Could it happen again?
Spring Schwing 2016, surfboard talk with Mayhem, Mungall, Stamps and more!
INGRE
Welcome, Juicers, to the 42nd issue of Ghetto Juice magazine and my first since Issue 32 ... and I couldn’t be more stoked to be back. Wanted to thank Joe McElroy for helping me bring this dream to life literally this time six years ago. It was a fun ride and we published about a billion photos of local surfers, and I think PT covered hundreds surfers in his Talk Show section ... and how many photographers and surfers got their very first shots published in GJ? Or their first cover like Kanoa Igarashi or Colin Moran or D. Shea and the list goes on. And here we are heading into the sunset on issue 42 and it’s going to be a lot of fun. In the meantime, you might not want to surf Lowers. That whale oil, oh it’s there still, and it’s like Spanish Fly for white pointers .... be safe! — Skip Snead, May 5, 2016
This is the Lowers we all know and love! Photo: Cat Gregory
ISSUE #42
VOL.6 #3 May/June 2016
FOUNDER and EDITOR Skip Snead skip@ghettojuicemag.com
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Neight Adamson neight@ghettojuicemag.com
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Nick Van de Kamp nick@ghettojuicemag.com
SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS Tom Cozad John Salanoa Joe Foster Hank Foto Tom Carey
PHOTOGRAPHERS Chad Wells, Dan Boehne, Cliff Endsley, Ben Ginsberg, Ted Robinson, Jeff Davis, Cat Gregory, Peter ‘PK’ King, Stan Sievers, Bob Okvist, Dave Weems, Strider Snead, Jordan Stempson, Kyle Reddington, Jeff Perez, Adrian Milla, Marcio Canavarro, Michael Latham, Ricky Birks, Tyler Crawford, Adrian Milla, Jackson Cozad, Clint McLaughlin, Lazerwolf, Cole Ferguson, Adam Walker, Nick Green, Matt Collins, Luke Forgay, D Shea Butter, Mike Townsend, Dawson Maloney, Jared Sislin, Matt Brannon, Tony Hillerby, Adam Baakadahl, John Jackson, Matt Ord, JACKSON SPENCER
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Peter ‘PT’ Townend, BUD LLAMAS, Adam Wright, Chris Cullen, CRAB & FEEB, Jeff Parker, Kris Cardinal, Stefi Kerson
CHIEF FINANCIAL AND OPERATING OFFICER Kris Cardinal kris@ghettojuicemag.com
PUBLISHERS ...when you’re name’s mike cruickshank and you just kicked everyone’s arse in the 1980 US Championships! Yew!
@ghettojuicemag
Skip Snead and Kris Cardinal
Ghetto Juice, LLC
P.O. Box 1003, San Clemente, CA 92674 Printed in USA. All rights (and lefts) reserved. Any reproduction in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Ghetto Juice, LLC is strictly prohibited unless it’s Instagram or something in which case just tag us @ghettojuicemag, shoots!
AV E R SA / / DVS S H O E S . C O M / / @ DVS S H O E S
Brian Bielmann prefers only the purest vinyl // A gift from our pals over @buttsnorkeler // Yeah, Zietz! 1st at Margies! PC: WSL-Sloane // Take Volcom Swim’s advice // Bong XXL champ Yuri Soledad #Balls PC: Hepp // Top shelf pros Fanning and Knox in HB. PC: Latham
KS in ‘90. Most likely to ... crush everyone? // Bong XXL champ Keala Kennelly. #gnarl PC: McKenna // Meet Ry and Matt from Foundation Fitness! // Bong XXL champ Dorian. Again. #Dayum // new Gj creative director neight and his super grom Carver // Flashback Friday 3’fer, Summer 2011
ED John Salanoa #HooBrah Get well soon brother! // Ian Perez is one of the Brothers Marshall. // Sponsored soul surfer guy at Blacks. PC: Endsley // GJ’s Nick Van De Kamp with Strides and Turpel. // Missing steve irwin about now // Missing the “GromPa” Verne Starr, too ... For life! PC: Okvist // Please pray for our pastor Sumo Sato! #Fcancer
Reed, Kelly, Tony ... Ethica crew!! // When the the dots disappear from the text // WSL Big Wave Tour World Champ Greg Long. PC: WSL // Ghetto Juice Summer 2016 Collection // Goofballs! Tom and daughter Summer Cozad! // Kudos Surfline! Supporting SOPF Jr. Guards! // Bong XXL champ Gold. #Mental. PC: Broza // PT and So Cal local Adriano De Souza #mates
Before They Were Famous: Andrew Doheny, 2004
THING Beach Grit by derek Rielly
Monster Whale Dies at Trestles! Karma strikes, warns Kelly Slater!
Of all god’s creatures, the whale is my favourite. Is it yours too? The Game of Thrones actor Rose Leslie describes whale thus: “Very chewy and quite fatty. My friend had had whale before, so I knew it would be quite blubbery. It was delicious. I loved it. It was smoked, so it had a lovely kind of tangy taste to it. We had it a couple of nights. I was won over. It was very yummy.” Last month, a forty-foot whale with a hump like a snow hill beached itself and died at Lower Trestles. The surfing champion Kelly Slater reported, “Anyone for a surf at Trestles? I’m sure that #BeachedWhale oil should keep the crowds to a minimum coming into summer! Sketchy. Great white sightings sure seemed to coincide with the burying of a whale 15+ years back by Trails. Not saying they weren’t around before then but they’ve
Before he hit the Big Leagues, and long before he was such a Droid, little Andrew Doheny was just another super grom with a knack for laying it on the rail on his little 5’4” Roberts surfboard. Actually, he might’ve been famous for a kid. The only difference between Andrew at 11 years old and other kids his age were the record-setting NSSA victories and the Stone on the nose of his board that would result in the support he needed from a sponsor that’s helped Andrew live the life of his dreams.---Skip Snead / Photo: Tom Cozad
been sniffing around the area consistently since then. I wonder if they can/will tow this thing back out to sea before it completely decays in the rocks or do a necropsy on it. Anybody know? Can’t help but think this (washing up right in the middle of #Lowers) is Karma for humans possibly having some part in this whale’s death and the whale sending us a message we can’t help but have a look at. A mile or two south and we probably wouldn’t take nearly as much notice. Good summer to surf the wave pool.” Do you think the ailing, but media savvy, whale identified Lowers as a significant location to die and therefore beached itself there for maximum exposure? Do you think whales are superior to other sea creatures and why? (Post your comment on BeachGrit.com!)
Nate Yeomans Officially Retires? by Kris Cardinal In and Out of the Water, Nate Yeomans is out to prove he’s more than just a Pro Surfer. At 34 years old he is still ranking 7th in North America but has been offered the epic opportunity to be the West Coast Sales Rep for ...Lost Surfboards. While Nate has every intention to continue competing in events for his current sponsor, Lost Clothing, he has also decided to be on the 9 to 5 grind with the rest of us! The opportunity to work with such an esteemed brand was not one he could pass up. From pro surfer to business man, he will never stop doing what he loves…surfing! He is happy to be home with his family and have the opportunity to spend time with his two small children. For those of you chasing your dreams of one day being a Pro Surfer, Nate has this advice to share: “Set your goals and pursue what YOU want to do, and don’t let the success of others discourage you. Don’t compare yourself to others…..Enjoy your Journey!” Photo: Tony Hillerby
Piece of Metal with Crab and Feeb
Lamb of God’s VII: Sturm und Drang. Reigning out of Richmond, Virginia, Lamb of God is easily one of the greatest metal bands on the planet. With the viscious and original vocal attack of Randy Blythe, the LOG frontman has often been compared to Pantera’s Phil Anselmo who also spits out brutal blends of mainstream death and power groove metal. After dozens of sold out world tours and selling millions of albums, I’m not going to bore you with their discography, or go into detail about every song on the new record VII: Sturm und Drang. This album will blow you away.--Crab and Feeb
ALWAYS GOOD VIBES…
ALBEE LAYER | MATT MEOLA | TORREY MEISTER | SANUK.COM
BEER COZY HOP TOP
VAGABOND PERF
GUIDE
Taylor Pai Scores Pier Bowl of the Year!!
Don’t take our word for it, take the guy who shot the photo, Stan Sievers. “This was the best wave I saw all winter!” Stan told us, without a doubt.” And starring in this southside HB pierbowl nug is Taylor Pai on the wave of the season at his home break. Doesn’t surprise us if this turns out to be the wave of the year. Only time will tell. Bring on the souths!! Photo: Stan Sievers
THING Surfing’s Glass Slippers Found in Costa Mesa!!
OCordell Surfboards’ glasser Randy is wearing them! But he’s not alone! Glassers all over California have them as well! So don’t waste another minute, get on down to your local shaping shack and drop off a 12-pack today! After all, could you walk a mile in their shoes? Doubtful.
When Taj was a grom Congrats to Taj Burrow on an epic career!! I’ll never forget the time Taj Burrow and the 1994 Australian National School Surfing Team were in So Cal to surf against the NSSA National Team. For many of the future stars it was their first time in the States. Anyway, they had stopped by the Surfing mag offices when I was a junior editor and when they were leaving I lined them all up outside the building and took this photo .... can you spot Taj, a well-wigged Hedgy or the lovely 90s CT star Serena Brooke? What about Glenn “Micro” Hall? Oh he’s in there too ... talk about a late bloomer!! -- Skip Snead
Iconic Oil Paintings of the Early ‘90s
Every year the “Pageant of the Masters” in Laguna Beach has their official poster, and in 1994 it featured a one Kelly Slater as oiled up by San Clemente-based painter Gary Prettyman. Sure Geico can save you money on car insurance but did you know this painting was inspired from the contest that put Slater on the map, the Body Glove Surfbout at Lowers when he was a kid. Yeah, I have the poster but I often think about Gary and whom he sold the original too ... if he sold it. —SS
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STUFF
Connor dand / Photo : joe foster
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H UR
RI C A NE
Story by Adam Wright Photos by Tom Cozad
M A R
IE You know in the disaster movies when some random scientist is asked, “What are the odds of xxx happening?” His answer is usually something to the effect of…”It isn’t a matter of IF it will happen, it is just a matter of WHEN.” Yes, it is cheesy when they say it…however they aren’t wrong, and the same statement definitely applies to East Pacific Hurricanes.
Could it happen again?
So the answer to the question… Can we see another ‘Hurricane Marie’ type storm? Abso-f-inglutely...we will see another storm like Marie. Like most weather events, it is just a matter of time before something gnarly spins up in Socal’s swell window. The issue that generally crops up is ‘What sort of time frame are you concerned with?’ Are talking about this upcoming season? Or the next 5-years? Or the next couple of decades? If you give something a long enough timeline the odds will eventually skew into the certain/extremelyprobably (barring some sort of world changing event like a meteor ripping the oceans off the earth. So what are the odds we will see a Marie-type storm this 2016 season? Since we are still in an El Nino pattern in the Pacific the odds are actually better than most years…however it had been a while, nearly 10-12 years, between super-swell hurricanes so there will be some hedging on the odds. Like most successful hurricane seasons, it will come down to the blend of warm water temperatures, seasonal winds, the presence of a lot of tropical moisture, and just enough stability/instability in the region to allow for tropical
Hurricane marie...
C O U LD IT H APP
EN
A G A I N? storm development. Since we are coming down from the peak of El Nino we will start to see some changes in the tropical patterns, but it will be a gradual shift and it will leave enough energy bottled up in the EPAC to power a big storm. One other thing to keep in mind is that we have only been keeping close track of these storms over the last 100-years, and really we only have about 50-60 years of good data (because we only started tossing satellites into orbit in the 1950’s). 100-years from a geological/ atmospheric standpoint isn’t even a blip on the radar…there is a very good chance that we are only seeing a small slice of a bigger global weather pattern that may slowly phase-in/out over the next several millennia and completely change the way
that weather systems in our region work. For all we know we may in a hurricane ‘drought’ compared to the real historical average. Historical statistics and over-arching weather theories aside…yes we will eventually get another storm like Marie (maybe even stronger and nastier)…but at this point I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that we see a few more storms like Marie before I get to old to enjoy them. – Adam Wright / Solspot.com
Cover Story:
Bobby O @ POINT
by Tom Cozad
Just after midnight on the evening of Hurricane Marie’s arrival, people were already standing on the beach looking out at the dark ocean, trying to gauge the size of the expected monster surf. Bombs could be heard detonating in the distance, and it was pretty obvious that come sunlight it was going to be a very big day. At 5:30 AM, Clay Crandel and a friend paddled out in the dark and, not knowing the true size of the swell yet, somehow escaped being pummeled by invisible triple overhead sets. At dawn, the Wedge had its usual ‘pump and dump’ but it was obvious that The Point was ground zero in Orange County. Surf stars and underground chargers from all over the state were either there or on the phone with someone who was. Rumor has it that one high profile surfer arrived in town during the wee
hours and had to call someone because he didn’t know where “The Point” was. “Newport has a Point?” he must’ve thought.... By mid-morning surfing’s elite were out in full force, including JOB who left the Wedge long enough to paddle out and get two of the deepest barrels of the day. Kolohe Andino styled through quite a few, and nabbed the Ghetto Juice cover (Sept. 2014). Peter Mel showed up around noon and broke his big wave leash on one of his first waves. Slater was rumored to be in the water, but soon came and headed off for real points to the north. Rob Machado was out early as well and grooved into some of the bigger bombs. Locals Spencer Pirdy, Bobby Okvist (covershot this month) and Tyler Gunter, among others, were all out in the water representing Newport well. By the second day the crowd and hype over Marie was ridiculous, and those in the know snuck off to better spots. The one good thing Marie did for Newport in particular was the sand rapids pouring north through the pier changed the configuration of the bottom, and set up one the best sandbars ever seen there, and it lasted for nearly a year! The bad thing Marie did was introduce, or reacquaint, The Point to the media and to the masses. And the next solid Hurricane swell that summer, Hurricane Simon, the fickle beachbreak ended up being the go-to spot for far too many people. Over the years since Marie, people have however undoubtly learned that while the place has its rare day... the closeouts, strong current, no parking, fierce local crowd and Blackball Flag waiting to kick you out of the water at a moments notice, is the norm.--- Tom Cozad, May 3, 2016
gudauskas. best name in surfing. All 3 of ‘em. Photo : joe foster
th Annu uice’s 6 J o tt e h G
al Sprin
g Smas
h
The murky waters of early spring Photo : Michael Latham
Geoff Brack ... so pitted! Photo : JAred Sislin
alex knost on a springtime tip. Photo : Mike Rogers
When rezzy wins, we all win. Photo : stan Sievers
Rezzy’s Springtime Review by Tom Rezvan El Nino 2016 through Spring was one for the books! It started off with a bang when I caught my best barrel ever in Huntington surfing the southside of the pier. In the 25+ years surfing Huntington I have not caught a barrel like that! With the deep water long interval swell I rode a step up 6’2” Promer Surfboard as some waves broke past Ruby’s Diner! There were only seven guys out this day. Since then there have been so many swells from both the northern and southern hemisphere that I have had no need to do any strike missions chasing waves overseas. I mean, why leave anywhere on a plane when your home break is providing waves at the cost of under $5 in gas? Haha! Every week I continue to be surfing a different wave with active NW and SW swells. One week select sand bars were providing wedging shorebreak in H.B. while everywhere else was mushy. The following week Lowers was the spot to be, and a few days later Blackies (a winter time break) in Newport had good overhead wind swell! Both summer and winter time breaks were going off just two days apart! Recently Dana Point was going off for a week straight with the combo swells and mid morning high tides! The list of spots to surf this year goes on and on. I agree that variety is the spice of life and 2016 has provided just that!
mia collins southside hb Photo : joe foster
yago dora the explora. Photo : joe foster
somewhere in south laguna. Photo : Ridge benben
“Blacks beach is f#%king sick!!!” Says Blacks regular Ian Crane, “The best thing besides the wave is the fact that you don’t need a towel to change. Straight up nude!!! It’s also one of the only spots in So Cal that you can actually get seriously worked by the waves.” Photo: Stan Sievers
Nate Zoller, Wedge by Adrian Milla. “The recent April swell seemed to come out of nowhere. No one really knew about it until after it blew up on social media. This was the first morning of the swell. Skimmers were tearing it up, especially Nate Zoller. Suddenly, he paddled out on a Catch Surfboard for one wave and this was it. Luckily I was in the right place at the right time and scored this shot of him standing tall on an absolute gem. Summer is right around the corner and it looks like it is going to be a memorable one.” - Adrian Milla
Sean davis night crawling south county. Photo : Dan boehne
lowers lover kevin schulz. Photo : cat gregory
The Transition by Cliff Endsley So far the transition into winter has been a lot easier than the last few I can remember. The typical Spring surf lull never showed. Instead the south swells started filling in just as the Norths had left. Though south swells tend to get walled up in San Diego there are a handful of spots that slip under a lot of people’s radar and can get really fun. With any luck the water will continue to warm up, the swells will keep coming and this summer will be a blast!”
Blacks Beach ... Yeah, it’s pretty sick Photo: Cliff Endsley
Springtime in so cal? Nah, makua rothman hits puerto! Photo: Zak Noyle / RVCA
WSl rookie kanoa igarashi at home between events. Photo: joe foster
The Californian's in australia have gone...
big time
A special wsl pro surfing report by Peter Townend
Courtney Conlogue winning her Quarterfinal heat at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in Western Australia. PHOTO: WSL/ Sloane
Nat Young winning his round three heat at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro. PHOTO: WSL/ Sloane
E
very year when the WSL World Tour kicks off at Snapper Rocks you wonder who’s gonna be coming out of the woodwork, who’s going to show up, who’s going to set the tone for a new season. The three event Australian season can establish momentum for a World Title run, from the sand point waves of Coolangatta, to the southern swell righthanders of Bells and finally the open ocean power of Margaret River. Right out of the gate OC’ers Kolohe and Courtney showed up making
the first finals of the year and rookie Kanoa Igarashi scored a respectable =9th at the Superbank. Courtney would keep it going, ringing the Bell for the first time and making a third straight final in West Australia. After losing a World Title in 2015 at the very end, she has the fire in her belly, the smacks of a determination to have 2016 be her year. Their fellow Californians faired well, too. Nat Young, Conner Coffin and Sage Erickson all getting some quarterfinal results.
Coffin and Igarashi are rookies and have already put reasonable results on the board in their first seasons, but the tour is a marathon not a sprint and to stay in the ‘Top 22” to requalify for 2017 it will take them getting a couple more bigger results. All that said, Wilko was dominant to open the year with back to back wins at Snapper and Bells and a quarterfinal appearance at Margaret River. The rest of the field was kind of all over the place. Kolohe’s at #4, his highest ranking ever, and
(alley-oop to the left)
Kolohe Andino winning his round three heat at the Drug Aware. PHOTO: Š WSL/ Sloane (big hack bottom left)
Conner Coffin winning his Round 4 heat with a near perfect 9.13 to advance into the Quarterfinals of the Rip Curl Pro Bells. PHOTO: WSL/ Cestari
Kanoa igarashi winning his round three heat at the quiksilver pro. PHOTO: chad wells
with a quarter of the 2016 WSL season already over he seems to have found ‘new-found’ purpose. The return of coach Mike Parsons to his fold is a bonus. “I’m feeling more mature,” said Kolohe, “and now I’m ready to listen, and I want to learn. I’m ready to be a sponge instead of a wall. I was begging Mike to come back.” Not a bad decision after Kolohe had a shocker in 2015 where he finished the year ranked 25th. While Courtney has been the most consistent of the girls with all three finals, Tyler Wright has won two of them and at the year’s end, when they make the ratings adjustments, those wins count. But as Courtney said, “I think if I started the leg off knowing I would get these results,
I would have been stoked. I’m stoked to head into Brazil with the Jeep Leader’s Jersey.” One thing for sure is the changing of the guard, especially in the men’s where - for the first time in a decade - the Californians are a big part of it and the “Top Ten” is no longer dominated by the Big 4 (Slater, Taj, Parko and Fanning). Parko is the only one hanging in the mix, although Mick has taken a sabbatical after Bells. Now it’s off to Rio, Brazil with - for the first time in memory or least for a long time four Californians in the “Top 10” and we haven’t been able to say that since the 80s days of Boothy, Curren, Kim Mearig and the Smith twins. Question is ... can they keep it going?
Current Ratings After the Rip Curl Pro, Stop #3 on the WSL Samsung Galaxy World Tour MEN 1. Matt Wilkenson AUS 2. Sebastian Zietz USA-HI 3. Italo Ferreira BRZ 4. Kolohe Andino USA-CA 5. Joel Parkinson AUS 6. Caio Ibelli BRZ 7. Julian Wilson AUS 7. Jordy Smith ZAF 9. Nat Young USA-CA 10. Adrian Buchan AUS 11. Conner Coffin USA-CA 18. Kanoa Igarashi USA-CA WOMEN 1. Courtney Conlogue USA-CA 2. Tyler Wright AUS 3. Carissa Moore USA-HI 4. Tatiana Weston-Webb USA-HI 5. Stephanie Gilmore AUS 6. Sally Fitzgibbons AUS 7. Johann Defay FRA 8. Bianca Buitendag ZAF 8. Maila Manuel USA-HI 10. Sage Erickson USA-CA 16. Lakey Peterson (injured) Courtney Conlogue rings the bell at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach on Friday April 1, 2016. PHOTO: WSL/ Cestari
For complete ratings, events, links, stories, photos and videos of everything related to the WSL, check out World Surf League - The global home of surfing
Photography and keyboarding by Chad Wells
AMERICANS Kade Matson Age 13 Hometown: San Clemente Recent Travels: Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Australia, North Shore Sponsors: FCS, Byrne Surfboards, Quiksilver, Electric San Clemente’s Kade Matson has been on a heater the past year. At just 13 he’s become the youngest surfer to win every Open division the NSSA has to offer. Kade put together a sensational 2015/16 NSSA season where he notched up extraordinary results contest after contest, including perfect 10s and an incredible 16 total victories with three conference titles!! His title in the Open Mens is most impressive, as Kade is now the youngest competitor ever to do so. “It’s obvious that Kade loves to compete,” says NSSA President Janice Aragon, “because as soon as he puts a jersey on he knows he’s got a job to do. And it’s been fun watching his progress...he’s got a bright future ahead!” But his work isn’t only about the NSSA. In the Surfing America Primes Kade stitched up the Under 14 division before the season even ended! And last year he tried his hand at the Pro Jr series and banged out two quarterfinal finishes and a semi .... are you kidding me grom!? As Kade’s TM at Quiky, I’ve seen the steady growth in his performance levels, comp results and physically. The kid’s sprouted 7 inches in the last year! He’s basically went from a size 14 Boys to a Mens small in wetsuits, leap-frogging two full wetty sizes! The phone calls are funny, too, he’ll ring up, “Uh, Wellzy, I think I need a mens small - the XS you sent is too tight!” Ha ha! But it’s no joke for Kade and with the added height has come obvious advantages with paddling speed and power. I went to Australia with him a few months ago and watched him snag a set off a heavy pack at D’bah to thread one of the best barrels of the day. Plus he’s got a little air game, great tube skills and a solid rail game. Not bad for a kid who’s only been surfing seven years!
Travelers Photographer Ricky Birks Scores A free paSS to Costa Rica with Californian Super groms BaSh MendeS & Keanu IgaraShi sto ry an d ph oto s by Ricky B i r ks A few months ago I was invited on a surf trip to Costa Rica with two hot young upstarts, Sebastian “Bash” Mendes and Keanu Igarashi. Going into this trip, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but with three days notice I booked a flight, packed my bags and left So Cal for the tropical climate of Central America. Arriving in San Jose with Keanu and our videographer, Dave, we met up Bash and his dad, Anthony, strapped the boardbags to the roof of our rent-a-car and set off on a five hour-plus ride to the coast. It wasn’t until about eight hours later in the pitch black of night in the middle of the Costa Rican jungle with a broken axle on our car that I sat back and wondered ... what exactly had I gotten myself into?
Local Ethan with Bash and Keanu.
After the repair and an hour of slow, bumpy driving, we arrived at our spot for the week: Pavones. We got the keys to our house, unpacked a little, and went straight to bed anticipating what the next day had in store. The first morning greeted us all with a pumping, off-season south swell, and, being kids and all, it took the groms a couple of days to get comfortable with the break, i.e. knowing where to sit and what waves to charge while negotiating the attitudes of the locals. Just a few of the minor obstacles they worked to overcome. It only took a couple days for the locals to realize these two young American upstarts were showing respect beyond their years and started calling them in on the bigger sets ... 700yard lefts to be exact!!
it’s Why they call him bash! Bash Mendes.
Tr avelers After sitting on the beach for a couple days watching the groms interact with the locals, and seeing the pure stoke and dedication they have for surfing, it hit at that moment that I wanted to be working with the future of this sport. Every day was high energy, surfing hours on end, eating amazing food, hiking, jumping waterfalls, and taking in the world famous Costa Rican wildlife. The boys wanted it all! But most of all, they wanted to push themselves to be better, and to do better, in everything they tried. Not only does this new generation of future professional surfers take criticism well, but they listen well and turn thought into action when it comes to surfing. And the kids were relentless! Bash would get out of the water looking tired and exhausted from a six-hour session, check out the shots I took, then politely ask, “Do you mind shooting longer?” And after a swig of Purps and a little pump up from his dad, he paddled back out for another hour! Kids these days!
But it wasn’t just about the surf. It was about the culture and doing your part as a traveling surfer! At dinner one night, Bash said, “I want to donate a board to a less fortunate kid around here!” and so his dad asked the owner of the Pavones Surf Hotel whom he thought needed the board the most, and the man replied, “Without a doubt, Ethan!” So after dinner we went home and Bash went straight to his board bag and pulled one out. Keanu opened his bag, too, and offered up a leash and fins. The following night at dinner they presented Ethan with his new board. You could see the excitement on his face, not knowing what to say or what to do. He asked his dad if he could join in on the next morning’s surf session. The three boys paddled out the next day, sat in the line up and had the time of their lives.
Boom! 6 hour sesh!
Bash.
bashing again.
Bash’s trip .... he gets the most pics!
Keanu loose in trunks.
Bash’s natural habitat.
keanu’s natural habitat.
One thing I learned after traveling with supergroms like Keanu and Bash is that kids are meant to be kids, and as long as you let them have their couple hours a day exploring and having fun, they’ll perform when it’s time to work. A thousand thanks and shakas to Noe Mar McGonagle, Tomas King, Robert August and John Stout for the warm welcome and generous hospitality and also a huge thank you to the Mendes Family for taking a chance and inviting me on a trip I will never forget. If you are thinking of heading to Costa Rica, contact Misionesdepavones@gmail. com to book your stay. You won’t regret it!
noe mar mcgonagle.
Owner of the pavones hotel flipping out!
Malik Joyeux I miss my Tahitian friend Malik. He was an accomplished allaround waterman and a professional Big Wave surfer who charged the heaviest barrels Teahupoo could offer but most of all he was my friend who taught me a lot about living and the Tahitian way of life, do unto others as you would like them to do unto you. I saw Malik grow into an amazing surfer through the years, and in 2003 he won the Billabong XXL “Tube of the Year”. Sadly Malik would pass away in December of 2005 after a bad wipeout on an 8-foot wave at Pipeline on the North Shore. It was just an 8-foot wave. But he didn’t make it, and he’s been sorely missed ever since. Long live my friend, Chopes is forever yours. Hank Foto
EST V Mayhem
A few minutes with magic hands himself Matt Biolos Mayhem. Matt Biolos. No introduction needed but we’ll give you one. Started in a shaping shack back in the day and learned the ropes from the real masters in the San Clemente ghetto. And then he started drawing and shaping and now he’s just a bloody legend. Ghetto interviews. Ghetto Juice: Tell me a little something about the boards you built for the pros for the Australian leg and the big difference, if any, between 2016 boards and 2015 ... Matt Biolos: Well, for Kolohe we went a bit more refined. Leaner with a bit more rocker throughout. Taj wasn’t too worried about things, as we learned at Margs. Wiggolly had pretty much the same thing as the second half of last year, actually very similar to Kolohe’s boards. We made a quiver for Davey Cathels that were very similar to Kolohe and Wiggs’, all based off the ‘PocketRocket’. The girls, well, ‘Rissa pretty much rode the same as last year, Malia, too. Coco upped her length and volume a bit and Tyler went with lower rail volume all around and she won two events. GJ: Approximately how many boards did you bust out and ship off to Australia this time around? MB: The thing about the AU leg is the diversity. You need boards from waist high, inside Snapper, to triple overhead Margs. We actually made a lot of the boards in Oz as well. About 1/3 of the total. We did 20 for Kolohe, 10 for Taj, 10 for Alex Ribiero, 12-15 for Wiggs, about 15 for ‘Riss, about 15 for Tyler, 12 for Davey Cathels, 10 for Coco, 8 for Malia, 6 for Alessa Q....oh, and a solid 6 pack for Mason’s Bell’s wildcard. That’s prob about it. Well over 100. GJ: Amazing! Next up is Brazil where your boards always work like magic ... same approach for the beachies of Brazil? MB: Thankfully not. Brazil is pretty straight forward. Typical favorite short
board, a grovel board or two and maybe a board for a big close out beach break. The Rio beaches have some punch, and some curve to the wave. We keep a little more curve, even in the grovel boards. Sorta like a bad day at Gravels. GJ: And then Fiji, well that’s gotta be a fun wave to shape for? Such perfection? MB: Yeah, Fiji is the best. You get to make the most pure, clean boards for there. There’s a lot of size variety, but the wave is so good, it’s like designing paint brushes for a clean white canvas. GJ: Beyond that, let’s talk shaping boards for Teahupoo. Do you feel more responsible shaping a board for deadly wave like that? I mean, everything’s gotta be right all the time, right? Or is itjust another day in the shaping bay, same deal, different size and glass job? MB: Funny you ask. I don’t think about it as much with Chopes, but I watch all the big wave stuff going on these El Niño days, and it would freak me out to see those guys on my boards. It’s so life or death. It’s a lot of responsibility. With Chopes, we have been making boards for there a long time. Cory got his big bomb there in ‘99, and won it in 2001. It seems pretty normal for me to make Chopes quivers. GJ: So what’s your specialty in that regard? MB: We glass them stronger. Heavier. Get a little momentum into them. I hide extra thickness wherever I can to aid in drive, stability and paddling. Pretty minimalistic shapes though. Very little concave, low rails, narrow tail. Not much lift. You want that foam ball and turbulence to push the tail/ board forward, not lift it up - not that I surf those waves myself (laughs), but you know, after 20 years of making them these are the things you learn. Mayhem in the Bay by Tom Patton
EST V Mungall
The family that shapes together ... Greg Mungall is a master board builder who was so far ahead of his time when it came to his use of expoxy that most of us in the industry didn’t quite realize what the hell he was doing. Was it an East Coast thing that he was trying to bring out west? It was so much more than that. He was ahead of his time and now things are catching up full circle for Greg and his board empire as surfers want better equipment and shapes from true masters of the game. Here’s the Mungall story. It’s a short version, but it gives you a great idea of the man behind the planer. “It’s not a board, it’s personal,” says Greg Mungall, who has been passionate about surfing since he was 12 years old hauling 40lb boards up the beach as a grom for the local surfers in Cocoa Beach, Florida. We can say surfing was Greg’s first love and for him, love at first sight. Greg’s always been passionate about the ocean, surfboards, surfboard construction, surfboard fins and most of all, his family. Mungall, who has been in Costa Mesa since, well, forever, was first hauled out to California by Herbie Fletcher in 1976 after Greg won the Florida Pro at First Peak at Sebastian Inlet beating the world’s best surfers. “Back then,” says Mungall, “the Floridians weren’t really liked by the West Coast surfing community or the surfing industry really, but that was ok with me.” Greg moved here with a mission to prove East Coast surfers ripped and boy did he rip. Shaun Tompson told Greg’s son Daniel at the Orlando, Florida show in 2014 that Greg gave him a run for his money in competition, and that Greg “was a fierce paddler with a fierce agenda, a loner with nothing to lose and surfing all out.” The California surf scene learned they had to deal with Greg and he was not going away, proving not only the ability to surf but also winning the famous Katin Pro surfing competition at Huntington Beach pier in 1979 against the IPS’s world champs Rabbit Bartholomew, 1976 world champ Peter Townend and Jim Banks.
As time went on he found he had a true passion for designing and constructing surfboards and fins and then realized the importance of creating better performing equipment and this landed him into the world of epoxy, Styrofoam, and his renowned Altra Suspension System. He began building boards full time in the 80s and his Altra Suspension System “stringerless board life force” were the heart of his board building mission. Greg used such material during the first Oceanside Longboard Contest in 1985 (which he won). Other competitors rode 16-17 pound superlight longboards, and Greg quietly laughed as he won the event on his 10.5 pound longboard. The power and performance his boards allowed him blew away the field. He realized the need to control the flex in his boards while giving them strength and endurance, so he turned once again, to his late father Bob Mungall. Mr. Mungall was a NASA aerodynamic engineer and together they began the process of understanding board flexes, etc, and worked together for the next 15 years until his father’s passing in 2005. Greg says, “I enjoyed all the conversations of theory of construction with my father, and the advancement of the Altra Suspension System continues to drive my passion for surfing and surfboard construction.” Greg married into West Coast surfing Royalty in 1986 when he wed Duranne Collins, the daughter of Lance Collins of Wave Tools Surfboards. Together they have four children who had no choice but to be born and raised into surfing and the surfing industry. All four children have a passion for the ocean and building boards and a few years ago Matt “Mayhem” Biolos suggested he should change the name of the company, and Greg and his son Daniel aptly renamed their surfboard company Next Generation Surfboards. Their oldest daughter Alexsis (she is a mermaid) can befound surfing and paddling and loving anything related to the ocean. Daniel built his first desktop CNC machine his freshman year in high school and as he was graduating, he built a full scale 14 foot CNC machine cutting blanks out of blocks of Styrofoam and milling them on his machine. He has since modified it to cut 18 foot race boards; he now has a passion for surfboard designs! River is the test pilot who works to surf bringing in sales here in California and more recently, Kauai. And the youngest, Dakota builds his own bodysurfing hand planes and surfboards and can be found hanging around the shop just to be with his dad. Greg’s wife Duranne, paints all the boards and does the ding repairs (give her a call on 949-610-2578). “We make boards for the love of it as a Surf Family,” says Greg. “It’s not just a board, it’s a passion, it’s family, it’s friends ... it’s personal.”
EST V Stamps
A few minutes with Courtney’s one and only shaper Tim Stamps got his start ripping on the infamous Huntington Beach High School surf team in the 80s and has since become the go-to shaper for Courtney Conlogue, aka, the most successful female Californian on tour since, dare we say, Kim Mearig? As you know Tim’s also been shaping boards for Brett Simpson since forever and has a busy shop in Huntington Beach servicing international and local surf shops as well as local bros and average Joes. Ghetto interviews! Ghetto Juice: Tell us a little about the boards you built for Courtney Conlogue for the Australian leg and the big difference, if any, between her boards in 2016 versus last year .... Tim Stamps: Well, for this year we did a few subtle changes on Courtney’s Snapper and beachbreak boards to get a bit more of what we were looking for. On the Bells and Margaret River boards we did a few remakes of some favorites and a few with some slight tweaks. Each spot is a pretty different wave, so we have the board tuned in to that with the fin placements, rockers, and contours. GJ: About how many boards did you shape for Court and ship off to Australia this year? TS: Leading up to the 2016 Australian leg of the tour we probably did a few handfuls of boards, and then a few more right before she left. We tested out some new stuff and refined but some older favorites. Courtney cycles through the new ones and she also has her older ‘proven’ favorites that go in the bag as well, so she’s got it pretty dialed. GJ: Next up is Brazil where your boards work like magic ... same approach? TS: Yeah, she’s got her boards all ready for Brazil. With her travel schedule we are always working it out in advance so everything is ready to go. She’s got all the bases covered for the ever-changing conditions down there. GJ: Beyond that Fiji .... boards are the lifeline for surfers at Cloudbreak if it’s pumping ... do you feel more responsible shaping a board for heavier reef waves opposed to pointbreaks and beachies? TS: Yeah, I can’t wait for Cloudbreak. We have those boards already worked out as well, and I’m already in the process of getting a few more shaped up. She’s put quite a bit of time out there and we have the designs of what she’s looking for and how she wants to approach the wave. There’s definitely different things we do for waves like Fiji, but there’s lots of similarities that blend in from her Bells, Margarets, Hawaii, and other powerful reef and beach break boards.
Stamps and Courtney. photo by Christina Robinson
Surfer: Heath Joske | Photo by Simon Williams © SP UNITED • GOPRO, HERO, the GOPRO logo, and the GoPro Be a Hero logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of GoPro, Inc.
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Out
theRe This is the last spread of the magazine and our chance to inspire you to get out of So Cal sometime and go explore another world. There’s a lot out there. Who knows, maybe you’ll find yourself in West Oz sitting on the shoulder of a wave staring at Noa Deane flying by in the tube. Wouldn’t it be nice? Photo by Trevor Moran / Red Bull Content Pool. NEXT ISSUE #43 Hits Surf shops on or around July 1, 2016.
YOU SHOULD BE RIDING A TWIN FIN
W A V E T O O L S Do you plan on competing in a pro tour event in the next six months? Do the waves at your local break exceed 6ft in height on a regular basis? If you answered no to both of these questions then you should, without a doubt, be riding a twin fin. I hate to tell you this but your center fin has been holding you back for years. What a drag, eh? Literally, that center fin is grabbing into the water with its little dagger tip, well designed as it may be, and creating a ton of friction. All the wiggling and pumping you are doing to make it through flat sections is just wasted energy.
Throw a little extra volume under your feet, knock that center fin out and draw that outline a bit straighter. You will change your surfing. Guaranteed you will go faster. As a side effect, you will be able to open up your turns, draw longer lines, free yourself from the wave’s pocket and lay into your back footed turns with full force. Sure, you have grown to rely on the pivot of that center fin through your bottom turns. That’s all well and good, but what, are you a toddler? Do you need training wheels? No, you don’t. Ditch the extra gear and free yourself to really ride.
See how Lance Collins and RS Elliott have updated the standard 80’s twin fin for modern surfing at: WAVET OOLSSURF.COM
SURFBOARDS SINCE 1969
Andrew Doheny hand shaping a board for Alex Knost at the Wave Tools Shop.
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WETSUIT
BOBBY OK V IST
7 S e a s We t su it
photo: Benjamin Ginsberg
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