HUCK magazine The David Carson Issue by TCOLondon

JEREMY

JONES :FULLY SEAMS TAPED :WATERPROOFNESS 20K :BREATHABILITY 15K :LAYER 03 SHELL Traveling the world on a tireless quest for first descents and fresh tracks, Jeremy Jones is today widely regarded as one of the world's best big mountain riders. By purchasing this product, you will be supporting Protect Our Winters - Jeremy Jones' non-profit environmental organization that unites the winter sports community in an effort to reverse the damaging effects of the global warming crisis. This garment is engineered with recycled polyesters for example PET bottles.

ONEILL.COM

JEREMY

ONEILL.COM

[ LI FE A F T E R S K ATE]

2011

We A cti v i s t C HR I S PA S T R A S S HO T B Y C HE RY L D U N N www. we s c. co m

DISTRIBUTED IN EUROPE BY FIFTYSEVEN NORTH AB www.fiftysevennorth.com

RIDER: MIIKKA HAST — PROTEST.EU

27 TRUCKS TO OVERTAKE TO GET TO THE SLOPES

TO GET THERE

photography MUSTAFAH ABDULAZIZ.

HUCK 24. contents 18 Pinhole Camera 20 Alt. Snow Flicks 24 Mike Franklin

26 Boombox Project 28 Shaun White 30 Trash Talk 32 9Eyes

Action As Art

CWC #04

David Carson

Winter Wows

The Solitary Few

ERROR IN THE CODE

Andreas Wiig

Jerusalem Skate

Portuguese Portraits

Life Through A Lens...

Big Is Back

Sources

35 Fleeting moments frozen in time.

52 Creative chaos from the daddy of design.

56 Surfing in Scotland is not for the meek.

60 It’s all business for Norway’s golden boy.

64 Getting to know the people of Peniche.

70 Big-mountain snowboarding is going through a boom.

12 HUCK

74 Cold water stills from Vancouver Island, by Mustafah Abdulaziz.

82 A hodgepodge of cool shit.

84 Is surfing plagued with a racist streak?

90 A search for community in contested land.

94 Jeremy Jones.

98 Mementos and things.

No.

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14 HUCK

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TrisTan EaTon, arTisT & Toy DEsignEr

photography GUY PITCHON.

Publisher Vince Medeiros

Creative Director Rob Longworth

Managing Director Danny Miller

Editor Andrea Kurland

Designers Anna Dunn Angus MacPherson

Commercial Director Dean Faulkner

Staff Writer Shelley Jones Online Editor Ed Andrews Global Editor Jamie Brisick Skate Editor Jay Riggio Latin America Editor Giuliano Cedroni Snow Correspondent Zoe Oksanen European Correspondent Melanie Schönthier Editorial Assistants Hannah El-Boghdady Liz Seabrook

Website Designer Evan Lelliott Words Mustafah Abdulaziz, King Adz, Tom Eagar, Tetsuhiko Endo, Gemma Freeman, Jeremy Jones, Chris Nelson, Mat Osman, Dave Zook Images Mustafah Abdulaziz, Sébastien Anex, Andy Bennetts, Paul Calver, David Carson, Christy Chaloux, Oskar Enander, Matt Georges, Dean ‘Blotto’ Gray, Jeremy Jones, Petri Kovalainen, Christophe Margot, Guy Martin, Robin Mellor, Tim Nunn, Chris Ortiz, Lyle Owerko, Guy Pitchon, Kevin Rankin, Markus Rohrbacher, Mae Ryan, Nikolai Samson, Sparrow v. Swallow, Thomas Stöckli, Yves Suter, Tougui, Will Wissman

Advertising Sales Executive Becks Scurlock

16 HUCK

UK distribution enquiries: andy.hounslow@comag.co.uk Worldwide distribution enquiries: carla.demichiel-smith@comag.co.uk Printed by Buxton Press

Editorial Director Matt Bochenski Digital Director Alex Capes Special Projects Steph Pomphrey Marketing & Distribution Manager Anna Hopson

The articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinions of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publishers or editorial team This publication is made with paper from sustainable sources. Huck is published six times a year.

Account Manager Liz Haycroft © TCOLondon 2010

Published by The Church of London 8-9 Rivington Place London, EC2A 3BA UK +44 (0) 207-729-3675

Translations Markus Grahlmann

Distributed worldwide by COMAG

info@thechurchoflondon.com

Cover Design David Carson Photography Oskar Enander Rider Stefan Gasser. Haines, Alaska

X AL OU CH TY R IS CH PH OT O:

Kim my 60 Fas an i Fro nts ide 3

fa sn â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ce bo ow. Fea t ok Bo uring ot, .co dcs Ley the B idd sin m/ ho Jac y S dc ket now sho es. and boa r An d zer , Mo es. co eP r eu m ant . a rop e

Camera ObsCura Step back in time and experiment with the dark art of analogue photography by following our Step-by-Step guide to making a pinhole camera.

Box/container/can/carton 50mm wide, Pin, Scissors, Black tape,

Make a small hole (the size of a pea) in the side of your container.

Aluminium foil or small piece of aluminium cut from a can, Light-sensitive photo-paper with a nominal ISO of 4.

Cut a piece of foil/can and pierce it with the point of a pin. NB:

Sand the surface around the hole with emery paper to make sure it

The hole should be approximately 0.3mm in diameter.

is smooth. Rough edges will effect the quality of the final image.

18 HUCK

Attach the foil/can to your container making sure the

from the inside with matte black spraypaint.

pinhole is over the pea-sized hole. Secure with tape.

In a dark room, place a piece of photographic paper, with its emulsion

Cover the pinhole with a loose piece of dark tape

side upwards, in the container â&#x20AC;&#x201C; on the opposite side to the pinhole.

(this is your shutter). The pinhole camera is ready.

Secure the pinhole camera in a sunny place and remove the tape

Cover the pinhole immediately with the tape (shutter)

(shutter) for the required time: Bright sunlight: 30 seconds, Sunny with

and develop in a dark room or at your local photo processors.

Thanks To Tarja Trygg, senior LecTurer aT The aaLTo universiTy schooL of arT and design, heLsinki. usefuL WebsiTes: WWW.soLargraphy.com, WWW.pinhoLephoTography.com.au, WWW.mrpinhoLe.com

To avoid reflection it is worth blackening the container

clouds: 1 minute, Overcast/cloudy: 2 minutes, Open shade: 4 minutes

NOTES: Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expose the photo-paper in your light-tight container to Daylight. it will ruin the image. exposure times are volatile anD may vary greatly. experimenting with these variables is part of the fun of pinhole photography. or solargraphy the photo-paper can be exposeD for Days or even months anD will not neeD to be DevelopeD. 19

FOOTLOOSIN'

BLKHLZINVZFS

20 HUCK

CtRl+Alt+Delete Forget big budgets and hi-def tricks. Reboot your expectations and rediscover fun with the help of these alternative snowboard flicks.

Footloosin’

BLKHLZINVZFS

Almond Mfg

COMU E

Deep in British Columbia, among the alpine slopes of Revelstoke Mountain

“Snowboarding shuns freethinking and embraces the lowest common

Resort, thirty-year-old filmmaker Nikolai Samson is going back to the

denominator; it exemplifies that ‘extreme sports’ mentality, similar to

roots of snowboarding and ditching his bindings to surf the white wave.

motocross or ultimate fighting.”

“I lost interest in conventional snowboarding and started to detest

Controversial opinions, but coming from Corey Smith you’d expect nothing

snowmobiling for access to good snow,” says the chipper Canadian.

less. The progressive rail slayer, artist and art director for LA streetwear

Hungry for a new kind of sliding experience, Nikolai tried surfing for a

brand COMU E has always spearheaded snowboarding’s creative side,

while. Then the binding-less craze of Noboarding came along, and he

with a vision that reaches far beyond the often-insular resort-based scene.

remembered what he loved about snow: “A good friend had a copy of

But while his Warhol-inspired paintings have made him a fixture on

the Rocky Mountain Sherpas [Noboard] film Yes to the No and my mind

the underground LA art circuit, his latest film project returns to his first

was blown. Surfing on snow?! Right then I knew I had to get some sort

love: snowboarding.

of traction setup…”

Black Holes and Invisible Forces Bending Time Through Particle

So Nikolai launched Almond Manufacturing from his garden shed,

Deformation Creating Infinite Freedom in the Garden on the Moon

and started producing his own “white wave traction” technology, as

(BLKHLZINVZFS) is not just the craziest sentence you’ve ever heard‚

well as a rad little short film called Footloosin’ to promote binding-free

it’s also a unique and pioneering piece of avant-garde snow cinema.

fun. “It’s mind-boggling the level [mainstream snowboarding films] are

As part of the Drop City creative initiative from COMU E – which provides

at,” says Nikolai. “Stuntman proportions with Hollywood production… It

a platform for emerging musicians, artists and filmmakers – seven guest

impresses me, but crazy trick after crazy trick gets hard to absorb after

editors (Ryan Scardigli, Hunter Longe, Matt Porter, Kevin Castanheria,

a while. I like watching well-executed powder turns with a bit of a story

Mark Wiitanen, Shelby Menzel and working as a team Corey Smith and

thrown in.”

Liz Davis) have each created a chapter of the film, soundtracked by bands

For a dude who's inspired by “anyone doing it their own way, no

associated with Drop City.

matter what they ride on”, Footloosin’ is testament to a more stripped-

Says Corey: “I wanted to make a film that showcased snowboard

back snow-sliding approach – a throwback to snowboarding’s early

filmmaking as well as snowboarding – that’s how I came up with the guest

days, when fabled pioneer Sherman Poppen first stepped out with his

editors concept. I hope we’ll see a lot more snowboard movies next year

binding-free board. “Going back to the roots of the sport seems to

pushing their ideas, like creating multiple edits or versions of their film.”

refresh the experience,” enthuses Nikolai. “It’s the excitement of a new challenge.”

Shelley Jones

And with freethinkers like Corey pushing boundaries, the future of snow cinema looks far from dull. “Snowboarding deserves way better,” he says. “I love snowboarding, and want to contribute to it and raise its value

www.snowsurf.ca

culturally.” Gemma Freeman www.thecomune.com

Markus Rohrbacher

christy chaloux

Let’s Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow

Loveolution II

Let’s Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow

Loveolution II

Peepshow

Love Distribution

Let's Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow is no ‘girls’ movie, and Peepshow

It’s a hot summer day. Two men are lounging back in a rubber dinghy on a

are the antithesis of everything you’ve been force-fed as ‘female’.

sparkling lake, slapping on sunscreen, drinking beer and bickering about

Raw, gritty and totally homemade, Peepshow’s second film proves

who has left their knacker (sausage) on the beach.

how far a large dose of love, dedication and hard work can go – regardless

The pair in question are pro snowboarders Seppi Scholler and Marc

of budget. The collective, based in the US and Canada, couldn’t give

Swoboda of Austrian ethical clothing label Love Distribution, and this is

a monkey’s about product placement or faux-glamour. Urban riding,

the intro to their latest movie, Loveolution II.

style, fresh talent, beer, boobs and blunts – spliced together with sharp

The film isn’t your everyday ‘snow flick by numbers’. Yeah, there’s

editing and grimy tunes – is more their parental advisory package. It

the obligatory bungee-powered urban jib scene, heaps of backcountry

doesn’t matter whether they’re boys or girls, dudes or chicks: this is a

booters and powder turns. But there’s also some good old-fashioned

real snowboard film.

comedy sketches involving weightlifting, motorbikes and dating agency

Jess Kimura, who founded the collective with June Bhongjam and

videos requesting “women to steal horses with”.

Esthera Preda, embodies the spirit that makes Peepshow tick. Based in

Sounds random? Well, that’s because it is. “I’m a big fan of stuff that

Whistler, she splits her seasons between working on construction sites,

has nothing to do with each other,” says Scholler, who co-founded Love

shredding and filming.

with Pizzi Petrovsky in 2007. “One of my main goals is that people watch

“I’ve always been a person to break barriers and push the boundaries

our movies and really ask themselves if we are crazy.”

of everything,” she says. Known to ride with a broken arm, skate, break

That heavy dose of crazy, however, is backed up by some solid riding

the other arm and then bust a knee, the twenty-four-year-old is beyond

from a diverse international cast including Swiss halfpipe destroyer Markus

driven. And nowhere is that perseverance more evident than in her

Keller, Icelandic rail trickster Gulli Gudmundsson and a great all-terrain end

banger section in Let’s Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow – one of many

section from Swoboda himself – all produced with near-zero budget.

impressive, progressive parts from the likes of Laura Hadar, Desiree Melancon and Robin Van Gyn. “It represents us well,” says Preda about the film. “We basically fuck up everything we do, but that’s what makes it ‘us’.”

Says Scholler: “The concept behind this is that there is no concept; I focused on making a movie that people can feel. I want to make

Gemma Freeman

something different to all the other movies out there. The ‘acting’ should never compensate for the riding, but it makes the movie personal to people and hopefully [it will make them] laugh.”

www.peepshowfilms.com www.lovedistribution.at

22 HUCK

Ed Andrews

Come and see us at ISPO on Stand 100/611, BN07 in Hall C2.

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STAY STRONG Amateur skateboarder Mike Franklin refuses to let an accident stand in his way. Text Jay Riggio & Photography Chris Ortiz

The comfort of routine prepares us for nothing. It blocks our view down the

That’s awesome.’ And [he] was determined to save my leg.”

ever fragile tunnel of life, and lets us forget that we live at the mercy of a

Utilising the muscle and an artery from his left foot, the right leg was

roll of the dice. For twenty-four-year-old amateur skater Mike Franklin, all it

saved. But after a month in hospital, Mike’s optimism started to dwindle.

took was a split second to be reminded of this fact.

Missing skating and questioning whether he’d ever skate again, he

Mike began to surface in the skate media just two years ago. With his

received a random call from legendary skateboarder John Cardiel – who

skate-anything skills and powerful style, he quickly made a name for himself

in 2003 suffered a serious spinal cord injury when he was accidently run

as one of skateboarding’s ams on the rise. And with a handful of solid

over by a trailer.

sponsors including World Industries, Mike’s love was quickly blossoming into a career. But in March this year, that dream was almost destroyed.

“I almost dropped the phone ’cause I was so surprised. He basically told me to keep my head up and that I would get through this – to stay

“I was back in my hometown of Santa Clarita because I had a party out

strong and that I’d be back on the board. And at that moment I fucking

there for my birthday,” Mike explains. “I was riding my Harley over to the

knew I would skate again,” remembers Mike. “It was the most inspiring

bank and was making a left at an intersection when a lady ran a light at

thing ever hearing that from John. He was told he would never walk again

sixty miles per hour straight into me, sending me flying sixty feet.”

and he basically said, ‘Fuck you,’ and is now back on the board! He’s the

The extent of Mike’s injuries is almost too grim to recount: an exploded

gnarliest dude ever!”

ankle; both leg bones broken completely in half; muscle and all of the

Mike has already been able to step on his board, cruising around and

arteries literally ripped from his right leg; a broken shoulder; a fractured

even doing 50 50s on a small quarterpipe. He’s hoping that in a few months

neck. Yep, you guessed it – gnarly as fuck.

his leg will be strong enough for him to skate full-force.

Truth is, Mike almost lost his right leg. In fact, doctors were ninety per

“This accident has been a trip. Life can be taken from you in a split

cent sure they would have to amputate it from the knee down. But instead

second and nothing in life is guaranteed,” he says. “I’m just going to enjoy

of obsessing about that dark possibility, Mike focused on the positive

life the way I want to right now, stay positive and not let stupid little things

energy exuded by a skate poster mounted near his hospital bed – an action

bother me or stress me out.”

shot where he took centre stage. “The first day I was in the hospital my friends hung my World Industries poster on the wall. One of the surgeons saw it and was like, ‘He skates?

24 HUCK

To order Mike’s World Industries Benefit Board go to: www.worldindustries.com/mikefranklin-benefit-board.

CHAD TIM TIM ALASKA - U.S.A PHOTOS BY ELEMENT ADVOCATE: BRIAN GABERMAN ELEMENTEUROPE.COM

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S c a n f o r m o r e i n f o r m at i o n G e t f r e e a p p at : h t t p : / / G e t ta G . m o b i

boom time! The story of the boombox is a story of change. Text Mat Osman & Photography Lyle Owerko

“The mixtape overthrew the Shah of Iran.” Photographer Lyle Owerko is mimicking the sing-song speech of hip hop pioneer Fab Five Freddy as he recounts one of the hundreds of stories that didn’t make it into his book, The Boombox Project: The Machines, the Music and the Urban Underground. It’s a huge project – an encyclopaedic history of those ubiquitous, briefcase-sized tape decks that soundtracked much of the eighties. And Owerko makes an unlikely historian – a quietly spoken Canadian photographer best known for his iconic shots of 9/11 that graced Time magazine’s cover in the week after the attacks. So how, and why, did he segue down this path? “I always had a boombox playing when I was painting as a kid,” explains Lyle. “I planned to do a book of just photos of boomboxes... But I discovered there are so many people worth talking to.” So began a year-long process of working backwards to find the originators of the boombox phenomenon – Kool Moe Dee, Spike Lee, Fab Five Freddy, Don Letts and the Beastie Boys among them – and retell their tales. Ground zero for this heady mix of cultures was the South Bronx, one of New York’s poorest neighbourhoods, where a generation of MCs, breakdancers and graffiti artists were honing their skills. And at the centre of everything, was the guy with the boombox. “New York radio sucked – everyone knew this,” says Lyle, “so where music happened was on the streets and the boombox became a vessel for change… It was a battle shield and a signature of sorts. It was democratic and easy to use – anyone could take it on themselves to use a boombox to record something, to broadcast a point of view.” The ’box, according to Lyle, was the eighties equivalent of Spotify – a conduit through which music was shared. All kinds of New York meeting places, from city parks to basketball courts, reverberated to the boombox beat: Grandmaster Flash and Kool Herc in the Bronx; Latin sounds in Spanish Harlem; the Ramones down on the Bowery. And mixtapes, which sliced together original tracks, were passed around like sacred texts. As for that Fab Five Freddy quote: apparently it was mixtapes featuring revolution leader Ayatollah Khomeini, recorded by displaced Iranian kids in Paris, then sent to their friends back in Tehran, that sowed the seeds for his return to overthrow the Shah in 1979. From street parties to revolution, from the Bronx to Tehran, this is the story of a technology that changed the world. The Boombox Project: The Machines, the Music and the Urban Underground by Lyle Owerko is published by Abrams. www.abramsbooks.com

26 HUCK

nixonnow.com/santigold nixonnow.com

28 HUCK

Will the real Shaun White please stand up? Is he a skateboarder, a snowboarder or something in between? Text TOM EAGAR & PAPER TOY TOUGUI

“I get a lot of people asking what sport I would choose if I had to decide,”

snowboarding between November and April, then skating away the

says pro snowboarder Shaun White, days after winning the skate vert finals

summer months. But as transferable as his skills may be, alternating

at the Las Vegas stop of the Dew Tour. “And I would say skateboarding,

between the two – and trying to kill it at contests against guys who ride

because it doesn’t take as much effort. I don’t have to go to the mountains

all year round – must be challenging. “It’s the most frustrating thing!”

– I can just go to the local skate park. I can skate park or vert.”

confirms White. “Waking up one day and you don’t know how to do an

It’s this adaptability that has helped the twenty-four-year-old win

ollie! […] You had your kickflip down. You could do it every try. And all

each of the three skate events he entered in this year’s Dew Tour. Pretty

of a sudden somebody’s like, ‘Oh, take a long break and then try to do

impressive for a snowboarder, right? But there’s more: with a gold medal

it in front of a bunch of people on television.’ [Laughs] It’s so frustrating

from the 2007 Summer X Games, Shaun White is the first, and only,

because you have to re-learn it every single time.”

person to have claimed gold at both the summer and winter events. So what makes the super-sliding overlord so prolific in both scenes?

He adds: “[As] I’m getting older, it’s actually gotten easier to switch back and forth, whereas before, when I was younger, it would take me

“Most snowboarders can skateboard,” says White. “[But] nobody

months to re-learn all the tricks [in skateboarding] before I could go do

tries to compete like I do.” The high-achiever has more than cemented

them again. There’s something about the muscle memory and being

his place in the public eye, having adorned two Rolling Stone covers this

older [that] has helped me a lot to get right back into it. But yeah, it’s

year, toured every talk-show sofa from Oprah to Letterman, and strutted

very frustrating.”

bare-chested down the red carpet at the MTV Movie Awards. With the

There’s little doubt that snowboarding provides White with his main

recent release of his new video game, Shaun White Skateboarding, and

source of income. It is, after all, the bedrock of his mainstream fame. So

the Beijing Air & Style presented by Shaun White comp in December, the

when it comes to his master plan, is skateboarding simply a hedonistic

Flying Tomato’s name has been popping up everywhere. Everywhere,

aside? “I don’t have a bunch of skateboard sponsors, which is cool,” says

that is, except one place.

the two-time Olympic snowboard champ. “I do it because I like to. It’s

It came as a surprise to hear that White didn’t feature among the

funny because a lot of the guys that see me at the ramp are like, ‘You

riders confirmed in November to compete at the forthcoming 2011 Winter

don’t even need to be here,’ because of my success with snowboarding.

X Games 15 in Aspen. Which begs the question: between skateboarding,

But that’s even more reason to be there I find, just for the hell of it. […]

mainstream TV appearances and brand-endorsement duties, is he finding

During the Olympic qualifiers, I was skating every night at the ramp there,

it hard to make time for snow?

messing around and just having a good time. It’s what I like to do. It’s kind

“It’s kind of like [having] different parents,” says White, “you’re

of like how I burn off the stress.”

splitting the time and it’s like, ‘Who really gets the most time?’” And his

As the first snowboarder to have traversed into the mainstream

fans are only beginning to register his double life. “What’s bizarre is that

spotlight, Shaun White is something of an anomaly. But his story isn’t

I’ve met people that didn’t really know I skateboard. [They’re] like, ‘Hey

totally unique. We’ve watched it unfold once before in skateboarding,

you skate? Cool!’ [But] it’s definitely crossing [over] now, to show that I

when a little kid called Tony Hawk grew up and took on the world. “He’s

do both sports and at the same level.”

the only guy I know who’s going through, or has gone through, what

Reaching a high level on both contest circuits is no mean feat. But

I’m going through. The only one I can relate to in that way,” says White.

does the ambidextrous dude feel more at home in one scene? “Because

“It’s not like we do [American] football or something where a million

I’m the guy that does both sports, I’m not really embedded in either [of

people have gone through it. Who’s to say what I’m supposed to do or

the scenes],” he says. “The guys from snowboarding hang out all the time,

not supposed to do?”

even after the season. But I disappear – I go skateboard, and I don’t really see a lot of those guys too much.” White says he tries to balance his year by concentrating on

To make your own Shaun White paper toy, download the free template at www.huckmagazine.com/features/shaunwhitepaper.

STAY STRONG sacramento’s Trash Talk are inciting a riot wherever they go. Text SHELLEY JONES & Photography GUY MARTIN

“This is one of the only things in the world that I know I’m good at,” laughs

At the show later, singer Lee Spielman frontflips off speakers, hangs

Trash Talk drummer Sam Bosson in between mouthfuls of eggs Benedict.

like a bat from ceiling beams and mounts the bar while his fans fly like

“Like, I can’t do math. I’m not a very good writer. This is the only thing that

rockets into, onto and off of everything. “It’s like, ‘Let’s go as hard as

really makes me happy.”

we can,’” says Spencer. “Whatever comes out, is what comes out.” Their

You might expect the Californians to be a little downbeat. We’re sitting

frenetic energy is infectious and they inspire the crowd to tap into their

having breakfast in a gaudy American-style diner in London and tonight

own latent frustrations with Lee growling, “The thing about fear is, most

is their last show of the year. The hardcore four-piece have been running

of us don’t feel it enough.”

circles around the globe with their new self-released record Eyes & Nines –

They may insist they’re “not doing anything extraordinary”, but

produced by Joby J. Ford of The Bronx – and have spent little more than a

they’re definitely not your average hardcore band. As individuals they

week in their native ‘best coast’ since we last hung out in August.

are distinctive – Spencer met Lee “jumping off beds and shit in a hotel

“We get tired but it’s fun,” says bassist and songwriter Spencer Pollard.

room” and says if you met guitarist Garrett Stevenson on his own, “he

“We get to travel the world as four best friends who have kind of become

probably wouldn’t say anything” – and as a collective they’ve garnered

more than best friends…” Sam chips in: “It’s what I’ve always wanted to

an eclectic fan base, with aficionados transgressing scenes, ages,

do – be in a punk band and tour the world. It’s like the coolest thing ever.”

ethnicities and gender.

And tour the world they do. From California to Boston, Germany to

“I don’t think we’d be what we are if it wasn’t for the kids who come

Japan, Australia to London and everywhere in between, Trash Talk have

and lose their minds with us,” says Sam about the motley crowd of

slept on floors, pissed-off stage managers and inspired kids from every

supporters that turn up at every show. “When it’s a good show, we feed

corner to lose their fucking minds. “I think it’s a release,” reflects Spencer,

off that. We go crazier.” And with plans to tour Mexico, South America,

who says his lyrics are inspired by sci-fi and the end of the world, which

China, Iceland and Southern Asia in the near future, shit is about to get a

is “cool to think about”. Sam explains: “When we get on stage it’s like

whole lot crazier indeed.

everything is pushed aside… The mood changes one hundred per cent… For me, it’s kind of primal.”

30 HUCK

Eyes & Nines is out now on Trash Talk Collective.

when I see everything, I can ride anything.

Chad Sayers

id2 pure Silhouette International Schmied AG, adidas Global Licensee, adidas, the 3-Bars logo, and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group Silhouette International Schmied AG, adidas Global Licensee. Le nom adidas, le logo 3-Barres et la marque aux 3 Bandes sont des marques deposĂŠes par le Groupe adidas Photo: Jordan Manley

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The Real, Real World Jon Rafman’s 9eyes project is turning Street View into a work of art. Text Andrea Kurland

Jon Rafman has been down every street in the world. He’s seen picnics,

puke and superheroes on park benches catch forty winks. There’s a little

prostitutes, car crashes and floods; penguins, elephants and kids with guns.

bit of everything in 9eyes, including the good, the bad, the ugly and the

He’s witnessed nameless fistfights and routine walks to work – everything

weird. So is this real-life menagerie a critique of modern society – of our

from the sensational to the banal.

Facebook-stalking inner voyeur? Or is it a celebration of transparency in a

But the Canadian artist is no intrepid traveller. His latest project, 9eyes,

post-Wikileaks world?

may be a compendium of photos from every corner of the globe, but the

“It’s hard to find the line separating them,” says Jon, who’s also

journey he took to get them was virtual, not real. Instead of packing up his

incorporated user-generated platforms like Second Life into his work.

camera and hitting the road, he trawled through thousands of panoramas

“There’s a mixture of mocking and critique and indictment and this

captured by Google Street View’s all-seeing nine eyes and came out with a

celebration and excitement that this is out there – that this exists! I think part

collection of images that capture the chaos of life.

of the point is that I’m trying to bring human interpretation to these images.

“I feel like Street View is documentary photography taken to its ultimate conclusion,” says the twenty-nine-year-old. “The images capture a sense of

As human beings we are constantly interpreting things; we’re interpreting creatures… we endow things with certain significance.”

authenticity, partly because there isn’t a human being behind the camera

With a string of exhibitions under his belt, and a host of shows already

creating a manipulative image, or making a starving person on the street

planned for 2011, Jon’s found a way to bring his intangible explorations

seem, like, exotic.”

into the physical world of hang-on-the-wall art. But as soon as he’s looking

Based in Montreal, Jon sits at the forefront of a new crop of net-artists

for new inspiration, you can bet he’s straight back online: “I’m looking

who see cyberspace as something of a muse. “Through the act of surfing

for virtual worlds that aren’t created from the top down… and within the

the Internet, I found this entire virtual world that kind of excited me,” he

virtual reality, I find something that’s realer than the real world. Because

explains. “It was just this new world I was able to explore. The Internet is a

often times it reveals stuff that is going on unnoticed – like secret desires,

massive giant mine of information that can be used for artistic purposes;

or hidden ideologies.”

you can comment on and critique society and celebrate the modern condition from what you can find online.” It’s clear Jon’s treasure hunts are fuelled by an excitement for “uncharted

See Jon Rafman’s work as part of Free at the New Museum, New York, until January 23, 2011.

virtual territory”, but the message behind the images is far less defined: hookers tote for business; school kids skip down the street; birds fly, people

32 HUCK

www.9eyes.tumblr.com

A R I C A

R R P.

£ 4 4 . 9 9

APPENDIX Sébastien Anex Switzerland-based SÉbastien Anex admits he was “afraid of bad weather” when he first left his career in environmental engineering to become a ski and snowboard photographer. But he soon tired of perfect conditions and began to relish trips to atmospheric slopes, like Tanigawadake in Japan, where he could capture a moodier side to the outdoors. L e f t : Nicolas Vaudroz eases into a powder turn in Tanigawadake Tenjindaira, Japan. R i g h t : The sun pops out at the end of a storm as Nicolas Vaudroz, Yoshiaki Endo and Yuichi Onobu descend through the trees. Tanigawadake Tenjindaira, Japan.

Oskar Enander Avant-garde lensman Oskar Enander felt compelled to pursue a career in photography based entirely on his love for the mountains. He may have grown up in snow-barren Gothenburg, Sweden, but after a season spent in Chamonix he was hooked. These days he resides in Switzerland, where he is broadening his oeuvre to include cycling photography. A beautiful accident in Haines, Alaska: “I was shooting some portraits at night when I shifted a light and my lens pointed right up into the sky. I fired a few shots with different shutter speeds and got this.”

D e a n ‘ Blo t t o ’ Gr a y Dean ‘Blotto’ Gray has been documenting the snowboarding life for over eleven years. As a Burton Snowboards photographer, he dedicates his life to the pursuit of visual stoke, spending two thirds of the year out on the road. His shots transcend the hackneyed action setup to include compositions of a more reportage nature. Jussi Oksanen sends it across a powder canvas after an amazing big-mountain descent in Haines, Alaska.

M a t t G e or g e s After starting out shooting skateboarders, French photographer Matt Georges turned his analogue eye onto the snow scene and soon became known for his prolific body of work. He has developed a signature style using Polaroids and antique cameras, and often experiments in the darkroom to produce images with a uniquely lo-fi, tangible quality. L e f t : A meeting of two Luddites: Filippo Kratter’s timeless Method, immortalised by Matt Georges on Polaroid film. Bardonnechia, Italy. R i g h t : JP Solberg returns to the source with a Frontside 360 in Hokkaido, Japan.

W i ll W i ssm a n Will Wissman is passionate about capturing the relationship between man and nature. Despite calling Salt Lake City – abundant with mountains and resorts – his home, the epic photographer explores his passion through documenting all kinds of activities like climbing, surfing and biking, in an attempt to illustrate the “magic of the world”. After two weeks of storms dump ten feet of snow in Haines, Alaska, Chris Coulter seizes a clearing and charges through.

T h om a s S t ö c k l i Thomas Stöckli was born in 1978 on a farm in the countryside of Switzerland. A snowboarder since ’92 and a snow shooter since ’01, he’s travelled the world chasing snow and currently mountain hops from the Alps to the Rockies to the Andes, always with his trusty camera in tow. An eruption of stoke: Nicholas Wolken gets lost in a moment. Hintertux, Austria.

Yves Suter Swiss photographer Yves Suter’s ‘office’ overlooks the crystal vistas of Lake Lucerne. His base in the small resort of Brunnen may be like his “own little paradise”, but when he’s not collaborating with friends, or self-publishing ’zines, you can find him venturing to powderladen places like Japan in search of inspiration. L e f t : All good things come to those who hike: Dominik Betschart heads to the drop-down spot on the glacier in Zermatt, Switzerland. R i g h t : Into the night: Daniel ‘Gummi’ Rietmann aims for the abyss. Hintertux, Austria.

Actionshot David: SAlomon, Actionshot Eero: nitro, lifestyleshot Silli: Crispin Cannon

David Carson read the handbook of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;goodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; graphic design. Then he tore it up, rewrote the rules and found a way to leave his mark. Interview Photography

52 HUCK

Jamie Mae

Brisick Ryan

avid Carson is an internationally

a question to ask they either raised an American

acclaimed graphic designer who

flag or a Christian flag, depending on what kind of

hit hard in the early nineties

question it was. Strange experience! Anyway, I got

with Beach Culture and Ray Gun

a postcard announcing a two-week graphic design

magazines. His work was intuitive, daring, loose.

workshop during the summer, and it described

He revolutionised the font game and turned

what they would be studying. It was for high school

traditional typographical design theory on its

seniors. I read the description and thought, ‘Wow,

head. And by fusing sophisticated, conceptual

that’s a profession? You can be creative, have fun,

ideas with child-like simplicity, he became an

make stuff and get paid?’ So I called and asked the

art star in a medium that’s generally considered

school, the University of Arizona in Tucson, if I

background. His first book, with Lewis Blackwell,

could come, and they said, ‘Sure’.

The End of Print, is the top-selling graphic design

I returned to Southern California when

book of all time. Newsweek declared that he

I was done teaching, where I had secured a

“changed the public face of graphic design”.

job with Nancy Katin [of Kanvas by Katin surf

London-based Creative Review called him “the

trunks]. I worked for a few weeks, not positive if I

most famous graphic designer on the planet”.

was really going to the graphic design workshop

And David Byrne, Nine Inch Nails and Bush

or not. Finally I told my boss, Nancy Katin,

contracted his unique eye to design their wares,

that I needed two weeks off in the middle of the

as did Pepsi, Toyota and Microsoft.

summer to attend this workshop. She told me

But his visual work is only part of it.

if I left for the workshop, I would not have a job

He lectures internationally, and has garnered

when I returned. That made the decision a bit

a cult following. He is a lifelong surfer and

more difficult, but somehow I felt I had to try

doting father. I met him in 2001 when we worked

this graphic design thing. And I did. Luckily, I

together on Big Surf, an NY-spawned single-issue

had a very cool, funny and good guy instructor,

magazine. His downtown studio was a mess.

Jackson Boelts. It’s hard to say if I would have

Never in my life had I seen so many icons on a

been as interested had I had a loser teacher. But

single computer screen. He seemed to be juggling

at the end of those two weeks it was so clear to me:

fifty jobs. I was concerned about our deadline,

that’s what I wanted to do.

the precious art sent in by contributors that lay scattered haphazardly about his floor, whether he

What do you consider to be your career

even cared. We were a couple of months late with

highlights? In terms of work I would really

the issue, but of course it won design awards, and

say Beach Culture magazine, for a number

is still talked about today.

of different reasons. It was the first time all

Which is to say that there is a lot of

my earlier training had a chance to come

chance and chaos theory in Carson’s work, but

together. I had done Transworld Skateboarding,

somehow the chips, or the cards, or the drops of

I had moved to the East Coast to do Musician

coffee, fall in perfect disorder.

and Billboard, and then I got fired for the

Some years back he moved his business

design being too radical. I’d heard that Surfer

into a small studio on the Pacific Coast Highway in

Publications were talking about doing this

Malibu. A few yards down the road was a peculiar

more experimental magazine, and I flew out to

sign: it read ‘DRUNK DRIVER’ in black, block

California to interview for the job. Beach Culture

text, with ‘CALL 911’ just below. Carson marvelled

was never intended to be a surf magazine. It

at it. When it came time to put up a sign of his

was loosely hung on this idea that people at the

own, he copied the exact font, colour, shape and

beach also enjoy other things – it was an attitude.

scale: ‘GRAPHIC DESIGNER CALL 457-5652’.

It was myself and the editor, Neil Feineman, in the back of the Surfer offices, literally in the

You were a teacher before you were a graphic

warehouse, just doing our thing. I look back now

designer. How did you make the shift? I was

and it was so pure. I was living with it around

teaching my first year at a strange little cult

the clock. We did every issue like it was our

religious school in Oregon. I had grades one

last. I was so broke I was scrounging for gas or

through twelve all day, in one room. When they had

lunch money half the time, but it didn’t matter.

We were experimenting. My thing had yet to

from not having schooling and never learning who

treatment, front row seats, bought ’em drinks.

take off at that time, but the issues still hold up

specifically the people were; the schools of thought,

It went really good, and afterward they had a

well. They shut it down about a year before the

etc. I hate to come off like I don’t follow anyone, but

Q&A, and I was shocked to see my twelve-year-

whole street culture thing kicked in, which was

there’s no one person. Growing up, I memorised all

old son raise his hand, and they brought him

a shame.

the surf mags – I can pick photos in the old mags

the microphone and he said, ‘Well, I have three

and tell you the caption. [Miki] Dora was always my

comments I wanted to make. Number one, I really

number one hero in that world.

enjoyed the show. Number two, I didn’t realise you

And then much later the work I did for Nine Inch Nails; packaging and posters and

were so funny, Dad. And number three, why were

everything. Trent Reznor was a really interesting

there more pictures of Luci than me?’

person to work with. We hit it off, and just had

I know you travel often, so describing ‘A Day in

a great working relationship. The idea that you

the Life’ might be tough. But what’s, say, a month

could interpret somebody’s music and lyrics in a

in your life like? Just in the last few months I

There’s a story I heard you tell at one of your

way that they’re happy with was really satisfying.

lectured to 1,200 people in Ireland, and then I was

talks about kids being innately creative... I

I remember getting an email from Trent when we

surfing in the Caribbean, and then I gave a lecture

think every kid is an artist and it gradually gets

were done, saying that he was really happy about

to the graduate programme in architecture at

beaten out of them as they grow up. ‘No, Billy,

the work. I put it up on my office wall.

Penn State, and now I’m in New York seeing about

cows aren’t purple’, that kind of stuff. And I

I’m also most proud of – I think it was

moving my business here. I don’t cook. People

always remember this study where a teacher

within a year of each other – getting listed in

ask where I’m based and I say, ‘I’m not sure’. I’m

went into a first grade class and asked, ‘How

The Encyclopedia of Surfing and A History of

kind of homeless right now. I love Europe. I was

many of you are artists?’ And of course the whole class raises their hands. Then he goes to

Graphic Design. Your

graphic

expanded

into

design giving

work talks

soon and

lectures. Now it seems you're renowned for both. And the talks seem to attract far more than just the visual arts crowd… My next book is called The Rules of Graphic Design, but it’s really much more than that. I think it’s about creativity and trusting yourself and using who you are in your work, whatever that work is. One of the early criticisms of my work was that it was ‘self-indulgent’ and I’d say, ‘Hell yeah it is, I’m totally into it, I’m totally absorbed in it.’ Part of me hopes it gets recognised and I wouldn’t want somebody working for me who wasn’t just as into it. Early on in my career someone wanted me to talk to this group of high

“One of the early criticisms of my work was that it was ‘self-indulgent’ and I’d say, ‘Hell yeah it is, I’m totally into it.’”

second grade and asks the same question and gets the same results, the stuff is hanging on the fridge, the parents love it, all kids raising their hands. But by the time he gets up to sixth or seventh grade and asks the same question, only a couple of kids raise their hands. It’s been beaten out of the rest of them. You once told me about a strange letter you received in the mid-nineties. Some kind of warning about the vicissitudes of highprofile success? Yes. It was early and things were going through the roof. I’d just had a front-page article in the New York Times, and it was a fax from someone I didn’t know, and it just said, ‘Congratulations on your story in the New York Times. Your phone will no doubt be ringing off the hook for some time to come. If I can offer a

finance, venture capitalist people, and I was just kind of dreading it, thinking, ‘What

thinking of moving to Biarritz... But boy – a typical

suggestion: save your money. After they build you

will I have in common with these people?’ And

day? Sometimes I wish I had one. I feel myself

up, they love to tear you down.’ At the time I just

what struck me afterwards is how almost all of

wanting for more of a base. I probably spend too

thought, ‘Oh yeah, whatever,’ but boy, did I find

them came up to get a book signed, or to make a

much time dealing with email stuff. I get a lot of

that to be true. I still feel busy, and… I was going

comment and I thought, ‘Whoa, there is a bigger

students doing assignments on me.

to say relevant, but I don’t really worry about that. My work polarises, and I decided early on not to

message here than just putting type on top of type!’ How do you like being a father? I love it, and I

pay attention to bad stuff people are saying. Daily I

What is it you like most about magazines? Unlike

love kids. It’s a little tough because when I was in

hear from people saying how inspired they are, so I

the web, mags are surprisingly social. When I

New York their mother moved them away, and has

figure why hunt down the bad stuff?

travel, I make a plan to go into the part of the city

moved them around ever since, like nine different

with the coolest mag store. I also visit the CD store

states in eight years. But one of the things I’m very

Do you ever have moments of self-doubt? I’m

and buy some new stuff ’cause I like the covers,

proud of is that I have a very close relationship

very comfortable with how I work and what I do

maybe pick up a few clothes, shoes, whatever,

with my two kids, Luci just turned eleven, and

and my eye. I know that I can look at something

have a coffee and watch the world. It’s social; it’s

Luke is twelve.

and make it good. I don’t question, I don’t wonder

I gave a lecture in New York two weeks

if something’s up to par. I do go back to old work

ago, and it was the first time either of my kids

and think it’s horrible. But then I’ll turn the page

Which artists have inspired you? I always have

had heard me lecture. It was kind of a big deal,

and see something I’m proud of. My work has

trouble with that question, and some of it comes

I was a little nervous about it. I got them special

never been something I’ve had to force

an event.

54 HUCK

TOUGH

STYLE.

Foto: c amilo Gutierrez

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BRIGHT Winter 2011 – room 113

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ANDY BENNETTS

Left to right: Frank Paul, Kevin Rankin, Sandy Lamont and Pat Kieran. "'Deef Hon' was a rubber glove who lived in the van. Whoever drove the van had to wear him and give hand signals instead of indicating! Deef Hon [Deaf Hand] was so named because he had no ears!" â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Kevin Rankin

Scotland’s North Shore surfers are made of sturdy stock, but those who went in first are the hardiest of them all. This is the story of those cold water pioneers. Text Chris Nelson

winter

Ron Gallagher, who was already surfing up there.

real surfing figurehead. Hailing from Liverpool,

playgrounds here in Northern Scotland

One trip and we were hooked. I’ve surfed all over

he spent the late seventies in Farmhouse Cottage.

than this frozen coast. Take for example,

the planet and enjoyed many different adventures,

A decade later Neil Harris resided within the chilly

the vast arenas high above sea level, where a

but I have to say nothing comes close to the spirit

walls of Middle Cottage, pushing boundaries,

multi-coloured mosaic of skiers zig-zag down

of Thurso. There’s a certain ‘Celtic magic’ that

charging harder. Chris Noble followed, quietly

leeward slopes to waiting lifts. During the dark

works its way inside you and never leaves. The

spoken, but chiselled from Scottish granite; he has

season, temperatures can drop into the minus

people, the countryside, the atmosphere and, of

shown there are still new lines to be drawn on this

twenties on high land, while the lowlands too can

course, the waves.”

ancient Celtic wave. Each has painted the canvas

here

are

obvious

with a style defined by the times – single fin lines,

feel the cutting edge of the northerly fronts that

By 1979 Kevin was living in a cottage that

blow out of the Arctic. Even the Aurora makes a

looked down over Brims Ness, an isolated point

rare appearance, dancing green, blue and purple

to the west of Thurso. Brims is a huge slab of

The four houses are part of the estate

hues on a few clear cold nights. The Vikings were

flat rock that arrows out into the North Atlantic.

of Lord Thurso, a local Member of Parliament

warned to avoid Scotland. Though they settled on

Swell arrives and lunges onto the reef from a huge

who called the castle next door his home.

the outlying islands of the Orkneys and Hebrides,

drop-off into deep water. Even on a day when all

“Thurso East was a great place to live,” says Pat.

ancient

medieval

the beaches are sleeping, there can be rideable

“It was a great community, still is. It’s still got

mainland as an inhospitable and unwelcoming

waves at Brims. The Vikings named it well, for it

that hippie sort of feeling about it.” Pat’s home

country offering rewards only to the brave,

translates as ‘Surf Point’. “I lived just a kilometre

was an open house – a place for visiting surfers

warning that those who venture there may pay

from the famous point, you could see it break from

to crash. “I’d get mates coming up to stay with

with their lives. But the Vikings did come and the

the cottage window,” says Kevin. “In summer, the

me and folk coming up just for the weekend. I

peaty moorlands were stained red from ferocious

farmer would often give me a lift down around

never locked the door. I had the place for about

battles that raged through the centuries. Names

nine at night on the back of his tractor and I would

three or four years and I never locked the door

like Skirza, Wick and Thurso stand as testament

sit out in the break alone, sometimes ’til midnight.

once. When I moved out, I picked up the key to

to the settlements that were once established in

Some of the most peaceful, content moments I’ve

hand it back to the landlord and it left this big

Scotland’s northernmost county of Caithness.

ever felt in life were sitting there, waiting for the

key-shaped hole in the dust.” Even when Pat was

And a distinct Nordic lilt still lingers in the thick,

next wave to arrive out of a mirror of glass and

away, the hospitality continued. “I think I was in

rich accent borne by local tongues.

orange red sky, dissolving into the dusk as the sun

Liverpool seeing my mother, and I came back to

Kevin Rankin first started surfing the

set late into the night. Indescribable joy! What

a note on the kitchen table from [British surfer]

North Shore of Scotland in 1976, ploughing up the

made it more special was that I was the only one

Nigel Semmens and a couple of other guys from

A9 into the eye of the storm. “We’d be travelling

there in that moment. You don’t move to a place

Cornwall. They’d legged it up here, surfed for

north with surfboards on the car through sleet

like Brims Ness to find company. Perhaps it’s

about four hours, slept in my place. Didn’t ask

and snow,” explains Kevin, “while others would

about finding yourself. Whatever it was or is, it

– didn’t need to. Surfed in the morning, then

be driving south with skis on their cars.” His first

still haunts me to this day.”

went back down south and left a note. Fantastic

chronicles

describe

this

open face carves, deep-throat barrel rides.

voyage into this new territory was with friends Ian

The hamlet that overlooks the famous

McKay and Frank Paul, “another couple of soul

rivermouth break at Thurso East has hosted a

local

searchers”. It didn’t take long for the new boys to

series of pivotal tenant surfers, each the epicentre

wetsuits drying on flagstone hearth, keeping the

attract attention. “We got flagged down by a local,

of an era. Pat Kieran was the North Shore’s first

‘open door, kettle on’ spirit alive.

– [they] just came up for a long weekend.” Today surfer

Alex

Sutherland

resides

here,

TIM NUNN

Christmas 1978 Pat drafted a letter to the Northwest Surf Club in England. He sold the dream of an empty North Shore, offering the promise of ‘a dossing space in a cottage overlooking the break’. It was a call to arms, an open invitation to all newcomers. “I remember surfing big, classic Thurso East by myself – tentotwelve-foot surf, scary. That’s why I thought I could do with a bit of company here. I’d give anybody my floor, because you do that and you meet some great people, and you’ve got some great memories. You learn a lot from other people if you just open yourself up to them.” Pat looks back at the idea that you’d have to try to encourage people to come surf world-class waves and laughs. “Today, at Thurso East, I’d say there’s hardly a good wave that goes un-surfed now. There’s always someone in the water if there’s a swell, every day of the week. You certainly couldn’t say that back then. There would be hardly a decent wave that was surfed thirty years ago. Those that

Pat Kieran.

were, were surfed by me and a handful of others. It was amazing having this wave to yourself.” Pat’s role as surfer in residence didn’t just extend to hospitality for visiting surfers. Dounreay, the former nuclear power plant around which the local economy once pivoted, was his nine-to-five, but outside this time he provided boards for any locals he could entice into the water. The barn attached to the cottage became a shaping bay; his spare room was for glassing. In ancient Celtic lore, the Selkie is a female seal that comes ashore and transforms into a beautiful maiden to take a lover

“It was 1981, I saw all these bizarre

for a night. Pat’s ‘Selkie Styx Surfboards’ carried

surfboards with fantastic designs like huge

the Thurso crew out into the line-ups. “If you go

dragons across them,” says Sheila Finlayson. “I

up in the bedroom, you can still see surfboard-

got all the girls that had been skiing and I said,

shaped resin marks on the floor,” says Pat. “God

‘I found these surfboards, has anybody got a

knows how I got away with it. They should have

wetsuit?’ I thought, ‘Well we’ve all seen the Old

thrown me out. I took the shaped blanks into the

Spice advert, how hard can it be?’ The boards

spare bedroom so I could get a bit of temperature

turned out to be Pat Kieran’s – somehow they’d

to do the resin and fibreglass. I did single fins, a

ended up in the school. We went immediately to

couple of twin fins, and I built a Stinger. Jackie, a

Brims Ness, because that’s where the waves were

girl I was going out with at the time, used to do the

that looked like an Old Spice advert.”

artwork for me, things like dragons. This would have been about 1978 or ’79.”

Brims: shallow, heavy, treacherous Brims. “We started at the Point first. We went, ‘That’s a nice big wave. That’s got a big tubey thing, let’s

have a crack at that. Ah, shit – that’s quite difficult.’ f the teachers on playground duty strain

We weren’t very successful really, but because we

their eyes, they might just spot the puffs

were young we didn’t break, although we basically

of smoke emanating from behind the bike

got pummelled. Then we tried Thurso East and

sheds. The source of the signals, a fifteen-year-

that was not good, so we kind of sussed out that we

old schoolgirl, is having a sneaky dinnertime

needed smaller, gentler waves. We started going

cigarette. Peering through the shed’s window,

out west probably every weekend and maybe once

she spots a pile of strange-looking objects

or twice a week. After about three months we all

stacked at the back – her curiosity is tweaked.

started standing up – with a very unique style.

She puts her hands up to the glass to shield her

Farr Bay, that’s where I remember going the most,

eyes and looks again.

because it is such a nice shallow, gentle beach.”

58 HUCK

TIM NUNN

KEVIN RANKIN

Ian McKay.

Sheila Finlayson.

“There’s a certain ‘Celtic magic’ that works its way inside you and never leaves. The people, the countryside, the atmosphere and, of course, the waves.” A lack of equipment wasn’t going to hold

surfing as something that could be a real positive

club, donating his time, sharing his stoke, giving

the girls back. “We started out without gloves or

force for local disenchanted youth. “There’re

lessons and lifts to the beach. The fabric and

boots,” explains Sheila. “Our wetsuits didn’t even

lots of kids kicking about a bit bored. Lots of, I

history here would have been of a different weave

fit. We had verruca socks and washing-up gloves

don’t know, aggression and adrenaline-seeking

if Pat had headed to the waves of Devon instead of

to try and keep the cold out – very gorgeous.

tendencies,” she says. “All they need to do is get

Caithness, when he decided to leave his home city

It worked a bit – worked better than nothing.”

in the water, that’ll give them plenty. They don’t

of Liverpool. “Once I’d been here and surfed this

It was only their uncompromising drive and

really access it. I think that’s a shame. If this was

wave, it really was exactly like [how] I described

sheer determination that got them past mere

down in Cornwall, it’d be mobbed. I know that

it at the time – it was like an elastic band. The

playground bravado and out into the water. “We

some other people feel differently and want to

further I got away from Caithness and that wave,

thought it was a girl’s sport. When we went to

protect their waves, but I’m personally supportive

to be honest, the tighter that band got, the more

Cornwall we got such a shock. We thought, ‘Where

of getting more youngsters into the water. I think

determined I was to get back.”

are the girls? It’s so effeminate down here.’” That

I had so much fun with it that it’d be nice to share

chance discovery gave Sheila a life-long love of

that with other kids.”

the glide. Today she still manages to get in the water every week, sometimes two or three times.

Extracted from Cold

Water

Souls:

of Surfing’s Cold Water Pioneers. When author Chris Nelson travelled to Nova Scotia for a story that ran

enjoy competing and it encourages me to surf a

in the barn, glassed in the bedroom, ridden on the

Island, Alaska, Hokkaido and many icy breaks

little bit better.”

wave. Pat is the common thread woven through

beyond in search of similar pioneers. The resulting

Today Sheila passes on that surfing stoke

the fabric of surf culture here in the extreme north

book, an exploration of surfing’s final frontiers, is out

to local grommets. Whether it’s taking them along

east of Scotland. First surfer in residence, he

now. www.coldwatersouls.com

on a run out to the beaches, allowing them to

shaped boards for those who wanted to take to the

store boards in her shed near the break or offering

sea, the same boards found by Sheila Finlayson.

words of advice and encouragement, Sheila sees

He encouraged grommets through the local surf

“Eventually, after a couple of years I managed to win the Scottish Champs. I think it’s nine or ten titles now,” she says, almost embarrassed. “I do

at Kieran hoists down a board from the

in the very first issue of HUCK, he became transfixed

wall of his cottage near Dounreay. It is

with the characters that inhabit the world’s most

a twin fin, thick with boxy rails, shaped

frigid shores. He’s ventured to Iceland, Vancouver

60 HUCK

all above board Straddling the gap between those who live the dream and those who sell it, Andreas Wiig is one pro snowboarder who seems to have the business game sussed. Text Ed Andrews + Photography Paul Calver

o you think a lot of people are

sea of energy drinks and lads-on-tour exuberance,

By the time he was sixteen, Wiig had

interested in snowboarding

Wiig seems relaxed – detached, perhaps, from the

given up playing football on a regional team

in London?” asks Andreas

juvenile antics that surround him.

to concentrate on snowboarding. Aware of his

Wiig, having just signed an

“I don’t pay much attention to it because

situational limitations, when he was nineteen

autograph for a passerby. In

I’m used to being around nineteen-year-olds,”

he headed out to spend a few months riding

fairness, the kid seemed lured in more by the small

he says diplomatically when I ask about the age

Mammoth Mountain in California with some of

throng of cameras than any recognition of who

difference between him and the rest of the team.

his friends, borrowing money from his parents to

the twenty-nine-year-old Norwegian is, and Wiig

“It’s not like I’m the old dad saying, ‘Turn it down,

fund his stay. “We went there to have fun but at

seems to have picked up on that.

guys.’ It’s not like that.”

the same time, I really wanted to get somewhere in snowboarding,” recalls Wiig, readily volunteering

It’s late September and Wiig is here

Diplomatic feels like a good starting point

fulfilling his pre-season industry duties, showing

when describing Andreas Wiig. He sits calmly, fixes

his face at a shop signing at The Snowboard

you with a courteous stare and reels off answers

And it worked. A chance collision on

Asylum in Covent Garden as one of his sponsors,

that seem considered, yet guarded at the same

the slopes with a cameraman working for prolific

Forum, tours their new film, Fuck It, around

time. But there is an intelligence that permeates

filmmaker Mike ‘Mack Dawg’ McEntire saw Wiig

Europe. It’s the first time he’s been approached on

through.

know

granted a small, nine-trick video part in 2001’s

the street. He may have claimed slopestyle gold in

exactly what he is doing. Case in point: when the

Stand and Deliver. Major sponsors soon voiced an

front of an audience of millions at the Winter X

photographer reaches for his camera, Wiig pulls

interest and Wiig has remained a prominent force

Games in both 2007 and 2008 – making him one

a beanie emblazoned with the Rockstar Energy

in snowboarding ever since, hopping between core

of the few riders to have ever beaten Shaun White

Drink logo out of his back pocket and slaps it on his

companies like (now defunct) Jeenyus, Omatic,

– but to anyone not familiar with snowboarding,

head. In an industry where youth is a meal ticket

Nitro, Electric and now Forum, while representing

Wiig is just another dude in a plaid shirt hanging

and the passage of time ticks like a bomb, you can’t

snowboarding’s

on a street corner.

help but respect him for playing the game.

way of Vans and Rockstar Energy. Indeed, Wiig

Career-wise,

Wiig

seems

his early ambition to turn pro.

mainstream-friendly

side

this

straddles an industry that can so often pull riders in

opposite directions. He is the guy who spurned the

a cruiser board to stop himself from ollieing and

understand how far he has come. Hailing from

grassroots TTR World Tour in favour of corporate

further damaging the broken ankle that put him

the small town of Asker near Oslo, Wiig started

made-for-TV spectacles like the Winter X Games

out of business for most of last season – we return

snowboarding as a “more playful” alternative to

and Dew Tour. But he’s also the guy who’s gained

to the tour bus, a large black coach with Fuck It

skiing. From age eleven, he bore the brunt of icy

respect across the board, thanks to his ability to

scrawled across the side. It’s early on in the tour,

conditions on his local mountain of Vardaasen,

balance his seasons and log solid, dependable

but the malaise has set in. Stories circulate of police

a 300m strip that only opened its slopes for a few

video parts – in classics like Video Gangs by Forum

searches, marijuana stashed in bins to avoid sniffer

months a year, building DIY kickers with friends

and more recently Standard Films’ Black Winter –

dogs and indiscreet sexual conquests. But in this

as he “was always into jumping”.

whilst still competing.

After a short walk down to the banks of

But

the River Thames – with Wiig pushing along on

consummate

order

professional,

understand it’s

important

to do. I think that is what draws a lot of people to snowboarding: the freedom to do whatever you want to do.” It’s these same trained-for-battle kids who now rival Wiig for top spot on the podium and lead slots in films. But he’s not planning on throwing in the towel just yet. When I bring up the inevitable ‘double-cork question’ (i.e. can he do them?), he answers elusively that he is “planning to do them more and more” – clearly aware that an arms race is underway, and without this trick in your arsenal, you barely stand a chance. But he’s not downtrodden about the passage of time and talks enthusiastically about younger riders he respects, like Norwegian up-and-comers Gjermund Braaten and Alek Ostreng. And he seems excited about where he’s heading too, stating that he would prefer to go “back to the roots” of freeriding towards the tail-end of his pro career. It’s becoming more apparent that, when it comes to the future, Wiig’s the kind of guy who’s got a plan mapped out. For someone who readily throws himself off cliffs (see: the now infamous and scary section on Mack Dawg’s Follow Me Around), he comes across as incredibly, well, sensible. He may joke that he’s blown his money on “booze, parties and expensive hotel rooms”, but in reality he’s invested in property, stocks and one fast car. “I’m trying to be settled when I’m done snowboarding,” he says pragmatically. “You only have so many years, so you don’t want to lose it all.” You can’t help but feel that Wiig's success has been entirely of his own making: the outcome

iconic Norwegian snowboarder Terje Haakonsen – to the point of destruction.

The bus suddenly grinds to a halt outside the venue of tonight’s premiere. And while the

of strategic calculations, as opposed to dumb luck.

Snowboarding has changed over the

rest of the Forum crew bound around excitedly,

He recalls ignoring some early career advice he

past decade since Wiig’s fateful collision with

clearly hyped to meet new faces and throw Fuck

got from the filmers of Video Gangs to not bother

that Mack Dawg filmer. It’s hard to imagine a

It-branded condoms out into the crowd, Wiig

with competitions. So what drove him down the

snowboarder of Wiig’s profile and competitive

seems to have reached a Zen-like plateau. There’s

competitive path?

success simply being discovered by chance today.

a distinct lack of ego and bravado about the guy,

“It wasn’t about winning, it was about…

Nowadays, champions are groomed from a young

just a work ethic that’s refreshingly humble for

developing myself as a rider, I think – mostly,” says

age, invested in like footballers and trained as

someone of his profile and success.

Wiig. “The contests made me a stronger rider. It

athletes at facilities like Camp Woodward in the

“It’s pretty simple: just work as hard as you

was fun too, but it wasn’t like I didn’t want to win.

US. But what does this self-made man make of how

can while you have the chance,” he says. “Talent is

The better I did, the more fun it got.”

things have changed?

only gonna take you so far. You need something besides talent. It’s [about] your ability to work hard

Though he says his decision to compete

“I think it’s pretty crazy to see how

in the US-based X Games and Dew Tour, instead

organised it is nowadays. You see all these kids with

of the global TTR Tour, has a lot to do with the

their personal trainers. I just hope that it doesn’t

And with that, he steps off the bus, ready

fact he’s based in the States, Wiig admits that he

get to a point where it’s all about the money, about

to sign autographs, smile for photos and immerse

“wouldn’t say [money] didn’t play a role”. He adds:

who can afford their own coach,” says Wiig. “Trick-

himself in the present before the future sets in

“If you are only about the money, you are not going

wise it helps, because the kids just keep getting

to reach very far, I think. It’s got to be more about

better at a younger age. But I think that sometimes

the joy of landing a perfect trick.” It’s that joy –

they don’t have the same inner motivation. When

born of a pure love for snowboarding – that creeps

someone’s not telling them what to do, they don’t

onto Wiig’s face when he recalls how he used to

know what they are supposed to do. Just go have

watch a VHS copy of the 1996 classic Subjekt:

fun on your snowboard! […] It’s more about what

Haakonsen – a much-loved film focused solely on

you want to do, not what your coach wants you

62 HUCK

and put a lot of effort into it.”

Wandering surfers gather at a commune near Belgas beach, Baleal.

64 HUCK

Seasons come and seasons go, but the surfers of Peniche are here to stay. Text Shelley Jones Photography Robin Mellor

When the Rip Curl Pro Search rolled into Peniche for the first time last year, the Portuguese city

became

permanent

fixture on surfingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s World Tour. A barrelling shore break at Supertubos and reefs at Lagide and Belgas in Baleal further north meant good conditions were near enough guaranteed. And

coastline,

this

the

aggressive

surfing

world

has flocked. But behind the glare of a thousand lenses lies an old fishing town. Fettered by

Portugalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

dictatorship residents

authoritarian

until

embraced

1974,

its

freedom

through surfing and the tourism it attracted has boomed in the time since. The streets may be buzzing when the circus is in town, but what happens when the Tour rolls on and summer comes to an end? HUCK took time out from the Rip Curl Pro Portugal 2010 to speak to the local community and get a sense of what life is like when winter sets in.

66 HUCK

Gonçalo Fortunato

Barbara Santana

Antonio ‘Leo’ Leopoldo

LOCATION Santarém City

LOCATION PENI C HE

LOCATION Baleal

O CC U PAT I O N SurfER

O CC U PAT I O N Ar t i s t

O CC U PAT I O N shaper + Surf Camp owner

AGE 20

AGE 30

AGE 42

During the months of summer,

Barbara

and most of winter too, you can

Santana

find Gonçalo’s beat-up orange

Manhattan in 1994 while her

surfer,

van in the car park at Lagide,

parents looked for work. Despite

antiquated art of shaping in

or down the road at Belgas, the

being halfway through her art

1992 as a way to be involved in

beach where the Rip Curl Pro

studies at NYU, Barbara moved

the sport full-time. But despite

Portugal drew to a close and

back to Peniche seven years later

a year of tutelage in South

Kelly Slater tightened his grip

and opened her own studio.

Africa under the masterful eye

Peniche,

but

was

born

moved

on the 2010 World Title.

Leo was born and bred in Peniche. A second-generation he

took

the

of talented J-Bay shaper Glen “I was working with paint,

D’Arcy, Leo made little revenue.

floods

ceramics, sculpture, glass and

“Since surfboards have been

during

all types of materials,” says

mass-produced, sales have gone

Barbara. “But I had to close

down,” he reflects. “So I had to

again during the winter. For

last year – the business from

change direction.”

unemployed

tourists in the summer was not

difficult to find a stable surf-

enough to pay the bills. Now

Although

related job. “Whenever there’s

I just do it in my free time. I

shaping

company

surf I’ll drive to find it,” says the

collect garbage from the beach

Surfboards out of his garage, Leo

swell-searching dude.

and I do some paintings. It’s

opened Peniche Surf Camp with

nice to get the rubbish and turn

his brother in 2004 and business

The

surf

Peniche the

industry

with

season

work

and

deserts

Gonçalo,

Provided his van doesn’t break

it into something beautiful.”

has

soared.

still

runs

“People

his

Phynix

didn’t

understand [the first surfers in

down and the waves are good, As well as volunteering for

Peniche] because of their long

the

Foundation,

hair and [scruffy] clothes… They

Barbara has been working on

would travel down in vans and

government-funded

cars and stay in Supertubos or

R e s in s t r ip e b o n d e d f l e e c e M a g ic t r e e t e e

Surf Centre in Peniche. “After

Baleal all winter.” But it was

the

you’re

a culture that would end up

ALL BY RIP CURL

only going to see one or two

defining his life. “When I was a

cars in the car park,” she

kid we made polystyrene boards

acknowledges.

little

and tried to catch waves in the

community in the winter… But

white water,” he laughs. “I was

life for Gonçalo is pretty much a beach.

Surfrider new

championship

“It’s

I’m happy here.”

always in love with the sea.”

N a v a j o p o nc h o Blu e d e nim e l a s tic a t e d j e a n s

www.penichesurfcamp.com

ALL BY RIP CURL

C l a s s ic c r e w s w e a t e r BY RIP CURL

Hanalei Reponty

Katrin Garz

Diogo Santos

LOCATION S Y D NEY

LOCATION Baleal

LOCATION Caldas da Rainha

O CC U PAT I O N Model + freesurfer

O CC U PAT I O N Yoga instructor

O CC U PAT I O N BMXer

AGE 19

AGE 44

AGE 20

Hanalei Reponty, Rip Curl’s

In a little field above Belgas there

While

poster girl, may not be local to

is a pop-up anarchist village

raison d’être for the majority

these shores, but as a regular

where hippie dudes smoke weed

fixture on the World Tour, she

and dogs run around happy.

seeking

knows when a surf community

Katrin Garz had to relocate there

other subcultures blossoming

has something special going on.

after her home was repossessed

away from the water’s edge.

“The Hanalei Show is a different

for

BMXer Diogo Santos is one

eye on surf contests,” enthuses

“Peniche is an old fishing town,”

Hanalei about her vlog series.

says Katrin. “But if they make

“Because all you usually see is a

it new and fancy it will end up

Riding at Peniche’s only skate

heat, or a couple of interviews.

shitty like a lot of tourist places. I

park just inside the tall stone

But there’s so much more when

hope they keep it under control.”

walls of the old town, he cuts

tourism

developments.

you’re actually here.”

surfing

may

Portugal’s society,

adrenalinthere

are

such dissenter.

a lone figure. But back home Although Katrin started life in

down

Hanalei is passionate about

Germany, representing artists

BMXing is a way of life. “I don’t

surfing – getting her first waves

like Iron Maiden and Deep

surf,” laughs Diogo. “A lot of

as a tiny five-year-old nipper

Purple as part of EMI Records,

people further [inland] don’t.”

in Tahiti – and wants to make

the free-spirited surfer gave it all

the

Tour

the

coast

Caldas,

transparent.

up to study yoga in the Bahamas

With surfing as the country’s

“I see the real side of it,” she

and found herself in Peniche

prize sporty export, activities

says. “People think it’s easy but

seven years ago.

like BMXing and skateboarding

everyone works really hard.”

are a rebellious alternative. “You can earn a lot in summer but

But thanks to companies like

Not only does she inspire girls

now there’s nothing,” says Katrin,

Fit Bike Co. and MFO BMX,

to get in the water as a coach on

who makes ends meet as a yoga

says Diogo, the local scenes

the Rip Curl Girls Tour, she is

instructor at a nearby surf camp.

also an ardent advocate of Rip

“But I like the time that is starting

Curl Planet – the brand’s ethical

now – the quiet of the ocean,

initiative – and has just signed to

surfing on your own, being on the

Seaside jacket Em b o s s e d d e nim p a nt

Elite, a model agency in Paris.

beach… This place has a special

ALL BY RIP CURL

are well nurtured

charm in the winter.” live.ripcurl.com www.surfyogacamp.com

68 HUCK

the

Ap a c h e d e nim s h o r t s An a s a z i s h i r t T ippi f u r - lin e d h o o d y R I P Z I SS T RA P P ER HA T

T r a il e r p a r k s h i r t S k in d e e p l e g g in g s P lum a t e e

ALL BY RIP CURL

w w w . r ipcu r l . c o m

Christophe Margot 70 HUCK

Nissan Outdoor Games.

Big-mountain snowboarding is thriving in a period of unprecedented support. But will the next generation of pro acrobats venture into the backcountry and away from the park? T e x t D a v e Z o o k + P h o t o g r a p h y C O U RTES Y O F F REERI D E W OR L D TO U R

powder, ice or anything in between, they go

Magazine’s ‘Big-Mountain Rider of the Year’ says,

fast, look for places to jump off things, and put

“All these years of focusing on the freestyle part of

themselves in compromising situations.

snowboarding didn’t give the young generation

Big-mountain events may look wild and free, but they’re far from disorganised.

a chance to get into the culture of making good turns, which is the key to big-mountain riding.”

Having grown into a well-oiled machine, big-

It’s not surprising that most kids dream

mountain snowboarding seems to be revelling

of becoming the next Shaun White, as opposed

in a period of unprecedented exposure. The

to the next de le Rue. An impressionable kid can

North Face Masters, the only multi-stop tour in

watch slow-motion replays of his favourite ripper

North America, is entering its fourth year, offers

throwing switch-corked 1260s on primetime TV

a $60,000 prize purse with equal cash rewards

whereas, in the US, big-mountain coverage is

across the genders for podium finishers and had

relegated to grainy webcasts. And accessibility is a

registration waiting-lists – as well as a handful

big issue too: only a small percentage of mountains

of high-profile pros like Travis Rice and Lucas

have the kind of terrain that can develop high-level

I squint through the hammering snow to

Debari – at every stop in 2010. The Freeride

backcountry skills. Nevertheless, anyone who has

analyse the terrain, the mountain looks as if it is

World Tour (FWT) – a mostly European circuit

ridden Squaw or Whistler – or any mountain with

slowly inhaling and puffing up its lungs. I’m at

with closed venues, select riders and higher

both a good park and good terrain – will know

Snowbird, Utah, in late January, 2010, the site for

cash incentives – has added two stops to 2011

that even a bluebird powder day can’t persuade

the first North Face Masters big-mountain stop

and introduced a juniors tour for snowboarders

some kids from venturing out of the park. The

of the season, and lake-effect snow is funneling

seventeen and under. In addition, sponsors and

explosion of freestyle snowboarding has a definite

buckets of dry powder onto the venue, covering

organisers stepped in to resurrect the World Heli

stranglehold on much of the next generation of

rocks, filling in dry patches, and creating new

Challenge in New Zealand and Alaska’s King of

riders, no matter their location.

landing zones everywhere.

the Hill event, after multi-year hiatuses.

And if the kids are getting high in the

After a dry start to the season, the

Ralph Backstrom, runner-up on the 2010

twisted irony is that the snow might now be

North Face Masters tour, sees the current upsurge

addiction.

excessive. Competition organisers are wrestling

of events as an opportune time for freeriders: “I

freestyle and their influence has grown as the

with how to let about a hundred riders cut loose

think the jib and park scene is a bit played out,”

scene has exploded. Forum is one such company.

over eighty-inches of fresh snow and not have the

he says, “it seems to have reached a solid plateau.

“As a brand that’s focused around youth-based

whole thing slide. I’m just trying to reconcile my

What a good time to revive big-mountain! […]

marketing, our audience hasn’t matured enough

decision to enter this comp, having voluntarily

The scene is young, the venues are improving…

yet to appreciate [big-mountain riding],” says

thrown myself to the monster that is big-

it’s definitely ramping up!”

Kevin Keller, Forum team manager. “I think it’s

park, the industry is definitely feeding their Many

companies

are

rooted

But the long-term success of big-mountain

something that comes with age. Kids just want to

To put it bluntly, big-mountain comps

comps is far from secure. Freestyle events – and

see guys jib crazy shit and get upside down a few

are not exactly a walk in the park. Eschewing the

riders who solely spend their time circling the park

times… I don’t think that marketing freeriding is a

man-made obstacles and freshly groomed pistes

or hitting the pipe – have historically garnered

less profitable venture, but I do believe it is a less-

of freestyle events, big-mountain freeride contests

more support (and more money) from the industry

profitable one for us.”

are held at the apex of some of the world’s most

as a whole. And it’s this side of snowboarding that

Jeremy Jones, the unofficial spokesperson

extreme terrain; think cliffs, crevasses and bone-

the masses get to see. With the Dew Tour, X Games

for the big-mountain world and founder of freeride

breaking rocks. Riders typically have a day or two

and Olympic fever dominating television, and

board company Jones Snowboards, remembers

to study the venue and memorise the ideal line,

big-mountain lines making only rare appearances

the surge of freestyle riding and its impact on his

knowing they’ll be scored on line choice, fluidity,

in videos and magazines, you don’t see too many

scene: “In the early days, snowboarding was less

air and control (though exact criteria varies from

kids donning avalanche transceivers and hiking

segmented – there were no parks and everyone

comp to comp). Then, whether they’re tackling

out back. As Xavier de le Rue, Snowboarder

rode the whole mountain. Freeriding was a big

mountain competitive snowboarding.

Christophe Margot

part of the sport, but it died down a bit with all the excitement of parks. Once Alaska was discovered, [big-mountain riding] received a ton of attention because there was so much progression going on. Eventually this got stale and in the late nineties and early 2000s I could count the [number] of pro shredders in Alaska on one hand.” The frustration is palatable amongst riders who are dedicated to riding big lines and find it hard to secure support. “Freeriders don’t stand a chance in the industry. We are the lost children of snowboarding,” says Ryland Bell, a Jones team rider and big-mountain competitor. “People get stoked, companies throw a bit of money towards the top guys, then people forget about AK [Alaska] and powder and all of a sudden no one has even heard of [big-mountain pioneers] Tex [Davenport] or [Mike] Ranquet or [Matt] Goodwill or [Noah] Salasnek.” Bell and Jones touch on the cyclical nature that has defined and even plagued the success of the big-mountain scene. Tom Burt, big-mountain pioneer and current head judge for the North Face Masters tour, has seen the attention come and go firsthand: “[The] first go around for big-mountain riding came about with the late eighties, when we were trying to find the limits of what we could ride, as far as mountains [go]. This moved into the early nineties and then the focus went into the jib thing. Then in the mid-nineties the second comeback for mountain riding [came] with Johan [Olofsson], Craig [Kelly], myself etc. Then [freestyle took over with] the X Games and the Olympics in the late nineties and early 2000s along with the newer jib scene, and the third return is now, with mountainriding back in the light again.” Big-mountain comps are riding the same roller coaster. The US Extremes in Crested Butte, which started in 1995, was a flagship big-mountain event. “In my little world, watching the Extremes was the coolest thing and led me in that direction,” says Clif Dimon, who went on to win three overall titles at the Extremes and the overall North Face Masters title in 2008. But after 2004 the Extremes’ title sponsor, Subaru, pulled out and the tour was no more. Other events have suffered similar fates, with the King of the Hill and World Heli Challenge ceasing activity in 1999 and 2001 respectively. According to event director Mark Sullivan, King of the Hill became too expensive to operate when it was a heli-exclusive event. At the onset of the comp in 1993, it cost about $40 for the competitors to take one heli run. By 1999, it had more than doubled to $90. For the next event, they plan on using a combination of snowmobiles and helis. Meanwhile, the

World

Heli

Challenge

lost

international

sponsorships in the wake of 9/11 and it was not financially possible to continue the event.

72 HUCK

Nissan Tram Face 2010 Squaw Valley USA.

But if it felt like freeriding had fallen into

“I’m just stoked to see snowboarding back on

hopes: “I strive to bring freestyle to my runs, as

a crevasse, then freestyle was the new kid soaring

the mountain where it should be,” says Shannan

that is the way I would ride the mountain on any

through the air. Midway through the 2000s, the

Yates, whose five-win 2010 season included all

given day. I would hope it would inspire the park

rise of Shaun White’s unimaginable mainstream

three North Face Masters Women’s events, as

kids to get out and ride the rest of the mountain.”

fame cemented what the general public thought

well as the FWT Verbier stop.

Some even see the big-mountain arena

of when they heard the word snowboarding.

But it’s not just about revisiting the

as the only logical place to progress the sport.

Technical trickery, urban rails and aeronautical

past. A revolution is underway, spearheaded by

Even Shaun White himself wondered aloud, in

big airs – all within the confines of the halfpipe

a new breed of rider that’s neither freestyler nor

an interview a few years back, about the logic

and slopestyle course – became the flavour of

freerider – but rather an evolutionary species

of pushing a sport where you can hit an eighty-

the day. Coupled with the demise of most big-

that transcends both scenes. Riders like Nicolas

foot kicker and either get a shot that ends up in

mountain events, competitive freeriding was all

Müller and Travis Rice have spent years honing

a magazine or fall and break your leg. “There is

but forgotten.

acrobatic tricks on perfectly geometrical man-

nowhere for the sport to go but the backcountry,”

Back at Snowbird however, in the year

made obstacles, but now they’re applying those

says Nick Perata, the man behind King of the

2010, the scene is thriving, alive, screaming in my

skills to higgledy-piggledy natural terrain. Is it

Hill. “There are no limits in big-mountain. You

face and freaking me out.

freestyle? Is it freeriding? Or is it simply everything

can top out in the park or keep pushing to a

The comp that was supposed to be a

snowboarding ought to be (i.e. beyond definition)?

crevasse jump in AK [Alaska].”

two-day ordeal has become a one-day, one-run

In 2008, Quiksilver held the first Natural

With the FWT adding the juniors

event on account of relentless snowfall.

component to the tour, a promising

Waiting at the top of the venue and not

young snowboarder is now, for the

wanting to miss my turn, I check the

first time, able to consider his or her

start sheet roughly fifty-seven times in twenty minutes, folding the paper into a small square before putting it in my pocket only to pull it back out every few minutes. The steep curvature of the terrain makes viewing other riders impossible and I can’t hear the announcer, leaving an eerie calm to the air with little to do. I hear, “Three, two, one – rider on course” from the start-gate monitor and drop in. Heavy metal rattles through my head. After a kneetesting cliff-to-flat in the upper section and some fun airs through the trees, the lower zone approaches as does the proximity and energy of the crowd.

“We tend to be of the solo soul-shredder breed... these contests give us a chance to congregate.”

I’m set on a twenty-footish cliff that

competitive options before instantly latching on to the park scene. With wider

competitive

unprecedented

possibilities,

freestyle

progression

in the backcountry and in comps, and dozens of freeride events across the US, Europe and New Zealand, are we seeing, as Tom Burt suggests, a thirdwave big-mountain revival? Attracting commercial interest to

this

less-marketable

part

snowboarding may be the hinge on which the success of big-mountain events now hangs, and it’s anyone’s guess what the future holds. However, the people who wake up early to hike, or do whatever it takes to ride big lines, are the engine that propels this scene

a week ago would have landed me on

– not the decisions made in corporate

bare rocks. While chopping jump-turns through

Selection

invitational.

boardrooms. Jeremy Jones believes the will of

a six-foot-wide chute, I eye the cliff and take a

Freestyle tricks were encouraged and successfully

the freerider will always win out: “Freeriding will

moment’s pause, aim and send it. I land on my

incorporated into big-mountain lines – thanks

always come and go in the media and that is fine,

feet and ride away. The stress flows out of me as

to the elite level of riders and some minor

but hype will never affect the core rider.”

I skid to a halt at the finish and the sun almost

alterations to the natural terrain. The results

Back at the awards ceremony at Snowbird,

peeks out of the ominous clouds.

were spectacular. “The time has come to show the

the crowd congregates to hear the results. Mark

all-mountain

freestyle

It’s an amazing feeling. And despite

type of riding that we really love to do and put it

Carter and Shannan Yates walk away with the first-

(or perhaps in spite of) industry trends, the

in a contest format,” said Travis Rice, the event’s

place sword trophies. The sun fades and the air is

community that’s mushroomed out of this positive

creator, in a promotional video.

biting cold. After days of waiting for the event to

energy has never abandoned big-mountain lines.

The rodeo 7s and cab 5s seen at events

run, it’s over. Yet the crowd is amped. Everybody

“There are so many people that love freeriding and

like Natural Selection and in Absinthe Film’s

is still in their boots, drinking beers, talking

are coming out of the woodwork for these comps,”

Alaska segments have built on the progressive

about their long drives home and (what else?)

says Forrest Burki, winner of the 2010 North Face

strides taken in the nineties by the likes of Johan

getting fresh tracks tomorrow morning. I retreat

comp at Crystal Mountain, Washington. “We tend

Olofsson, Craig Kelly and Terje Haakonsen. This

in exhaustion. But as I walk away, the intensity of

to be of the solo soul-shredder breed and these

melding could continue to be the bridge that will

what’s just happened grows in perspective. The

contests give us a chance to congregate.”

open younger riders’ eyes to the full-spectrum of

collective energy of the men and women who are

For many people, the return of so many

snowboarding. Rob Kingwill, a podium finisher in

devoted to riding mountains pulses through the

world-class events is a distinctly positive thing.

both halfpipe and big-mountain comps, has high

night, and continues with no end in sight

Photography + Text Mustafah Abdulaziz

74 HUCK

Tofino, Vancouver Island, is an elemental place. Carpeted with dense rainforests and inhabited by grizzlies, the island sits slap-bang in the path of the Pacific Ring of Fire – a series of oceanic trenches and volcanic belts that terrorise coastlines around the Pacific Rim. Areas like the earthquake-plagued ‘Forbidden Plateau’ make it Canada’s most seismically active region, but with water temperatures rarely exceeding ten degrees, it’s no inferno. It’s here, amongst the fog and humidity – immortalised in John Carpenter’s 1980 horror The Fog – that the O’Neill Cold Water Classic stops for the fourth time on its cryogenic cruise. We sent Brooklyn-based photojournalist Mustafah Abdulaziz on a gonzo assignment, as part of our year-long creative brief, to capture the gnarly comp from the inside out.

The Locals As the contest kicks off, support pours out for local heroes Sepp Bruhwiler and defending champion Peter Devries. Employees of the local Live To Surf shop follow the surfers with fidelity, watching live webcasts and listening to their progress over the radio.

76 HUCK

The Aftermath Visiting surfers sprawl out in the Weigh West Resort downtown, close to the fishing wharf. Hours after clinching his title, Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Josh Kerr celebrates his victory at the Shelter restaurant where competitors, workers, media and locals gather each night. The next morning, despite a hangover and an exhausting week in glacial waters, Kerr rolls over and smiles victorious.

78 HUCK

The Backdrop The sun sets on the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve as a young local climbs over a rock towards the open water. The harsh landscape was the setting for Rupert Wainwrightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2005 remake of John Carpenterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s horror The Fog, originally released in 1980. In the film it also doubled as the US state of Alaska.

The Surfer Hawaiian prodigy John John Florence, who turns eighteen days after leaving Tofino, stands on the beach after slotting into one of the contestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only barrels. The frigid waters of North Chesterman Beach, a far cry from his native North Shore, do little to sate Florenceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wavehungry appetite. When not competing, he skateboards in town with his mother, pro-surfer Alex Florence, who introduced him to surfing at six months old www.oneill.com/cwc

80 HUCK

©Photogrpahe: Jean Charles BELMONT WORKSHOP_CREATION 2010_RCS B 453 833 91

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Give a Load of This. Seasonal swag for him and for her. A F lagstaff denim s h irt C a r ha rtt. B H e ads u p back pack Jan sp o rt H e ri tag e . C W h e e l s C arh art t. D T el egra mme E inst ein print la ndf ille d i t i o n s.co m . E La pto p sl e e v e v eja- sto re .co m . F The Believer its ni ce that.com. G B ria n Ha ns en jac ket A ltam o n t. H Zi p p o l i g h t e r C arh art t. I C a rava n c aravan sty l e .co m . J M o os e t ro ph y c a r db oa r ds a fa r i .com . K Z ISSON b e a n i e I n si g h t. L B e ar d Scar f Lazy Oaf.

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f e

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A B ro o ke Sh irt D C . B Tuc ker M e r i n o C a r d i H ow i e s. C B o n f i r e m i t t e n s H ow i e s. D BDG S n owf lak e Sw eat er Ur ba n Ou tf itte r s . E Bo n f i r e n eckwar m e r How i e s. F Co u n t ry Lau ra C h e l se a B o ots D r M a rte ns . G M el ez io bea nie WESC . H C h r i st m as J u m p e r Lazy Oaf. I Ne al Sp e r l i n g C ab l e C a r d i g an a nd P ins & N eedl es To kyo C h i ffo n B lo u se U rban Out fi t t e rs. J H a r e S n ow D o m e c aravan sty l e .co m . K Deer h ea d c a r ava nstyle .com. L C a b l e Sca r f Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; N e i l l . M Se r e n C a r d i How i e s. N Ay la Coat N i k i ta. O LC-A+ Wh it e Ja pa n E dit io n Lomogr a phy. P NOBROW: A Gra p h i c Cosm o g o n y i t sn i c e t h at.co m . Q B e l l e v u e Je an s N i k i ta.

84 HUCK

Beneath the brotherhood and bonhomie, is surfing plagued with a racist streak? Tetsuhiko Endo is ready to ask questions. Text Tetsuhiko Endo + ILLUSTRATION SWALLOW V. SPARROW

ext time you want to say something

I’m

left

paddling

shaky

circles,

to me, say it in English,” snarls the

looking around at the other stunned surfers,

bloated longboarder as he paddles

daring anyone to return my stare. There must be

back out.

others here who think I don’t belong. Let them

“Excuse

me?” We

are

surfing

Far

put a name on it.

Rockaway, New York, and I’ve just hooted all

But the racism is gone as quickly as it

two hundred-plus pounds of him into a wave, in

came. There’s no one left to fight and I’m alone in

perfect American English.

the crowd – railing at a silent sea.

“I said,” he slows down as if speaking to an idiot, “the next time you want to yell at me, try speaking English.” The rage wants to take hold, but I wrestle

What if there was an error in surfing’s genetic

it back. “Well then. That’s the last time I hoot you

code? Beneath the community and hedonism and

into a wave.”

carefree exterior, what if some old, deeply rooted

The hunchback swings his considerable

corruption in a key strand of its cultural DNA

girth to look at me, as if for the first time. “Oh, I’m

had multiplied, through coding and replication,

sorry, I thought you were one of those Brazilian

until it became an integral part of surfing?

guys heckling me in Portuguese, but you’re American, huh? My mistake.”

After my little incident at Far Rockaway, I set out to answer that question and found, very

Then I explode.

quickly, that people weren’t overly eager to talk

“I’m half Japanese you fat fuck, and if

about it. Then I get a hold of Dedon Kamathi.

you have a problem with that, I would love to go

“Beaches tend to be the last white

discuss it on the beach.” Flecks of spit jump out of

preserve in America, like hockey is to American

my mouth. I paddle toward him and he can see the

sports,” says Kamathi. He is a sixty-one-year-old

murder as I glare at him through darkly tunnelled

real estate appraiser, radio DJ and what many

vision. He shrinks back, stammering something.

Americans would colloquially refer to as a ‘black

“What?” I say, my voice breaking. “I

radical’ – which is really just a general term for

can’t fucking hear you. I said: Do. You. Have. A.

any educated black person with ideas that make

Problem with that?”

white people uncomfortable. Hell, he makes

“N, n, no,” he whispers, and paddles

me a little uncomfortable. As a member of both

around the jetty, away from this vicious, foreign-

the Black Panthers and the All-African People’s

looking savage.

Revolutionary Party, he was one of the public

figures who declared “no justice, no peace” during

compelling TV, but often misses the point. Like

is dominated by white people, but rather that

the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Today he sits on the

the larger societies of which it is a microcosm,

we only think it is. “There has been no census.

board of the Black Surfing Association, a fitting

surfing harbours only a small, marginal minority

Hawaiians, Indonesians, Japanese, Taiwanese,

post for a lifelong surfer with politics on his mind.

of snarling, made-for-primetime racists. But

Latin Americans, Mexicans, Africans, Chinese,

When I call him at his Southern California home,

there are worse types of bigotry in the hearts of

Middle-Eastern… all are surfing now,” he says.

he speaks almost uninterrupted for an hour.

men. “In sociology, there are four different types

So why don’t we see the diversity of

We spend a lot of time talking about

of discrimination,” says Ted Woods, the director

that mosaic in the industry? “I think it’s really

beach segregation, which existed in the US in

of Whitewash, a fascinating documentary on the

important for the media to acknowledge that

its most radical form during the first half of the

history of black surfing in America. “What I found

not everyone surfing is white,” says Tom Hewitt,

twentieth century. Although police sometimes

looking at surfing is that we are dealing with

founder of Umthombo, a South African NGO

enforced these rules (including an incident on

systemic discrimination. It’s not that as surfers

that, among other programmes, teaches street

Manhattan beach in which a black UCLA student

we are racist, it’s that discrimination is inherent to

kids in Durban how to surf. “It’s a bit of an

was arrested for surfing too close to a white area),

the culture of surfing as we understand it.”

indictment to only put blond-haired surfers in

And it’s also highly marketable. Through

widespread compliance to ‘social restriction’ were

media diffusion, the lily-white beach boy has

generally mono-coloured. That little nugget of

come to define surfing all over the world. “The

practices

and

norms

meant

beaches

magazines in order to sell something.” But

selling

what

the

voracious

apparatus is designed to do, and if blond hair and

lexicographic drivel may not sound too

blue eyes, or big breasts and tiny bikinis,

intimidating, but in reality it justified

or boat trips and Bintangs are what

everything from real estate policies that kept black people from buying property in coastal neighborhoods (i.e. the use of ‘restrictive covenants’ which specified that only members of a certain race could occupy or own certain properties) to the throwing of rocks at swimmers, like some enterprising social restrictors did to a black swimmer in Lake Michigan

who

had

inadvertently

crossed into a white-only area in the summer of 1919. He drowned. Despite the existence of black beaches like Chicken Bone Beach near Missouri Avenue in Atlantic City, and the various ‘Ink Wells’ in places like Martha’s Vineyard and Santa Monica,

“I think surfers need to realise that if you tell someone to get out of the water just because they are from a different place, you are no better than a racist.” Shaun Tomson

beach segregation ensured that modern

sells, then reality is just a footnote in the story of the almighty dollar. Take the well-worn tale of the birth of modern surfing:

enterprising

group

cultural ambassadors bring a regal, yet mystical island sport to the mainland and the world rejoices. That’s only one side of it, though. For the other, I need to talk to Pohaku. Tom ‛Pohaku’ Stone, is an expro surfer, waterman and scholar of Pacific Island Studies with a specialty in ancient Hawaiian sports. When I call him, he’s wary of speaking with reporters, but he agrees to discuss the sport’s creation story. The names and places are familiar, but you’ve never heard it like this before.

American surf culture was born and

“Surfing [in the context of

raised behind signs that read ‘Whites

colonialism] becomes the focal point

Only’. In Australia, an absence of beachgoers from

image of surfing is one of the dominant deterrents

or foundation for tourism in Hawaii as the

minority subsets means surf history has unfolded

[for black people],” says Kamathi. “Images

annexationists entice the wealthy to come to

in much the same way, explains Dr Clifton Evers,

dealing with the ocean – I don’t care if it’s bikinis

Hawaii and experience the ‛Sport of Kings’.

writer, academic and lecturer in Cultural Studies

or volleyball – are always portrayed as a white

George Freeth [a part Hawaiian] introduces surf-

at the University of Nottingham in Ningbo, China.

[person] in America. The whole beach character

riding to Southern California, while Alexander

[on

has been Europeanised because they want to

Hume Ford along with annexationist Sanford

Australian beaches] means this group very rarely

keep the beachfront property. Whatever white

Dole,

has to question race/ethnicity at the beach, unless

folks value, they seek to dominate and control

individuals], using Jack London’s writing skills

newcomers are different or ‘stand out’. Then the

those things. And anyone who is indigenous –

and publications in women’s magazines, takes

question will be about ‘them’ rather than ‘us’. The

fuck you. Ideological imperialism is what it is.”

the physical image of a native Hawaiian – Duke

“The

Anglo-Celtic

hegemony

whiteness is seen as normal and thus becomes invisible as a racial or ethnic category.”

“white

Lorrin

Thurston

[and

other

foreign

Kamathi may have erred in lumping

Kahanamoku – and transforms him into a Greek

people”

god for the purpose of promoting tourism... So it

into

single

coordinated, schemers,

was and is; Hawaii through the Duke’s notoriety

served hot, with generous helpings of swastikas,

but that doesn’t mean he’s completely wrong.

would establish the destination point for all

violence, lynchings and burnings of the cross. It’s

As Evers points out, it may not be that surfing

those who truly would live the native waterman

Most people prefer their race relations

86 HUCK

history-spanning

gang

greedy

life in an island setting, and California through

surfers here [in Southern California] want to run

interesting fact given that his father, Ernie, took

the image of George Freeth [part Caucasian,

away from anything controversial. They tend

Eddie Aikau under his wing during a 1972 tour

part Hawaiian] would become the image that

to be independent, small business Republican

of the country when Aikau was refused service

Americans could relate to. California would have

types and surfing for them is all about fun and

in a Durban hotel and barred from surfing

the memory and image of Freeth from which they

love and spirituality. They want to keep politics

segregated beaches due to his dark skin.

would emulate the ‛beach boy’ way of life, living

out of it, until a surf spot is threatened.”

“That was a big moment for me,” says

It’s tempting to paint surfers as unaware,

Tomson of his father’s actions, when I call him

or blissfully ignorant of racial issues, but that’s

at his Santa Barbara home. “Seeing a legend

disingenuous. In The Encyclopedia of Surfing,

refused admittance to a hotel really crystallised

Matt Warshaw postulates that surfers have never

my thinking about discrimination and racial

“From my point of view, I don’t believe

fully abandoned the idea of surfing as a Hawaiian

injustice.”

the surfing world truly knows the depth of

and therefore polynesian/mixed-race sport, with

aloha and its many meanings except what the

heroes like Duke Kahanamoku, Eddie Aikau and

“I’ve never believed that sport should

Hawaii tourism [establishment] wanted the

Dane Kealoha still revered as pioneers. Over the

be used as a political weapon. Sport is a way for

world to know about, which was tainted by

years, Surfer magazine has sent various shots

young people to come together and be exposed

the missionaries’ perspective,” he says. “As for

across the bows of racist idealogues (including a

to culture on one playing field. I mean, the first

carefree just like a Hawaiian without having to abandon their American comforts and values.” What about aloha, shaka, and the rest of the Hawaiian spirit that the surf industry sells?

So why not boycott?

the ‘shaka’ sign, its origins are not

time I realised apartheid was wrong

Hawaiian, they are Filipino – though

was when I went to the US as a boy.

it was promoted to be a very Hawaiian

The whole notion of surfing as an

thing... all of this is to appeal to Western

egalitarian playground is at the core

culture’s thirst for the exotic.”

of my being. I don’t think we [surfers] have ever had a racism problem, but

Annexation, greed, exoticism,

we do have an attitudinal problem

tourist campaigns. “We like to fit things neatly

– localism. And I’ve always equated

into these little boxes,” says Woods.

localism with racism and bigotry. I

“This goes here, that goes there, green

think surfers need to realise that if you

means go, red means stop. The idea of

tell someone to get out of the water just

a black surfer goes against our nice little

because they are from a different place,

surfing package, so it gets cut out, just

you are no better than a racist.”

like we cut out the complexities of the

Or, depending on who it is and

ancient Hawaiian surfing rituals when

how you say it, you are guilty of localism

the old view of surfing didn’t fit the

and

romanticised image of surfing when it

taking street kids to surf at the New Pier

became a more commercial entity.”

in Durban, he found the lines between

racism.

When

Hewitt

started

the two isms suddenly blurred.

This social phenomenon is what Woods refers to as “whitewashing”.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,

It’s a process that has mythologised

but I’m going to have to disagree with Shaun Tomson in this case,” he says.

the American and Australian surfer, relegated Polynesians to museums, turned black

letter to the editors from black surfer Tony Corley

“Localism was an issue for us – people didn’t

people into anomalies, women into bodies, and

in 1974 and a photo in 1967 of a black man on a

like the idea of more surfers of any colour at the

made everyone else mostly irrelevant. “You make

segregated beach in South Africa, an implicit

New Pier. But racism was a problem. There were

it clean, sterile, easy for public consumption,”

challenge to the notion of apartheid). Board

a minority few, mostly older guys, who were just

he explains. “People don’t want to know the

shaper Maurice Cole spearheaded a campaign

plain racist. When the kids first started going out

complexities of [ancient] surfing culture, like

among surfers to oust Pauline Hanson, the

to the main peak, you would hear the ‘K’ word [a

what tribal leaders did and who could surf what

leader of the anti-immigrant One Nation Party

derogatory ethnic slur] being used.”

wave, or how it related to religion. They don’t

in Australia. Even Mick Fanning, who once

The guys who were too scared to say

have time. They want to know that it was the

called writer Charlie Smith a “fucking Jew”,

anything to the kids (because racism is by nature

‘Sport of Kings’. It’s a brand. Just like Nike has its

often participates in programmes that teach

a cowardly parasite) would say things to Hewitt:

Zoom campaign and Gatorade has G.”

underprivileged, non-white children how to surf.

Discussions

race

make

poor

In 1985, Tom Carroll, Martin Potter and

advertising slogans. So, according to Kamathi,

Tom Curren all boycotted events in South Africa

the issue is seldom raised: “Black surfers talk

to protest apartheid. South African Shaun

about these kinds of things, but I think a lot of

Tomson refused to take part in the boycott – an

“They

didn’t

grow

here,

they

shouldn’t surf here.” “They are going to take over the pier.” “Of course they didn’t grow up here,” says Hewitt. “It would have been impossible for them

to have done so. They weren’t even allowed here

in the water, had guys tugging on my leash, things

that he’s Jewish, another group that, according

until recently [because of apartheid].”

stolen off the beach, almost run over, and even just

to ideological imperialism, ‘does not surf ’: “I do

simple things, like not being given my right of way

see discrimination floating around in the line-

when I’m on the peak on a wave.”

up – there are guys with negative opinions about

But the fear of a metaphorical rising tide is not a rational thing, he says. It’s based on a flawed perception: “It’s surprise and intimidation.

Through

its

unique

alchemy

Brazilians, Hawaiians with negative opinions of

That’s the crux of it. The old surfers rule the roost

lawlessness

limited

Haoles [foreigners/Caucasians]... and without

at the New Pier and they rely on kids coming

resources, surfing has a knack for producing

a doubt, being Jewish has made me sensitive

up and respecting them. When these new faces

confrontation. But being an outsider adds another

to these things. With the Holocaust and the

showed up, it caused a microcosm of the white

element. Hewitt had to sit down with the kids at

establishment of Israel, there was a real shift

fear of 1994, when Mandela was elected.”

Umthombo and prepare them for it. “You’ve got

in our thinking: you’ve got to stand up and be

White fear. Us versus them. They’re

to be cautious to not give them a reason to go off

counted. If a guy swings at you, you’ve got to swing

taking our surf spots. They’re taking our women.

on you,” he told them. “You’ve got to maintain the

back twice as hard.”

They’re taking our jobs. They’re dropping our

moral high ground. If they do twenty things wrong

property prices. Crowding our beaches.

and you do one thing wrong, you are going to be

The logic is the same for both localism

and

competition

over

the bad guy because of the stereotypes.”

and racism, according to Evers. He studied

Wilmot says he takes a similar approach.

Some months after the incident at Far Rockaway,

both with regards to the Cronulla race riots in

“When these things come up, I use them to show

I’m at a party in Manhattan when I run into a

Sydney, which famously involved members of the

these offenders how small-minded they are,

group of surfing acquaintances. Before I know

Australian surfing crew, the Bra Boys. “If localism

and make the mature decision and avoid the

it, I’m being introduced to a familiar-looking, fat

is present,” he says, “some form of ethnic or racial

confrontation – play my cards to make them look

longboarder.

discrimination can take place, as the basic logic

like the fools. Then people realise and stand up for

This is my fucking chance.

is in place. What that localism logic ends up

me, as they can easily see my good nature and see

“Have you two met?” someone asks.

manifesting or escalating into depends on what

that I’m the one being victimised.”

I get ready to swing: This degenerate? Sure have. Allow me to tell you about our last

issues come into play, the history of an area in

Wilmot, with his unfailing optimism,

terms of race/ethnic relations, or what people feel

isn’t one to let you see him sweat. But I push

is needed to differentiate between ‘local’ and ‘non-

him on what it feels like to experience racism,

But he beats me to the punch with a big

local’. Racial and ethnic prejudice is continually

and he gives me a response that manages to be

smile and a car salesman handshake. “Nah, I

used to stereotype ‘the Other’ and subsequently

both oblique, and diamond sharp: “I will never

don’t think we’ve met. You look familiar though.

fits neatly with localism.”

let anyone belittle my efforts and influence my

You surf around here?”

conversation...

They may not be the same, racism and

drive, for as a Jamaican I have grown with the

Is he dissimulating to save face? Or does

localism, but they hang out together and if you’re

persistence and motivation to achieve anything I

he really not recognise me – “can’t tell them apart”

the one caught on the outside – one of ‘them’, not

set my mind to. I have my goals and know what it

perhaps? I desperately scrutinise his face for any

one of ‘us’ – you must constantly, pathologically

will take to achieve them. For me, it is harder than

vestige of the slavering bigot that I met last time,

ask yourself which is which.

a lot of other surfers out there, but believing in

but he’s nowhere to be found. In his place is just

A guy who knows this better than most is

myself and my abilities and knowing my potential

another friendly, middle-aged surfer with an easy

Jamaican professional surfer Icah Wilmot, whose

will keep me pushing. The negativity people may

laugh and a goofy grin.

list of ‘is it localism, is it racism?’ incidents is as

swarm me with, I will use to build my strengths,

Somewhere beneath all that, I know

long as his passport is thick. “Travelling the world,

because the reason they fight against something is

there is an error in the code that only requires a

you always end up in sticky situations every now

because they are afraid.”

little bit of prodding to come tumbling back out.

and again,” he says, writing from his hotel room

This is the conviction of the oppressed –

But for now, it remains hidden and the bitter

at the ISA World Games in Peru where, a few days

the hardness of people who know well the sting of

riposte that I’ve spent my life preparing to spit at

later, a rock-throwing mob of Peruvians will chase

being told that they don’t belong.

guys like this sticks in my throat.

Australian Drew Courtney off the beach, over an

It’s summed up more bluntly by the

issue regarding heat tactics. “I’ve been harassed

usually diplomatic Tomson, when he reminds me

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The conversation moves on and I’m left alone in the crowd wondering, wondering

Avi Luzia lives in Tel-Aviv but he and Gili go back a long way. Here he heel flips over the gate of an old synagogue that's been converted into a bar.

90 HUCK

The drive through the desert-like Holy

are the authorities and hard-liners (who,

Land from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is

in my humble opinion, are completely

shorter than I expected, but an eye-

fucked in the head anyway). Everyone

opener all the same. Burnt-out shells of

else just wants to get on with life.

tanks and deserted personnel carriers

After getting lost a couple of times

litter the landscape, like skeletal remnants

in downtown J-ru, we finally hook up

of a recent past. But I didn’t come here

with Gili Levi – a larger-than-life bear of

in search of demons: that story has been

a man with a heart of gold and a hug

peddled by the blood-thirsty media

that nearly breaks your back. Gili’s self-

machine more than enough times

named skate shop sits in a regular row

already. I came here to get a taste of day-

of storefronts, sandwiched between a

to-day life. So after doing a book launch

travel agent and a place that trades in

in Tel Aviv, I got the opportunity to get on

Nepalese clothes. “I started the skate

the road and check out the skate scene

shop as everyone here was being really

in Jerusalem from the inside. I’d heard

evil to the skaters,” explains Gili. “I

that things revolved around Gili’s, the

wanted to help them out, mentor them.”

only skate shop in J-ru and a vital part

After leaving school at fifteen,

of Jewish skate history. And I wanted to

Gili ran a flea-market stall while his

meet the man for myself.

addiction to skateboarding rapidly took

Somewhere just outside Tel Aviv, I

hold. It wasn’t until his first skateboard

ask photographer Guy Pitchon – a good

broke, sometime in the mid-eighties,

friend and something of my personal

that Gili realised there wasn’t anywhere

guide – the inevitable question about

to buy a replacement. So he put his

Israeli Jews and Palestinians living in

entrepreneurial savvy into action and

harmony. He tells me in the simplest

started buying and selling second-

terms that “everyone just wants to live

hand

together in peace”. It seems that the

wheels, shoes; the bread and butter of

only people who harass the Palestinians

skateboarding life.

necessities

–

decks,

trucks,

By 2002, Gili had moved his

a place to escape. “Parents would drop

enterprise into a flat opposite the local

their kids off with me because it was

After eating we check out Gili’s

as we always [have a place to] hang

skatepark. It was a tumultuous time

safe,” explains Gili. “They would hang

shop, then make our way towards the

out… I grew up in that skate shop, and

on the city’s streets: suicide bombings

out in the shop all day watching skate

old city via a brand-new mall built out

used to ditch school just to go there…

had become a part of everyday life,

videos, then skate in the park outside.

of age-old stone. In a spooky collision of

If [Gili] hadn’t had a skate shop, I don’t

with militant groups like Hamas and

No bombs ever went off near here. I’ve

old and new, you can almost sense King

think any of us would be skating today.”

Palestinian

usually

had the shop nine years. I’ve watched it

David’s tomb deep in the foundations

The roof boasts a view over the

attacks

grow… and I never give up.”

below The GAP. And the story in the Old

Wailing Wall, a place where the Jewish

claiming

Islamic

Jihad

responsibility.

The

the same way too.”

relevant anymore… Gili’s is so important

came to define the ongoing Israeli-

Gili takes me to his favourite food

City is much the same: tourists bustle

Diaspora can unite in prayer. But there is

Palestinian conflict – with both sides

spot, Hummus Ben Sira on Ben Sira

around en masse, while shopkeepers try

another wall not far from here – an eight-

asserting claims over Jerusalem – and

Street. We sit at the counter to chow

and hawk their tat. Local skater Noam

metre tall concrete barrier between

were condoned across the board. But

down on Moroccan fish and local

‘Jimmy’ Be’er leads us through the

Israeli territory and the Palestinian West

for many Palestinians, and sympathisers

hummus and soon the complexity of

backstreets towards a roof that doubles

Bank – purpose-built to act as a divide.

abroad, they were also symptomatic of

the city comes into play. “Jerusalem is

as a secret spot. Daniel Weiss – another

We head to a spot on the ‘other’

a lack of liberty: the fallout of Palestinian

a religious place,” says Gili, letting his

local on Gili’s shop team – is already

side of the wall, and once we’re in

people having their right to freedom of

voice drop, “but unfortunately, there’s

there, letting off some post-service

Palestinian territory the change becomes

movement ostensibly denied, in what

too much religion – too many religious

steam in an army uniform and pair of

apparent. It’s like the wall stops the

they contest is their own land.

people, too many different cultures and

purple Nikes.

suicide bombs from getting through, and

With the fear of bombs at an all-time

too many problems between them.

“All my friends are in the army,” says

the money from getting out. In the space

high, shop prices fell to an all-time low

Jerusalem is where all this meets. But

Jimmy, who’s sitting out today’s session

of ten minutes, we’ve gone back fifty

and Gili seized the opportunity to open

in the end, this is what also makes it so

with a broken collarbone. “It’s a small

years. Houses are crumbling, cars are

up the shop that still stands to this day.

interesting. I have been here for thirty-

scene and there are some great street

decrepit and life looks a helluva lot more

For local skaters seeking sanctuary from

two years – born and raised right here.

spots. But the skatepark here is bad –

bleak on this side. Then I hear a noise.

the mess, Gili’s little skate shop became

I love this city, but sometimes I hate it in

it was built in the eighties and it’s not

It’s a bleating of some kind of animal,

Daniel Weiss gives a post-service salute on a rooftop overlooking the Old City.

Avi Luzia busts out a crazy transfer in a JFK memorial building in the middle of Jerusalem Forest.

This hummusiya run by former Bezalel art students in the middle of Jerusalem’s hipster district serves up the very best gloop in town.

Established in 2005, this bar, café and venue daylights as a specialist record, DVD and comic store which imports music and graphic novels from around the globe and sells homegrown Israeli music and fanzines, too.

Not only is Hakatze an LGBT-friendly venue that hosts a weekly drag night and many local bands, it was also a proud stop on the Jerusalem Pride March 2010.

and when I scan the horizon I spot

blink. As we pull away into the dark, the

two young Palestinians driving a herd

shouts of a kid ‘just doing as he’s told’

of goats along the dust track. The boys

echoes morbidly into the night.

drive their charge past us and we’re

“I cater for all skaters. Jewish,

soon surrounded by goats. What may

Christian, Muslim and Armenian,” says

be an amusing photo opportunity for us

Gili, seemingly conscious of what we’ve

is in fact, in all seriousness, a livelihood

just left behind. And that, for me, sums

for these two teenagers. It makes me

things up. Gili’s skate shop shows how

think about the divide and how the

you can be passionate about something

wall has created some kind of concrete

in the face of adversity. I’m not saying

apartheid; a physical barrier between

it offers any kind of solution to the

the haves and the have-nots.

Catch-22 of problems plaguing the Holy

We jump back into the car at the

Land; even if they had some insight,

first sign of dusk and head back to the

the authorities would never listen to a

checkpoint. Stuck in a queue, I catch

bunch of skaters anyway. What Gili’s

the eye of an Arab woman sat in the

provides is a place to belong. A place

back of a battered old Nissan. I smile at

to hang and be with like-minded peeps.

her and get nothing back. I look away,

And if the tie that binds this upbeat

look back again, and try that smile one

community is based on a passion for the

last time. Nothing. It’s then that I realise

humble skateboard, not religion, colour,

her gaze is focused straight ahead. She’s

class or creed, surely there’s gotta be

getting ready for an eighteen-year-old

something in that?

kid to point his gun in her face and order her family out of the car, which is exactly what happens after he waves us through the checkpoint without so much as a

92 HUCK

King Adz is the author of Street Knowledge, an encyclopaedia of the cultural undercurrents that shape urban life, published by HarperCollins.

This mini club plays techno and house music every weekend and welcomes a plethora of local and international deejays to play inside its bangin’ four walls.

Art meets live music at Bass Club most nights of the week, where the soundtrack can be anything from dubstep to rock ’n’ roll to African beats.

As the hub of the Jerusalem skate community, Gili’s is not just a place to get your skate-related hardwear and threads, it’s somewhere to hang out, watch skate movies and talk about anything to do with pushin’ the board.

Big-mountain snowboarder Jeremy Jones has been busy of late, introducing his new film, Deeper, to audiences across the globe. He’s ricocheted from London to New York, Stockholm to Seattle, but it’s the home that he shares with his family in Truckee, California, that is undoubtedly his “favourite place in the world”. It’s here, in the open space of Squaw Valley, that he finds a moment to catch his breath. “Any wilderness does it for me,” he says. “I just feel that I lose more and more energy when I’m away from those places.” Fully re-energised, and ready to take on whatever the season brings, Jeremy found time to pick up a camera and document his life for us.

94 HUCK

H. 95

02.12.10 / 08:30 Debating whether I should shave my moustache off in NYC before a Fox News interview. I grew it to support Movember – a moustache-growing movement that raises awareness for men’s health issues.

05.12.2010 / 08:15 In Truckee, CA, on my way to the mountain. I was unmotivated, but needed to get more time on snow. Surprisingly it was snowing at the mountain, the riding was really good and other then the lift ops, I didn’t see another rider all day.

05.12.10 / 06:45

My office. During winter I check weather sites constantly and they dictate what I am doing and where I am going. This storm was warm and had high snow levels, but ended up being the sneaky pow day of the year.

04.12.10 / 16:25 My winter consists of snowboarding in the day, hanging out with my kids in the afternoon and working at night. This is my daughter doing her first back flip during a friend’s birthday party at Northstar-at-Tahoe.

28.11.10 / 14:30 My home. When it snows hard everything else in life gets turned off. I am usually so beat from riding that I don’t shovel the snow. My main car, a Ford Focus, is buried and it’s for times like this that I have my truck.

30.11.10 / 06:50 Flying at sunrise gives me a good opportunity to scope some exotic ranges on my way east to NYC. But I could not believe my eyes at this range somewhere over Utah. There is not a road or town anywhere near this mountain and it probably goes un-ridden for years.

29.11.10 / 10:45

Doing hot laps with Ralph Backstrom and Ryland Bell on my favourite chairlift in the world, KT 22 in Squaw Valley. I ride with these guys, on this chairlift, more then anywhere else in the world so I see this view quite a lot.

01.12.10 / 21:05 Getting ready to go on stage to introduce Deeper for the final time in NYC.

04.12.10 / 12:35 On the Pacific Crest hiking in 40 mph winds. The other side of this ridge has great snow.

29.11.10 / 09:45 It’s a treat for the locals of Squaw Valley to get some good riding in, and have the mountains to themselves, before the tourist season starts after Christmas. This November was one of the best on record.

04.12.10 / 14.24

K. 96 HUCK

Donner Pass Train Tunnel. This is the closest backcountry zone to my house and I spend more time in and around the pass in summer and winter than anywhere else in the world. We use the abandoned tunnel to access the backcountry. It would be a good place to shoot a horror movie because it’s pitch black in the middle Deeper is available now on DVD at www.tetongravity.com/deeper.

pics: billabong, michael müller, jelle keppens, thomas streubel

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98 HUCK

SOURCES: INSPIRATIONS AND THINGS WE DIG. A. ‘A Tin Of Escalating Panic’ from the Hoxton Monster Supplies Store in East London, the shopfront for the Ministry of Stories, a writing centre for 8-18 year olds co-founded by Nick Hornby and inspired by Dave Eggers’ 826 National. Story names like The Day My Mum Got Ugly and The Pig That Could Go on Ice were written by junior ministers (kids) during a drop-in session. Sign up to help mentor at www.ministryofstories.org. B. The fresh thinkers at Visual Editions have die-cut all 134 pages of Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer to create a puzzlingly awesome read, www.visual-editions. com. C. 600 Black Spots: A Pop-up Book for Children of All Ages by David A. Carter. D. Queer: 25th Anniversary Edition by William S. Burroughs and screener copy of A Man Within, a recent Burroughs documentary by Yony Leyser, www.burroughsthemovie.com. E. Press notes from a preview screening of Black Swan, the Darren Aronofksy film gracing the cover of our sister magazine, Little White Lies, which has also been designed in collaboration with David Carson. F. Little White Lies postcards available from shop.littlewhitelies.co.uk. G. The Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit bike lock is pretty much the only thing guaranteed to secure your wheels (we lost another bike to thieves during the making of this issue). H. Donation sign from Swishing Sunday, an event we ran at HUCK HQ to swap old clothes and raise money for South African charity Footpath, www.footpath.co.za. I. Grolsch ticket stub from the screening of Animal Kingdom in collaboration with Little White Lies. J. Business card from The Diner in Shoreditch where we took Trash Talk for breakfast. K. The Church Of London bat decoration from our Christmas party in Dalston. L. Field Notes, the coolest stationery in town, www.fieldnotesbrand.com. M. Scrabster Tide Tables book and P&O Scottish Ferries Boarding Card from 2001, when writer Chris Nelson visited the north shore of Scotland to meet some cold water pioneers. He set off on his travels on September 11, 2001. N. Press pass for It’s Nice That: Future Content – a one-day conference for forward-thinking idealogues in the creative industry. O. Press pass from the Rip Curl Pro Portugal 2010. P. Fuck It tee by Forum. Q. Immer Nie Am Meer ‘zine by photographer Yves Suter, www.hakuin-verlag.com. R. Deftones and Best Coast tickets. S. The latest installment of anti-establishment quarterly art rag Bare Bones, which describes itself as “a timely reminder how in times of hardship, art and creativity can and always will flourish”. T. Flyer from the recent Überschnee exhibition in Geneva featuring snowboard shooters like Matt Georges and Jerome Tanon. U. Walmart receipt for groceries during the Cold Water Classic Canada 2010, courtesy of roving documentarian Mustafah Abdulaziz.

CODY TOWNSEND – SWATCH PROTEAM