls from the team had been testing their curfew. Word was there was a party nearby, so we all piled into the

van to go collect them. The music was thumping when we arrived, kids were dancing, and nobody appeared to be in serious trouble; but there in the middle of the dance floor, cool as you like, was this little Italian kid, couldn't have been more than five foot two, doing the bump and grind with a tall blonde from Uruguay who had at least a foot on him. The audacity. The moxie. I thought to myself, this kid's going places. Respectfully, Leo is now happily married to his long time girlfriend, a beautiful blonde. Apparently some things you know early.

Standing at the rocks the day Leo won his first CT event was Richard Marsh, one of the most respected coaches in professional surfing and a man who has had more than a little to do with how that twelve-year-old became a world title contender.

Leonardo Fioravanti

Photo by Oscar Jimenez/WSL

RICHARD MARSH, LEO FIORAVANTI & THE LONG ROAD TO PUNTA ROCA

I caught up with Marsh during event week, in between tide checks and board sessions and the kind of quiet conversations that never make the highlight reels. He's an old friend of nearly four decades, a former competitive surfer from Cronulla who made a pretty seamless transition from ripping to coaching. His current CT squad is Connor O'Leary, Tyler Wright, Ramzi Boukhiem, and Leo Fioravanti. Different personalities, different styles, but forged into what Marsh affectionately calls his X-Men and Women.

Getting there wasn't exactly a straight line. After retiring from competitive surfing earlier than most, Marsh spent a year snowboarding, came back for a satellite tour called the ACC just to surf with his mates, and eventually fell into coaching almost by accident. He worked with Surfing New South Wales, helped a local talent named Kurt Flintoff, and then got pulled into the Red Bull orbit through his longtime friend Andy King, the same Andy King who later coached Gabriel Medina to a world title. "It was probably 20 odd years ago," Marsh said with a shrug, the way Australians do when they're being modest about something significant. "And yeah, from there it just kept going."

crazy idea and if it made sense to them, at the level of Formula One and all these other elite sports, they just got it. It made it high performance instead of management." It's a distinction that defines everything Marsh does. It is noteworthy that Leo has been on the Red Bull squad for as long as I can remember.

The work itself is rarely glamorous. Marsh describes the unglamorous core of his craft with something close to reverence: "For every heat in an event, there's probably been a couple of hundred hours on some beach in some bumfuck zone with no one around, testing boards, brainstorming ideas."

He's quick to credit Red Bull with changing the entire infrastructure of elite surfing, not just in terms of funding, but in terms of mindset. "The professionalism they brought into the sport just with their budgets made a huge difference," he said. "We could come up with any

He talks about the small physical adjustments, arm placement, weight distribution, shoulder alignment, that can crack open entirely new possibilities for a surfer. "You just have these little moments where you can fiddle something, open up some shoulders a bit more, and you can have these crazy breakthroughs. And no one sees it, which kind of makes it cool."

Fioravanti has needed exactly that kind of patient, precise work. The Roman arrived on the Championship Tour with enormous promise but the results didn't always match the expectation. His best tour finishes before this year were ninths in 2023 and 2025, and there was a brutal near-miss at Pipe last year that stung. But Marsh isn't a coach who lets his athletes wallow. "I don't think sugarcoating anything really helps," he said flatly. He also builds his squad with deliberate care, prioritizing team culture over star power. "I put a lot of value in putting a team together that gels. We have a lot of fun and we're getting results."

El Salvador Camps

For surfers ready to see their surfing differently

A focused coaching week with Matt Scorringe and the Art of Surfing built around twice daily surf sessions, on land video analysis, coaching, and surf skate training.

TAOS helps you make small, easy adjustments holding you back from progressing to your next level of surfing. You’ll stay at a vibey retreat where the food is made from scratch and the waves are steps away.

Hosted at Balancé in El Tunco, Surf City. l Oct 25 - 29 l Oct 31 - Nov 5 l 2026

The Art of Surfing with Matt Scorringe

RICHARD MARSH, LEO FIORAVANTI & THE LONG ROAD TO PUNTA ROCA

That trust seems to have been the intangible that finally unlocked something in Leo this season. Heading into El Salvador, he was already ranked third on tour with 11 heat wins and an average heat score of 13.51. He arrived at Punta Roca not as a hopeful, but as a legitimate threat. Despite a slow start against an in-form Marco Mignot in the quarters, Leo clicked into gear at the back end of the heat and landed that 9.00, the highest wave score of the entire event, to put himself squarely in contention. He dispatched Kanoa Igarashi in the semis, then walked into the final against World No. 1 Italo Ferreira and opened with an 8.33 that put the Brazilian immediately on the back foot. When the horn sounded, it was done. Italy had its first CT win ever.

career more or less trying to keep young surfers from derailing themselves, and has spent two decades quietly building something far more intentional. "I feel like I'm sharing something that's taken me my whole life to learn," he said. "I started surfing when I was eight. I'm nearly 60. That's what I've done. To be able to pass that on to young athletes, it's pretty cool."

With his first win banked, Fioravanti now finds himself in the middle of a genuine title race with a long season still ahead. Pipeline, weighted 1.5 times more than other events, looms large, and Leo has had success on the North Shore.

The Roman isn't just flying his country's flag anymore. He's in the conversation for the whole thing.

For Marsh, watching it unfold from the beach carried a particular weight. This is a man who started his coaching

And somewhere in the background, running the numbers, watching the tides, fiddling with the details that nobody ever sees: Richard Marsh is already thinking about the next heat.

Leonardo Fioravanti surfs in Heat 2 of the Quarterfinals at the Surf City El Salvador Pro at Punta Roca, La Libertad, El Salvador. Photo Aaron Hughes/WSL

- Lucas Godfrey

CARISSA

MOORE AND LEONARDO FIORAVANTI CLAIMED HISTORIC VICTORIES AT THE SURF CITY EL SALVADOR PRO

Maiden CT Triumph for Fioravanti

Carissa Moore (HAW) and Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) claimed historic victories at the Surf City El Salvador Pro, Stop No. 5 of the WSL Championship Tour. Held at Punta Roca, the event shook up the world rankings ahead of the upcoming tour stop in Brazil.

Moore Climbs to World No. 2 with 30th Victory

Five-time World Champion Carissa Moore secured her 30th career Championship Tour (CT) victory, marking back-to-back event wins. In a thrilling final against Tyler Wright (AUS), Moore opened with a commanding 8.33 ride. Though Wright briefly took the lead late in the heat, Moore answered with a 6.67 in the dying moments to secure a 15.10 to 13.84 win, jumping to World No. 2. Wright moves up to World No. 9.

Leonardo Fioravanti achieved a lifelong dream by capturing his first-ever CT victory, making him the first Italian surfer to win a Championship Tour event. Fioravanti was the day's standout, posting a 9.00 in the Quarterfinals.

In the Final, Fioravanti faced current World No. 1 Italo Ferreira (BRA). Fioravanti applied immediate pressure with an 8.33 opener and a 7.00 backup, sealing a 15.33 to 10.90 win that catapults him to World No. 3. Ferreira’s runner-up finish was a heroic feat, as he competed through a severe knee injury to retain the yellow Leader Jersey.

Final Results

Women: 1 - Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.10, 2 - Tyler Wright (AUS) 13.84

Men: 1 - Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 15.33, 2 - Italo Ferreira (BRA) 10.90

Five-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore surfs in the Final at the Surf City El Salvador Pro. Photo Aaron Hughes/WSL

Ride the Wave to

BLUE CARBON:

RECOVERED WHALE POPULATIONS ARE TENDING THE OCEANS ONCE AGAIN

by Kaea Latronic

While surfers spend their time reading the waves and riding the lineup, the ocean's largest mammals are running a massive operation directly beneath the board. What they are doing down there keeps the ocean alive and florid. Most people paddling out never think about the ocean's basic supply problem: in the open ocean, nutrients needed for flourishing marine life are constantly falling out of reach. Crucial building blocks like iron and nitrogen succumb to gravity, drifting down into the deep. This would leave the sunlit surface waters devoid of microfauna — but Nature has Her ways: the largest megafauna, whales. These gargantuan mammals act as the ocean's heavy machinery, crucial to a global nutrient recycling system called the “whale pump.” This biological plumbing system is also one of the planet's most potent natural defenses against climate change.

To understand this built-in solution, one need only to look at the physical distance between where whales feed and where they breathe. Whales forage in the darkest depths, diving hundreds of feet down to feast on nutrient-dense prey: from tiny krill to squid of all sizes. As any mammal must, they surface to air- and water pressure changes trigger their bodies to excrete waste - right in the sunlit surface waters. These waste plumes act as a highly concentrated fertilizer packed with the elements surface waters desperately lack. After depositing these nutrients right where the light hits, massive blooms of phytoplankton grow exponentially. These microscopic algae act as the ocean’s lungs, pulling carbon from the atmosphere and generating half the world's oxygen. Algae and phytoplankton capture carbon dioxide amounts equivalent to four Amazon rainforests every single year.

This natural plumbing system also drives nutrients horizontally across the globe by what is complementarily called “the whale conveyor belt.” Species like baleen whales migrate up to 12,000 miles seasonally, moving between freezing feeding grounds and warm, nutrient poor tropical zones, where they birth calves. Along these vast corridors, they redistribute organic matter through waste, sloughed skin, and placentas, providing a vital nutrient supply to areas of the ocean. Over its lifetime, a single whale functions as a vault, storing an average of 33 tons of carbon dioxide within its tissue. That’s more carbon than a massive live oak tree, which only locks up about 12 tons of carbon dioxide over a 500year lifespan.

Photo Tim Whitfield

RENTALS - NEW BOARDS - SKATE - USED BOARDS

Hours: 8am - 8pm

ENVIRONMENT / BLUE CARBON

tons of accumulated carbon into deep sea mud, locking it away from the atmosphere for centuries. On the barren seafloor the whale's remains create a hyper productive feeding oasis, a localized ecosystem that fuels specialized scavengers, crabs, and zombie worms for decades.

This entire self-sustaining cycle drives home the importance of a close look at how human activity has altered the ocean. Historically, whaling was a major industry: lamps and lights burned whale fat. Humans now have other fuel to replace whale oil. In 1986, the International Whaling Commission implemented a global ban on commercial whaling, putting up a legal shield to give the depleted populations appropriate time and space needed to rebuild and reproduce.

Wonderfully, the results are visible today. Southwestern Atlantic humpback whales have rebounded from only a few hundred individuals to over 25,000, nearly returning to historical numbers. Blue whale populations off the U.S. West Coast has also recovered to almost 97 percent of their original population! The modern story of the return of whales is one of remarkable recovery and environmental repair. Ultimately, the ocean's role in a healthy Earth isn’t stagnant, but a dynamic ecosystem engineered, nourished and provisioned by its largest and gentlest inhabitants.

Photo John Weaver

EcoClean Hawaii

There’s a moment inside every ocean wave, a moment before the lip throws and the world goes blue and green, where color and light bends. Surfers live for it. Photographers chase it. But very few people have ever painted it with the kind of stroke that makes you feel like you are there. Andy Kenyon is one of those people.

Kenyon grew up with a board underfoot and a paint brush in hand.

Andy Kenyon

By Mike Latronic

Maybe it was inevitable. Jacksonville sits on the Atlantic. The salt in the air, the light that comes off moving water unlike any other light on earth. Whatever the pull, Andy found himself drawn to surfing. He studied how a surfer reads a wave the way a portrait painter reads a face, searching for

The son of celebrated portrait artist and teacher Ann Manry Kenyon, Andy was practically born into the arts. By age ten, he was sitting in on mom’s classes in their Jacksonville home, absorbing what it means to look at a living thing and parlay it on canvas. Andy had a gift for it that his mother noticed early.

Andrew followed that gift through a BFA at the University of North Florida, with a minor in Graphic Design and briefly into the world of computer graphics, producing training manuals for the U.S. Navy by day while honing his painting skills by night. By 1995 he was painting professionally full-time from his home studio near the banks of the St. Johns River. For over two decades, far from the salty sketches of ocean art, children’s portraiture was his signature. Andy was great at it.

And then the ocean found him.

Q: After so many years of portraits, what made you walk away from it?

I get asked that a lot. After 30 years, you’d think I’d have been on a roll and just kept going. But, I had completely burnt out on it. The level of likeness you have to achieve in portrait work, it just got to be too much after a while. It took the joy out of painting for me. I decided I would fall into doing something I wanted to do, a subject

the essential moment. He saw the athleticism, but more so he saw art: the commitment, the grace, the way a human being and a force of nature could “reach an agreement.” Kenyon went to work.

What followed was a body of surf paintings that carry the full weight of his classical training, technically refined and profound. More than action shots translated to canvas, Kenyon translates the feeling of surfing.

Q: Tell us how you got your start as an artist.

I’ve been painting for the better part of 30 years. I started out as a portrait artist specializing in children’s portraits, traveling throughout the Southeast to photograph my clients’ children, then bringing those images back to my studio to create their paintings, usually in pastel, though sometimes in oils as well.

matter that spoke to me, which has always been surfing.

Q: So how did that first surf painting actually happen?

One day I cruised the internet and started looking at images on Google. I found this shot of a guy coming off the lip of a wave and I thought, I’m just going to try this in oil. And I was really pleased with how it worked. I posted it to my sites and got so much positive feedback that I thought, hey, maybe I can take this passion for surfing and bring it into my artwork. I hope that when people see my surfing art, they feel like they’re there. Especially those who know surfing, who have surfed. At least, that’s what I’m going for.

Q: WHAT is it about surfing that drew you in?

I began surfing at the age of 13 and by that time I had already shown a propensity for drawing as well. My

MOKU rider

Johnny the Ripper

love of surfing and my artistic talent were bound to cross paths and that happened big time in August of 2025. There is no other feeling in the world than the feeling of surfing. I strive to capture that feeling in my surfing art.

Q: How would you describe your painting style?

I would describe it as impressionistic realism. I’m not a photorealistic painter. I don’t try to make the painting look so much like the photograph that you can’t tell the two apart. I respect those artists deeply, because it takes a tremendous amount of talent to do that. But it’s just not my thing. I do want people to know what they’re looking at, but I want there to be a lot of feeling and looseness in the paint quality and the brushwork so that it feels alive, so that there’s more emotion in it.

Q: Walk us through how you arrive at a composition for a surf painting.

Primarily I have to work with the photo the client provides. Usually I get just one shot. Every now and then a client will send me several images, and that’s ideal. When that happens, I’ll use Photoshop as a tool to pull elements from one photo, maybe the wave from one shot, the surfer from another, massage them together and build a final composition. Then I can show that to the client so they can see what I already see in my head. They can agree or disagree, and we’ll refine it from there. I won’t touch the actual painting until we’re both on the same page about what we’re going for.

Q: So can anyone send you an image and you can do a rendition of them?

Yes, I work from photos that my clients provide me with. Oftentimes my clients are the subject of the photo and other times they commission me to paint a friend or family member to give as a gift. People can reach me via my web site at AndrewKenyonStudios.com. I welcome them to email me a photo(s) they are considering and we can discuss the project along with pricing and time frame at that time.

You can check out more of Andy’s work at andrewkenyonstudios.com, or find him on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube.

andrewkenyonstudios.com

INDUSTRY NOTES

PERU ANNOUNCED AS HOST FOR 2026 ISA WORLD SURFING GAMES

The International Surfing Association (ISA) officially announced that Peru will host the 2026 ISA World Surfing Games from November 6 to 15. The historic competition will take place at the iconic right-hand point break of Punta Rocas. This event will serve as a crucial early milestone in the qualification pathway for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, awarding the first team qualification slots for the upcoming Olympic cycle.

YAGO DORA TAKES RIO PRO IN HOME WATERS

Yago Dora delivered a commanding performance at the VIVO Rio Pro in Saquarema, Brazil, winning the men's event in front of a raucous home crowd. The result gives the Brazilian star significant ratings momentum and continues a strong run of form through the 2026 season.

USA SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS DELIVER EPIC CONDITIONS

The 2026 USA Surfing Championships presented by Hurley, held at Oceanside and Lower Trestles in California, was met with one of the largest Southern Hemisphere swells in years. The multi-discipline event crowned national champions across Para, Longboard, SUP Surf, and SUP Racing, with juniors competing June 16–20 at Lower Trestles.

WILDCARD INCLUSIONS RESHAPE THE 2026 WORLD TITLE RACE

The integration of high-profile WSL season wildcards has dramatically intensified the mid-year competitive landscape. Elite champions John John Florence, Gabriel Medina, Stephanie Gilmore, and Carissa Moore have completely disrupted traditional seedings across the expanded 36-man and 24-woman fields. With no midseason cut in place this year, these heavy hitters are actively forcing lower-seeded competitors into highpressure early qualifying rounds at every single regularseason tour stop.

OLYMPIC TEAM QUOTAS SET FOR 2026 ISA WORLD SURFING GAMES

The International Surfing Association finalized the high-stakes qualification architecture for November’s World Surfing Games in Punta Rocas, Peru. Serving as a foundational stepping stone for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle, the ISA confirmed that the highest-ranked men’s and women’s teams at the event will secure the very first official Olympic team slots. This adds immense patriotic pressure to national federations finalized over the last few weeks.

SHOUT-OUT TO BETTY-LYNN LA’I DYBUL!

From a self-taught beginner at eight to placing second in the nation at the USA Surfing Championship, your unstoppable drive proves you belong at the top. You defied the odds, earned every wave, and turned rejection into fuel. Keep blazing your own trail, wahine!

SURFER PATRICK PHILLIPS DIES AFTER TEAHUPO'O WIPEOUT

La Jolla surfer Patrick Phillips, 56, passed away on June 19 after a devastating wipeout at Teahupo'o on June 12. Phillips struck the reef, fracturing two vertebrae in his neck. Fellow surfers in the water performed CPR before he was transported to hospital. He is survived by his wife Lara and children Tate and Ryan.

STUFF WE LIKE

SURF N SEA

Embrace the spirit of Oahu's North Shore with the Surf N Sea Haleiwa Rainbow Tee. This vintage-style women's V-neck features a retro 'Live With Aloha' rainbow print. Crafted from an ultra-soft blend of polyester, cotton, and rayon, it offers a comfortable, standard fit that is perfect for relaxed beach days.

GOPRO

Capture cinema-quality action with the GoPro MISSION 1 PRO Grip Edition. Powered by a 1-inch 50MP sensor and GP3 processor, it shoots stunning 8K30 Open Gate video. The included pointand-shoot grip offers seamless, single-handed operation, turning this rugged, waterproof powerhouse into an ergonomic, tactical camera rig.

gopro.com

HI TECH MAUI

Bring island vibes to your post-surf routine with the Hi-Tech ALOHA Hauke Slowtide Towel. Crafted from 100% premium, sustainably sourced cotton, this highly absorbent 34″ x 62″ beach towel features a bold tropical print and standout ALOHA graphic. It's the perfect blend of coastal style, comfort, and functionality.

HIC SURF

The HIC Puna Woven is a lightweight buttondown shirt designed for the modern coastal lifestyle. It features a refined drape, wrinklesresistant fabric, and breathable comfort. Perfect for solo wear or warm-weather layering, it offers effortless versatility and style.

hicsurf.com