The Red Bulletin US 07/21 by Red Bull Media House

BEYOND THE ORDINARY

U.S. EDITION JULY/AUG. 2021, $5.99

BEYOND THE ORDINARY

SURFING WITH HEART For KOLOHE ANDINO, surfing is more than a sport. It’s a way of life.

THE RED BULLETIN 07-08/2021

COMMITTED. There’s only one way to reach the top. You try and try again. There’s always failure. You learn from your past mistakes. Train some more. Gain experience. Then you try harder. Fail and fall again. You take a beating. Get hurt. And keep coming back. But in the end, when you pull past the point of no return, steady your breath, and stare down what’s between you and success, you know what you have to do. Commit. We know what it takes. At Black Diamond, we’re committed to catching the falls along the way.

BD Athlete Nalle Hukkataival

Jeremiah Watt

EDITOR’S NOTE

SPORTING MATTERS Why, exactly, do we care about elite athletes? Part of it, of course, is the rarefied level at which they perform in their field of play—but it’s more than that. A big draw is how they live their lives, in pursuit of distilled excellence and meaning through their passions. Consider pro surfer Kolohe Andino, the subject of our cover story (page 22). Andino, who is rehabbing with Tokyo approaching, has been doing some soul searching to understand and expand his embrace of surf culture. It’s a love story.

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE

CAMERON BAIRD

The Bend, Oregon-based photographer traveled down the road to Portland to photograph elite roller derby athlete Loren Mutch. “My favorite part of the job is collaborating with elite athletes in new environments,” says Baird, who shoots still and moving pictures for brands like Vans, Oakley and Kawasaki. “The best part of the challenge is being up against the clock with the pressure on to produce.” Page 44

At San Onofre State Beach in California, photographer Jose Mandojana shoots Kolohe Andino, who took time from his rehab to sit for portraits.

Elsewhere, “Flight Plan” (page 34) explores how another Olympian, Jagger Eaton, is expressing himself as a street skater after being groomed his whole life as a park competitor. And in “Ready to Roll” (page 44), learn how roller derby star Loren Mutch is elevating her sport and using her voice to stand up for equity. Sports are entertainment but they also reflect what matters in life. 04

“I love working on stories that allow me to learn a lot—quickly— about a sport or a community or a person that I previously knew almost nothing about,” says the Seattle-based writer after her deep dive into Loren Mutch and roller derby. “In this case, I came out of it not just informed but totally inspired.” Spence has written for such outlets as Outside, Skiing, Sunset and Backpacker. Page 44

THE RED BULLETIN

JOSE MANDOJANA (COVER)

EVELYN SPENCE

TH E O N LY TH I N G M O R E R EWAR D I N G THAN C HAS I N G YO U R D R E AM , I S CATC H I N G IT.

b fg o o d r i c ht i re s .c o m

WHAT AR E YO U BU I L D I N G F O R ?

CONTENTS July/August

FEATURES

2 2 Kolohe Andino

As he preps for a groundbreaking comp in Japan, surfing’s most persistent performer goes deep on what makes him truly happy.

3 4 Flight Plan

There’s only one skater on Earth who has a shot to win both street and park medals in Tokyo. His name is Jagger Eaton.

4 4 Ready to Roll

If you think roller derby is just a melodramatic sport, four-time world champion Loren Kaplan Mutch will prove you wrong.

56 Behold the Cage

At the iconic basketball court on New York’s West 4th Street, legends are born and weak moves are very publicly rejected.

6 6 Calling the Shots

Skateboard photographer Jake Darwen reflects on some of the most out-of-this-world images from his portfolio.

22 FOR THE LOVE

“The fire and passion were never the hard part,” says Kolohe Andino. For the pro surfer from San Clemente, the past year has allowed him to truly appreciate his love of the sport.

44 FINELY CUT

As an elite athlete with a rigorous training regimen, Mutch is elevating roller derby to another level.

THE RED BULLETIN

THE

DEPARTURE

Taking You to New Heights

9 The women of the USA

Rugby team fight for equity

12 How a surf collective is

reclaiming the ocean for people of color

14 Beach walking in Hawaii 16 Chilling with Tony Hawk 18 Light speed in Bahrain

20 E mo rapper 24kGoldn’s top tracks for first dates

GUIDE

Get it. Do it. See it. 81 Travel: Under-the-radar wineries for outdoor sips 84 Fitness tips from surfing pro Carissa Moore 86 Dates for your calendar 88 The best new water gear

94 Anatomy of Gear 96 The Red Bulletin worldwide

TREVOR MORAN, CAMERON BAIRD, ANTHONY GEATHERS

98 Snowboarding’s next gen

HOLDING COURT For decades, the legendary league games at the Cage in Greenwich Village have been a summer staple in New York.

THE RED BULLETIN

CHOOSE YOUR WIIINGS.

LIFE

STYLE

BEYOND

THE

ORDINARY

THE

Team USA rugby players Kristine Sommer (left) and Alycia Washington

PERSONAL CAPITAL

GREG MIONSKE

When USA Rugby lacked funding and failed to dole out equal pay for its all-star women’s team, two players took matters into their own hands.

THE RED BULLETIN

here’s a formation in rugby called a “scrum” that’s a perfect blend of human bodies and physics. It involves players “packing” into a bunch by linking arms and shoulders. They push against an opposing team locked in the same position. The point is to gain control of the ball after one team “infringes” on one of rugby’s laws (throwing a ball forward instead of backward, for example). Men’s scrums are exactly the same as women’s scrums, as is every other element of the game. But for every week a male rugby player attends a national-team training camp, he receives seven times more money in living expenses than a female player doing the same thing. And that kind of inequity makes USA Rugby women’s team players Alycia Washington and Kristine Sommer want to scream. Washington and Sommer are long-timers on the USA women’s team—both playing since their first year in college. Both were top-level high school athletes—Washington in track and field, gymnastics and field hockey; Sommer in volleyball and soccer. When both were college freshmen, they stumbled into rugby. “I went to a social event with

rookies and veterans, and I had never felt the camaraderie I did then,” says Washington. “I was a wee 17-year-old and all of a sudden I had 40 new friends.” Washington had never been told her physique was beneficial before, but now, “people were like, Oh my god, your size [6 feet tall, 200 pounds] is amazing.” Sommer recalls her first practice as a “crazy inclusive environment in which someone just threw me a ball, and the next week I was in full-time training. It sounds cliché, but changing sports was the easiest decision I’ve ever made.” The two competed their way to rugby’s most elite level, and that’s where things got interesting. Rugby is on the brink of breaking out in the United States, in part because it was included in the 2016 Olympics. What little girls saw when they watched it with their parents was “a contact sport for women that embraces their size and power and doesn’t make them feel the need to be smaller or skinnier,” says Washington. “That mindset of ‘strong is the new skinny’ pulls girls into the sport, and culturally it helps out the rugby community hugely.” The game is identical for men and women. “The ball is

the same size, the field is the same length, and the rules are the same,” a player told me when I went to observe a USA Rugby women’s practice at the Infinity Park sports complex near Denver, Colorado. But a major difference between the USA men’s and women’s teams is that the women’s team has been more successful. At the 2017 World Cup, they placed fourth overall, while the men failed to win a single game. And according to World Rugby, women’s rugby is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, with a 28 percent increase in registered players since 2017. “If the men had gotten fourth in the World Cup,” Sommer says, “it would have been national news, and they would have gotten thousands of dollars from sponsors.” What’s more, USA Rugby still supports women athletes at a fraction of the level it does the men. To participate in a camp, the women’s team receives just $100 per week per athlete for living expenses, while the men’s team receives $100 per day, says Sommer. Training for the World Cup is a long process and can be disruptive to daily life. “When you have a job or two that you rely on at home, relocating to camps becomes very hectic,” says Washington. “Our average age is late 20s, a point in life when you’re wanting to have things figured out. That’s hard when you’re chasing a dream that’s a moving target,” she adds, referring to the next World Cup getting pushed back to 2022 due to COVID-19. Instead of waiting for USA Rugby to pay them more, Sommer and Washington decided to tackle fundraising on their own. In January of 2020, they created the XV Foundation to raise money for their team. When they started, they googled how to THE RED BULLETIN

GREG MIONSKE

T H E D E PA RT U R E

“IF THE MEN HAD GOTTEN FOURTH IN THE WORLD CUP, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NATIONAL NEWS.”

do philanthropy and coldcalled people they found on LinkedIn. But they found their donors—more men than women, they say, and many whose “experience was same as ours,” Washington says. “Being involved in [USA Rugby] really wrecked their financials for the next decade of their lives.” By the end of 2020 they’d raised $200,000, and so far this year they’re at $30,000, toward a goal of $150,000. THE RED BULLETIN

That’s great, and Sommer and Washington say they’re honored to be able to help keep their players afloat. But they add that they don’t necessarily want to be doing it—they’d rather just focus on training. Now that they’re bringing money into the organization, though, they’re able to advocate for more equity in their sport. That’s important, says Washington, because “if we want this to be a sport for the [little girls who

find it and feel welcome in it], there has to be something sustainable for them to look forward to.” To that end, they’ll keep the XV Foundation going, even though running it amounts to their “fourth and fifth jobs.” “It’s bizarre,” says Sommer, “but we love the damn game so much that we are stretching ourselves to the absolute max so that players can be here and play to the best of their ability.” —Tracy Ross

Opposite: Washington and Sommer run hard at practice. Above: The USA Rugby women’s team trains at the Infinity Park sports complex near Denver, Colorado.

T H E D E PA RT U R E

Color the Water surfers enjoy a group lesson in Santa Monica.

Color the Water

ENDING THE WHITEWASH How Black Lives Matter inspired a surf collective to reclaim the ocean for people of color.

ike so many, David Malana was moved by the death of George Floyd, the Minnesota man killed at the hands of white police officers in May last year. Malana is no stranger to social struggle himself—the 39-yearold Filipino American spent four years serving in the Peace Corps in Kyrgyzstan, and he teaches media literacy to youth

around the globe. He’s also a lifelong surfer. As Black Lives Matter demonstrations began springing up worldwide that May, the Los Angeles resident attended a peaceful “paddleout” protest at Santa Monica Pier. It was there that he noticed how overwhelmingly white the other surfers were. “I realized that the ocean —one of my most prized

sanctuaries—is almost entirely a white space,” says Malana. “I also saw a discrepancy in surf skill, ocean knowledge and comfort between the Black and brown people and the locals who were there.” On his return from the protest, Malana hatched an idea: He’d use his skills as a surfer and a teacher to create a space where BIPOC (Black, THE RED BULLETIN

Indigenous and People of Color) surfers could perfect their craft and take their rightful place on the waves. Despite its global reach —more than 50 nations were represented at the last World Surfing Games, staged in 2019—surfing has a genuine diversity problem. Only in 2018 did South African Mikey February become the first nonwhite African surfer ever to compete on the Championship Tour. It’s this predominantly white narrative in the sport that Malana is keen to tackle. “We want an inclusive community that rides waves

differently, that goes about this stuff in a way that’s more celebratory, like it was in the beginning,” says Malana. “When it was an ancient Polynesian, Melanesian practice, it was communal, spiritual, a celebration. It was reverent. We want to hearken back to that—a surf culture we identify with more.” Color the Water is primarily a surf community and, alongside his co-founder, Lizelle Jackson, Malana has already signed up more than 400 people in California for free lessons, meet-ups and volunteering. The community

Brothers Kieran (left) and Julian with CTW co-founder David Malana.

RAHZIZI ISHAKARAH

LOU BOYD

“ ‘INSTITUTIONALIZED ANTI-RACISM’ IS A PHRASE I GET EXCITED ABOUT.”

Co-founder Lizelle Jackson (right) shares a laugh with Indra, a firefighter from Alaska. Women of color make up the majority of Color the Water’s community. THE RED BULLETIN

is about more than surfing, however—it’s a response to a moment, to the events of 2020, as well as centuries of systemic racism. It’s defiant, joyful antiracism through surfing. “ ‘Institutionalized antiracism’ is a phrase I get really excited about,” says Malana. “I remember studying social justice in college: all these examples of institutionalized racism and how it’s impossible to separate from systems. To now have an opportunity to create a legitimate institution that’s the antithesis of that thinking means a lot to me.” Before the pandemic put everything on hold, Color the Water had given more than $60,000 worth of free lessons, and it’s working to build an infrastructure offering much more. “I’ve put my life savings and I don’t know how many hours a week into this, but it doesn’t feel like work,” says Malana. “I have this chance to be the person I wish [had been there] for me.” Instagram: @color_the_water 13

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Oahu, Hawaii

FOOTSTEPS TO FREEDOM Hawaiian surfer Mo Freitas’s footprints trace his route as he steps out into the brooding sea on Oahu’s North Shore. Californian Morgan Maassen clinched a place in the final of the 2019 Red Bull Illume photo contest with this shot. “I naturally gravitate toward shooting from the water,” he says, “but [using] a drone allows me to explore landscapes and seascapes for their textures, and to juxtapose humans against these incredible scenes.” morganmaassen.com

MORGAN MAASSEN/RED BULL ILLUME

ATIBA JEFFERSON

T H E D E PA RT U R E

Encinitas, California

TALENT POOL

There’s no greater icon in skating than Tony Hawk. The legend, now 53, loves to amplify new skaters who elevate the sport. In this spirit, Hawk hosted French vert slayer Vincent Matheron, 23, in his backyard skatepark in late March. “You can be the best but you won’t get far if no one wants to collaborate with you,” notes Hawk. The affection goes both ways. “Guys like Tony paved the way for us to do something bigger,” says Matheron. “And he’s admirable because he didn’t necessarily have someone to show him the way.” Instagram: @vincent_matheron

Sakhir, Bahrain

SPEED OF LIGHT

Few photographers can capture the essence of F1 quite like Clive Mason. For 25 years he’s shown an eye for a killer image—take this dazzling shot of Pierre Gasly in qualifying for March’s Bahrain Grand Prix. The AlphaTauri driver was one of the stars of the round, though a broken front wing later effectively ended his race at the main event. But the following month, at Imola in Italy, the Frenchman was back on track in both respects, finishing seventh. clivemason.com

GETTY IMAGES

DAVYDD CHONG

T H E D E PA RT U R E

Playlist

MY LYRICAL ROMANCE

24kGoldn—the rapper who hit big with his song “Mood”—shares four tracks that get him in the right frame of mind on a first date.

M.I.A. “PAPER PLANES” (2007) “First dates should always be about enjoying a vibe. You don’t want to be listening to anything that’s going to kill that. ‘Paper Planes’ is one of those songs that has a nice little bop to it that perfectly soundtracks riding to the beach together. I first heard it in the film Slumdog Millionaire. It’s in this crazy train scene where they’re hitchhiking from one place in India to another. Such an impactful moment.”

50 CENT FEATURING NATE DOGG “21 QUESTIONS” (2003) “Would you love me if I was down and out? Would you love me on a bus? Would you love me if I flipped burgers? These questions [all raised in the lyrics] are the type you should probably ask on a first date. It’s the ultimate test of love. I think nostalgia is one of the most powerful forces in the world, too. If we can’t listen to throwback jams together, it’s not going to work out—the date is over.”

A$AP ROCKY FEATURING DRAKE, 2 CHAINZ & KENDRICK LAMAR “FUCKIN’ PROBLEMS” (2012) “Sometimes you’ve just got to lay it all out there and share your truth on a first date. You’ve got to be brutally honest. It makes things easier in the end. So, like the lyrics say, ‘I love bad bitches, that’s my fuckin’ problem,’ but maybe we can solve it together. The bars Kendrick drops on this are just crazy. I think this might be the most slept-on all-star-cast song there is.” THE RED BULLETIN

JORDAN WHITE/JAY

CAM’RON FEATURING JUELZ SANTANA “HEY MA” (2002) “Even though this song came out in the early 2000s, it’s still just as relevant and relatable now. It literally says everything you want to on a first date: ‘Hey ma, what up? Let’s slide.’ It essentially does the talking for you. I could just imagine me and a girl riding in the car to this, with the windows down, just bopping on the way to wherever we’re going on a first date.”

WILL LAVIN

mo rap—a downbeat fusion of hip-hop beats, indie-rock melodies and emotional lyrics—has soared in popularity over the last decade, with proponents such as Lil Uzi Vert and the late XXXTentacion topping the charts. Its new MVP is 20-yearold Golden Landis Von Jones, aka 24kGoldn. The California rapper, singer, songwriter and former child actor broke through in 2019 with the platinum-selling “Valentino.” But it was his 2020 track “Mood” that really put him on the map, peaking at No. 1 in 17 territories. Being about a toxic relationship, the song is probably not one to play on a first date, but here he offers four tracks that might help break the ice. 24kGoldn’s debut album, El Dorado, is out now on Columbia Records; 24kgoldn.com

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Kolohe Andino, one of the world’s greatest surfers, is searching for more. Words PETER FLAX 22

TREVOR MORAN

“The fire and the passion were never the hard part”

“My surfing is an expression of my life,” says Andino, shown here surfing the iconic Margaret River Main Break in Western Australia.

“I’ve realized I’m happiest when I’m outside surfing. Why not lean into that?”

JOSE MANDOJANA, TREVOR MORAN

enters the gym wearing one flip-flop. Kolohe Andino clatters across the hardwood on crutches. His right foot and ankle are encased in a black pneumatic boot. A two-hour physical therapy session is about to begin. It’s the final day of April and Andino is 10 days out from surgery he had to repair a grade 3 ankle sprain and some related cartilage damage. Sitting on the treatment table, here at a facility near his lifelong home in San Clemente, California, he removes the boot and unwraps an Ace bandage to reveal a tidy vertical scar and three small incisions. “I wish my ankles were this size all the time,” Andino jokes, pointing to the swelling. “That would be solid.” Then it’s down to business. Andino has for years trained like a bulldog, obsessive even by professional athlete standards, and this PT session is no different. A certain groundbreaking competition is scheduled to begin on July 25 at Tsurigasaki Beach,

located 90 minutes east of Tokyo, and the 27-year-old surfer plans to be ready. Andino and his rehab team have determined the date when he should be able to get back in the water—“June 17 is the target for that,” he offers, speaking like that’s in indelible ink. The rehab does not look fun or relaxing. The best elite athletes are like normal people, in that they eat breakfast and brush their teeth like the rest of us, but they do not train like mortals. Andino’s hard cast was removed two days ago and he’s already doing dynamic movements—like a super clam, a complicated side plank with glute extensions— while wearing Blood Flow Restriction bands, which limit blood flow into his right leg to intensify the workout. Then he does a block of dynamic neuromuscular stabilization, a rehabilitation technique that rewires the body’s movement patterns. There are electronic pulses and massage guns and even toe yoga. “You know

you’re super fit when moving your toes makes you sweat,” Andino says, laughing before getting philosophical. “It’s good to have some structure and be doing shit, but it’s so far from landing airs in the flats. Surfing is literally how I normally express myself.” Moderation is not Andino’s default setting. For years he’s operated more like a light switch than a dimmer— always on at full power. But the pandemic has helped Andino, who’s been in competitive contest mode for most of his life, to accelerate his journey to a certain kind of enlightenment. Last November, for instance, Andino, who long has harbored ambivalence about his sport’s spirit in the age of Instagram, hastily organized a surf trip to Indonesia with four buddies that has turned into a big film project about friendship, the soul of surfing and endless perfect waves. He’s found more bandwidth to see how his surfing life, while anchored around competitive grit, is sustained by other

Above, Andino walks along the water’s edge in Ehukai Beach Park, the spot where Pipeline breaks off Oahu’s North Shore.

Andino enjoying some noncompetitive time on the water in the Maldives last fall.

to eight-hour sessions and 4 a.m. workouts. But something fundamental has shifted, something that Andino thinks will help him perform in cutthroat comps. “I’m ready to compete in a place of joy and lightness, with a sense that I’m not scared to lose,” he says. “I realize I’m happiest when I’m outside surfing. Why not really lean into that?”

ndino has a lifelong connection to San Clemente, a small beachside city that sits at the southernmost edge of the Los Angeles metro area. He was born here, in a local hospital that no longer exists, and though surfing has taken him all over the world, it remains his home base. “Yeah, I have a lot of roots here,” he says. His father, Dino, grew up here and became a local legend—“even now he’s still

the kingpin of San Clemente,” Kolohe says. Dino was a national champion in the ’80s and a successful pro in the ’90s. When Kolohe was just 2, Dino would take him out on a board, the toddler lying right under his father’s chest, as they carved turns in the famously friendly surf at San Onofre State Beach. “I’ve truly been around surfing my whole life,” the second-generation pro observes. Dino has been his coach since the beginning. Pro surfing is packed with young men and women who were nudged (or pushed) by a dad to greatness, but no one else had a lifelong apprenticeship like Andino. After his retirement from the pro ranks, Dino transitioned to a job in the industry and often brought his son along on the pro circuit. Between the ages of 10 and 14, Kolohe says, he lived the life of “a

mini pro surfer.” He went with his dad to events on the East Coast, in Europe, in Hawaii, and had an all-access pass to experiences that other youngsters could only dream about. “I got to hang out with all of my favorite surfers and go free surfing with them and all that stuff,” he says. From early on, it was obvious that the kid was not destined to be a tourist out there with the heavy hitters. He won his first contest in 2002, at the age of 8. Three years later he won his first national title—yes, there’s actually a category called Mini Grom—and then went on to win junior national titles in the next four years. In the end he won nine NSSA titles, more than anyone in history. In 2009 he was favored to win the junior title but instead at 15 became the youngest Open Men’s champion in history. At an age when many kids are still collecting an allowance, Andino had top-shelf companies battling one another to sponsor him. Andino qualified for the WSL’s Championship Tour— the pinnacle of the sport—at the age of 18, buoyed with confidence and a stable of corporate backers and a lifetime of grooming for that moment. It didn’t go as he planned. “I just got my ass kicked for the first four years,” he says. “It was weird.” Along the way he learned that contest surfing on the CT is like a heavyweight prize fight every time. “Surfers are normally pretty chill people but out there we’re literally trying to rip each other’s heads off,” he says. When asked to describe what it’s like out there, surfing heats against other top pros, Andino breaks his competitors into categories. Some guys he knows he’s going to beat, and other guys who are really good act like they’re out there alone, which can be unnerving. But, he says, the very best guys “put out this THE RED BULLETIN

RYAN MILLER, TREVOR MORAN

elements of surf culture and creative interests, and in turn, that has deepened his love for it. Even his injury and surgery, poorly timed to say the least, pose an opportunity to reset. “It’s been a weird year,” he will observe later that day. “I really had a chance to deepdive into myself and realized that I spent a decade weighing my happiness or success on how I did in my last event. And then when there were no events, I realized that I just actually love surfing, going on a road trip with no camera, or teaching my wife how to surf, or trying to learn how to shape boards, or filming my friends surfing—all of this rad stuff.” Tokyo and the resumption of the World Surf League’s Championship Tour still beckon. And one of the hardest-working surfers on the planet will surely get back

really thick thickening-of-theair aura. When I surf against Kelly [Slater] and [Gabriel] Medina, we’ll be this close together, and the air actually feels heavy and dry.” Andino rose to the challenge. He already had an intense work ethic and a demanding father-coach, and felt the weight of expectations from within himself and those around him. Andino went all in with every aspect of his preparation. “I hate to lose,” he says. “So I try to be sure I did A through Z to be ready.” Andino says he tries to “train a lot and eat perfect”—which in his case is a perpetually mindful paleo-keto diet of vegetables and a wide mix of lean protein. He drinks zero alcohol, regularly surfs fullday sessions and works out at all hours. “The last year I was on tour I was waking up at 3:30 in the morning and getting an hour and a half of working out before the sun was up,” he says. “It gets a little crazy sometimes.” THE RED BULLETIN

Andino admits that at times his approach has led to overtraining injuries, but it’s also true that his obsessive work lifted his performance on the Championship Tour to a rarefied level. He had a breakthrough year in 2017, with four top-three finishes in CT events. And in 2019, the last full year of CT competition before the pandemic, Andino finished top five in seven of 11 events, earning second or third place results four times. This consistent excellence earned him an Olympic bid. “It’s a really cool feeling to go into an event and feel like I’m in incredible shape,” he says. “I get this ecstasy-like machinery feeling where I know I’m ready. That’s a rad confidence thing, going into an event knowing that I’m not going to fuck up any wave I get. When I’m in incredible shape, I surf every wave at a really high level.” Even when discussing his training triumphs and

breakthrough success, Andino is quick to note that he has never won a CT event. He obviously has a deep hunger to win, but he has earned some perspective on this the hard way. “Back when I was getting my ass kicked, I would do just about anything to finish in the top five,” he says. “But once I finished top five a couple times, I realized I still felt the same—I still felt this hunger to win. I was still living and dying by each result.” He recalls a conversation with his good friend, John John Florence, who has won CT events seven times. “And after he finally won, he told me that he was surprised— like OK, that’s it?” Andino says. “Winning isn’t like a magical Band-Aid that just makes you

Andino carving on a good day at Rocky Point on the North Shore.

“Winning isn’t like a magical Band-Aid that just makes you relaxed and happier.” 27

Out on Pipeline, Andino surfs in an early round at the Billabong Pipe Masters last December.

relaxed and happier, or changes your life outside of the sport. You still have ups and downs with your family.” Eventually he saw what needed to change. “Surfing heats can be so weird, because you can do everything perfect and it just goes out the window with the waves that you get, or the person you draw, or what kind of waves he got,” he says. “It’s really hit or miss. And it’s hard to frame your happiness around something that you have no control over. It was eating

away inside of me, and I realized that there’s no way I can surf my best in that frame of mind. So I’ve been trying to flip that script.” Andino pauses for a moment. “Surfing competitively has taught me a lot about life,” he says. “You have to deal with whatever the fuck gets dealt to you.”

t home, Andino has his right foot propped up on a table in a secondfloor room he proudly calls his man cave. The shelves are

lined with what may be the world’s largest collection of Los Angeles Dodgers bobbleheads. A sweet collection of vintage camera equipment—including a medium-format Hasselblad and a 35 mm movie camera— sit in a jumble on the desk. His two dogs, Dooley and Levi, wander in and out of the room with various objects in their mouths, including a sofa cushion. There is a big TV, where Andino and his wife, Maddie, cheer on their beloved Dodgers. THE RED BULLETIN

TREVOR MORAN

“When I’m surfing, I want to be relaxed in between maneuvers, and then fierce when it counts.”

Over by the couch sits a large dry-erase board. It’s the storyboard to the surf film that Andino planned, funded, helped film and is now lovingly editing. It charts out the character quirks and arcs, the plot points and backstory and the tube-riding exploits of the film’s five key characters— Andino and four longtime friends from San Clemente. The documentary, titled Reckless Isolation and set to be released in September, is a throwback to surf films of another era. It’s action heavy, THE RED BULLETIN

with a soundtrack that blends soulful folk with unrelenting screamo. But beneath all the footage of dudes surfing one perfect tube after another to thrumming guitars, there’s a quiet story about friendship and adventure—a story of what surfing once was and can still be. “Surfing has become an Instagram sport, which is really just weird because in the past it was on the forefront of fashion and surf-bum counterculture and rock ’n’ roll—truly adventurous

things,” Andino says. “I grew up with surf films—I got to see my heroes on the big screen. It was big and loud and it was a huge party.” Late in 2020, Andino learned that Indonesia had opened up, and before anyone else jumped on it he and four childhood buddies jumped on a plane. They spent 20 days on a boat in the Mentawai Islands. “There were no phones, I got to invite my best friends, there were five or six incredible swells and I got to make a movie,” he says, offering a sort of elevator pitch. “It’s hard to explain just how good the waves were.” Indeed, the film is a chronicle of barrel drunkenness, as Andino and his friends celebrate the intoxication of dropping into one perfect tube after another. There is playful shittalking on the boat, an epic bonfire, the simple but profound joys of friends enjoying something special together. It’s like a dream, only with cooler music. It was an entirely new— and entirely restorative— experience for the veteran comp surfer turned rookie filmmaker. “It was super exciting to watch my friends surf and try to make them look as big and good as possible,” he says, noting that everyone gets equal screen time in the film. “I try not to be like the big chest-pounding guy, because it’s just not my style. It’s not the way I was raised. I just kept thinking how I’m in love with surf movies and had all my friends in Indo! The whole thing is super rad, something the surfing community needs.”

ndino is grunting at the gym, getting assessed and worked over by a trainer. The facility is in the headquarters of the surf-inspired sock-andunderwear brand Stance. Classic rock fills the loftlike space as a gentle breeze blows

through open garage doors. Everyone present seems to be holding a winning physiological lottery ticket; during a 30-second break in the action Andino says a quick hi to NFL quarterback Kyle Allen, tossing a few wisecracks at his buddy about the ongoing draft. There are a bunch of reasons for Andino to be at the gym so soon after his surgery. He needs to make sure his leg and core muscles don’t atrophy. It’s a chance for him to retool his body and fix some chronic imbalances. And perhaps above all, it’s a critical piece of self-care for an athlete who is used to long, hard hours in the water. “It’s an important thing to keep an elite athlete mentally engaged,” says his trainer. “It’s stress release.” There’s something comically impressive in watching an injured top professional athlete perform challenging rehab exercises to classic rock. His shoulder mobility is assessed to the Who’s “Baba O’Riley.” In seconds he masters this 90-90 mobility drill, which involves a sequence of six different head-to-toe movements, to “Sweet Emotion.” He does a series of short recovery pulls of a heavy rope draped over a squat rack, grunting along with “Come Together.” “This is like serious glory rock,” he notes. But putting that one quip aside, Andino is pretty damn serious, picking up, refining and perfecting movements more quickly than most people could possibly do. “He’s an amazing athlete,” his physical therapist told me earlier. “You can give him a little cue and he can change immediately.” Later in the day, Andino recaps the mishap that landed him in PT. It was in February. Two months earlier he’d come into the first post-COVID event in terrific shape—at the iconic Pipeline on Oahu’s North Shore—and lost in an early 29

Andino’s gym workout ends with these core-mobility movements that look like three complicated moves pasted together. The trainer explains the new sequence once and the surfer just nails it with perfect form. When asked how he perfected it so quickly, Andino shrugs. “Surfing is a dynamic thing,” he says, as “Dust in the Wind” soars in the background. “To do it really well you need to have a feeling of what’s happening with your whole body—and then posturize and compartmentalize individual body parts.”

A round. But around Valentine’s Day, Pipeline was really firing, so he decided to fly out and stay with John John Florence and surf the hell out of the world’s most famous barrel for five days. “I mean I love to surf and get barreled, so this is the best wave in the world,” he says. “So I was psyching to get over there.” The first day there he surfed for six hours in the morning, and then, right in character, he went back out for an afternoon session. “I was tired,” he says. “I contemplated it for a while, and I decided to go out.” At first it seemed like a great decision. “The first wave I got was one of the best waves I’ve ever gotten out there,” Andino says. “It was a big barrel and I was just in the thing and it was sick. I was really stoked. On a big day, Pipeline can get crowded and hard to get a good wave. And it’s gnarly and people are

“I love my country. To be able to fly the flag and the colors means the world to me.” 30

getting hurt. It’s a yard sale of emotions out there.” But just as he was coming out of this perfect barrel, Andino says, the wave bent out to sea ever so slightly and he got clamped. For a moment, fueled by the full force of heavy water, his board was pushed up while his body was pushed down. “For a second it felt like I broke my leg but then I knew I didn’t,” he says, noting that he actually surfed a few waves after that. The next day his ankle didn’t hurt or seem swollen and Pipeline was still pumping, so he went out again. “And it happened again,” he says with a sigh. “So yeah, like my worst nightmare—overdoing something 10 times. Every time I get hurt, it’s because I oversurf when I’m tired. It’s the eighth hour of the day and I’m still going way hard.” For a while after that trip, Andino hoped that rest would clear up the issue. But a few weeks later he went on a bike ride, the pain was too much and the ankle swelled up; he knew he needed to see a specialist. Thus began his sprint to get ready for Tokyo.

THE RED BULLETIN

ERICK PROOST, JOSE MANDOJANA

“I love to surf and get barreled,” says Andino, shown surfing in the Maldives last October.

ndino, crutches and all, is back at San Onofre, the spot where his father first took him out on a board when he was 2. It’s hardly the local break for heavy hitters—that would be Trestles, just a couple clicks to the north—but Andino is in his element. He throws shakas and boisterous good cheer at surfing acquaintances he sees, and asks a few random passersby who shaped their boards. Over four hours hanging at the beach he looks at social media exactly zero times. He’s more keen to stare out at the water and watch kids cruising on longboards. He has small waves on his mind. Andino thinks the conditions at Tsurigasaki Beach in July will likely look a lot less like Pipeline and a lot more like San Onofre. “I don’t think people realize how small it could be,” he says. “I think it could catch people off guard.” To that end, he’s framing his downtime and rehabilitation therapy as an opportunity to lose some weight and get even whippier on his board. “The waves that we ride on the tour are normally big, windy, chunky waves where you have to weight down your body and your board and sink into your maneuvers,” he observes. “Either that or it’s like big sections in Europe

Andino offers a big hello to an old friend at San Onofre State Beach during a photo shoot on April 30.

TREVOR MORAN

Andino surfs Off the Wall on the North Shore last December.

where you have to like hit and control a big wave coming at you like boom! So you have to be super strong and heavyfooted; whereas Tokyo will be a whole ’nother game. I’m at like 175 right now and my usual fighting weight for surfing is like 170. But it would be huge if I could get to 165 so I can get up on those waves and generate speed and do a couple maneuvers.” In a word, Andino is stoked about Tokyo. “It’s a rad opportunity for me,” he says. “I think if I was not in it, I would be super bummed.” San Clemente sits on the northern edge of Camp Pendleton, a massive Marine base that spans 195 square miles. Andino says that he now sees how this shaped his excitement to represent his country in Tokyo. “I grew up next to Pendleton and my whole life I’ve mixed it up with Marines and people who are stationed here and their kids,” he says. “I’m a very patriotic person.” Andino lights up. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to get the merch and all that cool shit,” he says. “I love my country and to be able to fly the flag and the colors means the world to me.”

f you want to get Andino fired up, ask him what he thinks about surfing and Instagram. “Surfing feels very much like a social media sport

right now and it can seem very corny,” he says with enough animation to stir one of his dogs out of a nap. “Surfing is not supposed to be like bottle flipping on TikTok. Surfing is real—real surfers work real jobs and they’re core and they yell at kooks when they’re in the way, like it’s a hardcore thing. Surfers are rock ’n’ roll in the water and they’re on the forefront of fashion. It’s supposed to have depth and darker elements.” Andino is rock ’n’ roll in the water. There’s no doubt about that. Now, like the soundtrack to his film, he’s trying to blend some soulful folk with the screamo. “They say how you do anything is how you do all things,” he says. “My surfing is like that. It’s an expression of my life. With my surfing career, the trying was never the hard part. The fire and the passion were never the hard part. The hard part is getting me to relax and to let things happen. So, yeah, I’ve worked a lot on that, being relaxed and having that kind of strength from the inside and not the artificial strength.” When he’s surfing at his best, Andino looks simultaneously tranquil and explosive, seeming at once spontaneous and deliberate. Through this fluidity and duality, he expresses himself on a surfboard. “When I’m surfing, I want to be relaxed in

“Surfing is not supposed to be like bottle flipping on TikTok. Surfing is real.”

between maneuvers,” he says, “and then fierce when it counts—like bang!” Andino is representing a lot of people when he surfs. He’s out there because his dad pushed him out there and helped mold him. He’s out there repping for the rest of his family and brands that have been behind him a long time and his San Clemente buddies and everyone who knew he’d be a big deal 15 years ago. And this summer he’ll be out there at Tsurigasaki Beach, in his red, white and blue merch, representing his country. All these things matter, but they are not why Andino has spent his life surfing, obsessively trying to work a little harder and do a little bit better. “All this has not been for anyone else,” he says, trying to explain one side of the coin, his long hard grind toward true excellence. “It was just because I wanted to do good. I wanted to feel worthy within myself.” And on the other side sits something bigger than his competitive fire, even larger than self-expression or joy. “You can probably tell from spending a little time with me how much I love surfing,” he says. “I’m fascinated to learn more in a noncompetitive way—surfing has given me so much that I just want to know as much as I can about it. Surfing is just like my life.”

FLIGHT PLAN

There’s only one skater on Earth who has a legitimate shot to win both the street and park disciplines in his Tokyo debut. His name is Jagger Eaton. Words BLAIR ALLEY

ANTHONY ACOSTA/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

“I love competing,” says Jagger, who was photographed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, on March 10.

Jagger has been skating his entire life, but his evolution as an athlete and an individual has picked up speed in recent years.

JAGGER EATON WAS BORN INTO COMPETITION.

KAMDEN STORM

As the son of gymnasts who competed and then coached at the Olympic level, his earliest memories are training in his family’s gym, KTR (short for Kids That Rip), near Mesa, Arizona. As Jagger recalls, his father told him on Christmas Day at age 4 that he didn’t look good in a leotard, so they put a skateboard under his feet instead. Currently 20 years old, Jagger grew up at a time in

which the Olympics always seemed like a possibility for him, something his parents always talked about. “My dad only knew competition, so that’s what we did. We skated to compete.” The kid from Mesa is now training for skateboarding’s birth as an Olympic sport and is the only skater who might compete in both disciplines—street and park, but more on that later—in Tokyo. A lot’s happened in the last 12 months for Jagger: Though there have been no contests, he got himself a solid board sponsor (The Heart Supply); he put out a respected street video part; and he turned pro. Now, even as he is looking down the barrel of Tokyo, amid his highly structured training regimen, he’s still bagging street clips with friends on the weekends. That competitive DNA never rests.

Jagger and his friend (and fellow pro) Heimana Reynolds skate an interstate overpass in San Diego.

n an overcast day in April in Vista, California, we’re at the CA Training Facility, a high-performance skate center in northern San Diego County where Jagger trains three days a week. It’s a Thursday, so Jagger is focusing on his tricks on the big rail (eight stairs). He wants to land each trick five times in a row before he moves on to the next one. He’s doing über-technical stuff like backside 180 kickflip nosegrinds—tricks that’ll score a 9 out of 10 with the judges. It’s similar to the gymnast regimen he grew up with. Jagger’s rocking a sleeveless Harley Davidson T-shirt as

hip-hop from his iPhone blares through a speaker. He’s doing these drills by himself, which is worth noting, as most top skaters prefer a friend to skate with them when they’re trying something gnarly. He lands his tricks and the rail training ends as quickly as it began. Jagger grabs his iPhone and his helmet and heads upstairs to the park bowl, where a heated session is already underway with fellow pros Jordyn Barratt and Beaver Fleming. Jagger rolls into the bowl with speed and flawlessly nails a run full of huge ollies, long noisy Smith grinds and stand-up 50-50s. This is just a warm-up

run, but it’s obvious that he’s head and shoulders better than the other skaters working on their runs this day. Jagger’s good friend Heimana Reynolds, who’s sitting at No. 1 with the most Olympic qualifying points in park at the moment, joins the session. “With the amount of board control he has, you can tell he’s skated every day since he was young,” Reynolds says. “And I know how hard he worked when he was young.” Later, hanging in the back parking lot, Jagger notes the positives of skating with other pros in California.“I appreciate being able to skate a facility like this, and be

Once he discovered the raw soul of street skating, something clicked for Jagger. Here he is in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

“With the amount of board control he has, you can tell he’s skated every day since he was young.”

Jagger has been skating religiously since he was 6, and his work ethic to master tricks is highly structured.

around someone like Heimana,” he says. “He’s the number one park skater in the world and one of my best friends, and we get to skate every day.” The skatepark here in Vista mimics what Jagger will skate in Tokyo. It was constructed by California Skateparks, the same company that’s building the courses for the Games, so everything from the metal of the handrails to the steepness of the concrete transitions is similar to what competitors will see in Tokyo. There’s a street layout (with ledges, banks, handrails and quarterpipes) and a park course— basically a huge bowl with hips, bumps and varying deck heights. When the time comes, Jagger will have 45 seconds to put together a flawless run, mixing technical tricks with bigger stunts to get the best score possible from the judges.

KAMDEN STORM

he name Jagger conjures up pure rock ’n’ roll swagger, not necessarily a scrawny kid from the desert. His older brother Jett (yes, it’s a Joan Jett reference) came up at the same time as Jagger. As an added bonus, we’ll let you know that his other siblings’ names are Bowie, Hendrix and Koston (that last one is one of skateboarding’s GOATs). “I don’t think my parents wanted any of us to be rock stars, they just love music,” says Jagger. “Their first date was at a Rolling Stones concert.” As a kid, Jagger tried his hand at the guitar, but he had already broken both elbows due to skating, so he couldn’t hold it properly. “My dad was always OK with the risk [of getting hurt], but my mom’s been through some stuff with us,” Jagger says. “Having

eight broken bones before I was 13—my mom had to deal with that.” But as the injuries piled up, so did the accolades. Jagger won Best Trick at the Kimberley Big Air down in South Africa in 2013. In 2014 he won the Tampa Am and in 2018 the Tampa Pro, the top grassroots proving-ground contests. Despite his contest successes, Jagger had a rough time securing shoe and board sponsors in those years. Not every cool, top-tier board brand wants the contest kid if he’s not also showing and proving in the streets with video parts and photos in the mags. Plan B, Jagger’s board sponsor for many years, didn’t want to turn Jagger pro even though he was winning contests—and Jagger gets it. “It’s all love for Plan B and DC Shoes,” he says. “We were going on different paths. They weren’t really supporting what I was doing. I love competing, so if you don’t support that it’s kinda hard to be in my corner.” Jagger’s been a household name on the contest circuit since he was a kid. “He was 9 years old or something and I was like, Oh my god, this kid is gnarly,” says Jagger’s private coach, Neal Mims. “He was already kickflipping into frontside boardslides and just doing really technical stuff at such an early age. He was one of the first kids I saw at that age who was innovating.” KTR was originally a gymnastics training facility, but when Jagger turned 6, and his older brother Jett was 8, their parents began building skate ramps in the gym. It essentially gave them a huge skatepark of their own. KTR began hosting skate contests as 39

well, so Jagger’s first taste of competition was in his own biodome. He attended school at KTR, too, so his whole life was within the walls of the family business. Jagger’s dad kept him on a gymnasticsstyle training program, very regimented and structured, which left him pretty sheltered from the outside world. But the X Games were well established and on TV by this time, with Tony Hawk and Shaun White as household names. If your gifted young son is already doing the same vertical tricks these pros had become famous for, why wouldn’t you push him into contests? Then at age 15, a pivotal direction change happened: Jagger discovered skateboarding’s original soul, its outlaw fringe—street skating. The sheltered existence he had known as a child crumbled. He took to the streets like a duck to water and started piecing together the opus that every street skater wants—the one thing that defines you and will be watched and remembered: a video part.

First famous as a skate prodigy and then as the star of a Nickelodeon show, Jagger is enjoying a third act of discovery.

A video part is a three-to-five-minute edited piece of your best moments, set to (hopefully) a great song that will stand up over time. It can take several years to collect the footage for these few minutes. Trips around the world, months off the board due to injuries, multiple missions back to one skate spot due to security, weather and parked cars—all just to get one trick. But that’s why they’re so important. And if a skater drops a part as solid as Jagger’s Heart Supply pro part, it can change everyone’s perception of that skater and really get the ball rolling with their career and sponsors. This was different from his contest placing. Among his peers and the industry, he suddenly earned a new sense of respect.

eal Mims is more than a private skate coach. A former pro skater, Mims has been working with Jagger for two years. Mims was familiar with Jagger’s upbringing and how it affected him. “He didn’t have much of a normal childhood and missed out on just going outside and hanging with your friends,” Mims says. “KTR created this incredible skateboarder, but there may be parts of his childhood that he’s missing.” The love goes both ways. “To call him a coach is an understatement,” says Jagger. “He’s a really good life mentor. Having him help me with strategy is a huge help. Athletes at my level don’t really need help doing stuff, we need to be told when to stop. He gives me that extra confidence boost before a contest, like, ‘Hey you don’t need to do anymore reps, you’re ready.’ ” For many years Jagger’s dad had been the one pushing him, but the new dynamic with Mims seems to be working. Mims had been a judge for a lot of the big contests, during which Jagger’s dad would often ask for advice about what the judges were looking for. Judging skateboarding contests is seasonal and sparse at best, so Mims saw an opportunity with the Eaton family. “Why don’t I stop judging and just work with Jagger?” he asked himself. “I’ll be a mentor to him. I’ll help him with his mindset and his attitude toward skateboarding.” Jagger is in the delicate phase of really becoming his own person, and Mims has a front-row seat to watch it unfold. “What I’ve seen is a lot of growth in a short amount of time,” Mims says. Many people knew Jagger best for his role in a breakout TV show. After his wins in South Africa and Tampa in 2013 and 2014, he inked a deal with Nickelodeon.

KAMDEN STORM

If a skater drops a part as solid as Jagger’s Heart Supply pro part, it can change everyone’s perceptions.

Jagger’s soulful street style is on display with this kickflip backside lipslide at a school in San Diego.

Jagger’s ambitions hardly end with Tokyo; his potential to innovate in both skate disciplines could take a decade to unfold.

“The thing about training for both disciplines is that no one’s in better shape than I am.”

Jagger Eaton’s Mega Life ran from 2016 to 2017 and cast a global spotlight on the kid who’d grown up in an Arizona skatepark. The show aimed to push Jagger out of his comfort zone and had him swimming with sharks, heli-boarding and doing other hairball activities. “It was really cool and I had a great time doing it. It’s all love to Nickelodeon. People bring it up all the time and you can still buy both seasons on Apple TV! It was a really cool time in my life and I hope I changed some lives through it.” But that’s the past now. Jagger was able to film his pro part during the pandemic and has shattered the old identity as the kid with the Nickelodeon show. “He’s really a big-hearted young man now,” says Mims. “He cares about how he’s perceived and he’s doing a lot better being positive in front of crowds.” Jagger had been known in the past to be a bit bratty and lose his temper at contests. It’s another reason why his Heart Supply part is so important, to show the world he’s grown into a new, better person. In 2020, Jagger finally found a boardsponsor home in Johnny Schillereff’s Heart Supply, an offshoot of his popular Element brand focused on giving back to the skate community. And in a familyaffair vibe, Jagger’s younger brother Koston and Johnny’s son Camp ride for the brand as well. In November 2020, Jagger’s debut pro part dropped and showed the skate world just how gnarly and legit he is in the streets—underscoring how he was considered “just a contest skater” no more. It highlighted how Jagger is finding himself as his career gels around him. He’s a really gnarly skateboarder and is finally finding the sponsors and tribe of people supporting exactly what he’s doing.

S ANTHONY ACOSTA/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

kateboarding’s Olympic debut is at long last here, after a one-year postponement and a year without contests. There won’t be a live audience, but millions around the world will see what Jagger is made of. He’s the only skater poised to contest both disciplines that’ll be on display: street and park. That’s insane. Team USA only has slots for three skaters in each discipline, and Jagger could possibly end up on both sides. Getting to skate in the actual events in Tokyo is a convoluted points system at best; Jagger has racked up points in both disciplines as of press time but isn’t a lock yet on either team. (See? Confusing!) USA Skateboarding would actually prefer it if Jagger just competes in one discipline.

Mims feels this is something that USA Skateboarding should be proud of and embrace. “He’s the only skateboarder on the planet that can do both at a high level,” Mims says. “That should be marketed and promoted—like this is USA, we’ve got one of the best! But they don’t see it that way.” And for Jagger, if people tell him he can’t do something, well, they just gave him the biggest reason to go for it. Currently he is on the park team, but Jagger, who was on the street team last year, is allowed to skate both disciplines at contests. Jagger has the ability to pull it off, but it will require double the training and wear and tear on the body, “The thing about training for both disciplines is that no one’s in better shape than I am,” he says. No doubt, the guy’s got confidence and has been preparing for this scenario. Preparing for over 10 years, really. “It’s hard as hell,” says Reynolds, appraising the difficulty of vying for spots on both teams. “If anybody’s gonna do it, Jagger’s the one.” No matter how it shakes out, the competition will be intense. In street— the discipline Jagger says will be tougher for him—he’d go up against fellow American Nyjah Huston and Yuto Horigome of Japan. And in park he’d face American Cory Juneau as his biggest threat. The U.S. squad will have its roster cemented after the Dew Tour in May in Des Moines, Iowa, the final park Olympic qualifying event. Briefly putting aside his outsized personal ambitions, the kid with the rock star name is confident that American skaters will come home with all the hardware. “USA is gonna put on,” Jagger says. “That’s what we’re going for.” However things shake out in Tokyo, at 20 years young, Jagger is still in the early years of his career. He’s got a solid 10-year run ahead of him easy. The kid is training every day to be a super athlete so this won’t likely be the only Games he competes in, and he’ll be a force to be reckoned with at all the competitions in between. The Heart Supply and newcomer to the skate footwear scene Cariuma are solidly backing him so he’s got all the freedom in the world to skate how he wants. We’d all love to see another gnarly street part in the years to come, but regardless of that, we’re going to see one of the best young contest skaters evolve into a beast and become a household name. In a lot of ways, this is just the beginning. 43

Rose City Rollers all-star Loren Kaplan Mutch was photographed at the Oaks Park Roller Skating Rink in Portland, Oregon, on March 22.

READY TO ROLL

To the doubters who still think roller derby is just a melodrama of sharp elbows and fishnet stockings, four-time world champion Loren Kaplan Mutch is here to prove you wrong. Words EVELYN SPENCE Photography CAMERON BAIRD

As a top jammer for the Rose City Rollers, Mutch, 28, has been a key player in the evolution of the sport.

t’s Friday evening at Luuwit Skate Spot, out east from Portland, and across the silkysmooth pavement of the bowl, you can see the snowy shoulder of Mount St. Helens, and above that, clear cerulean skies. Dolly Parton is twanging on someone’s Makita Job Site speaker, but louder than that is the swoosh-click, swoosh-click of quad roller skate wheels rolling up the walls and tapping the steel coping. If it were a normal April, Loren Kaplan Mutch—a top jammer for fourtime Womens Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) champion Rose City Rollers— would never have come to an easygoing skatepark with her teammates, Mia Palau, 36, and Julie “Angela Death” Adams, 39, who have taken to calling themselves the Send Friends. She’d be at the Hangar, shut down since March 2020, where roller derby bouts typically sell out in minutes. She’d be pushing and juking through a wall of blockers. To be honest, it takes a lot of time, focus, fitness and raw talent to elevate the level of an entire sport, which is just what Mutch, 28, had been doing up until COVID hit. Swoosh: into a handstand. Swooshgrind: a tabernacle slide. Swoosh: fakie into a cartwheel—and her backward baseball cap stays on. Even though Mutch only tried park skating for the first time in August of 2020, she’s on pace to outshine her mentors. “I feel like I’ve been watching the super-fastforward evolution of a park skater,” Palau says, watching Mutch nail one trick after another. “She picks things up really fast. She’s really, really gifted.” It seems that almost everything Mutch has done over the last few years

has been an evolution, and she’s bringing derby with her: After years of battling recurring vocal cord polyps and a series of life-changing surgeries, she’s finally able to start speaking out— for Black Lives Matter, for women’s empowerment, but especially for her transgender and nonbinary teammates. She’s also transformed from a skinny junior skater to a powerlifting ace who’s pretty much jacked. And in 2017, she picked up a Red Bull sponsorship—the highest-profile nod anyone’s ever gotten in roller derby—and now has more than 20,000 Instagram followers, making her one of the sport’s biggest influencers. These days, her influence continues to expand beyond the rink: With her personal drive to take derby seriously, to embody the role of an elite competitor, Mutch is pushing her niche sport to new heights. She’s giving it more visibility and legitimacy. And at the same time derby itself, through participation and politics, is growing up. “I feel like I, and my team, are sort of like pioneers,” Mutch says. In some ways, nights like these—sun setting on the tail end of a five-hour COVID session—have forced her to take a break from her relentless rise. “I’ve had to learn not to take my derby mindset to the park,” she says. But Mutch still can’t help but strive for excellence: The Send Friends tell me, conspiratorially, that as soon as she gets home, she’ll pull up a spreadsheet and log the tricks she attempted, the tricks she landed and the precise amount of time she spent practicing. “The connection between her brain and her body is just incredible,” says Palau. “She can visualize something, and then she can make it happen.” 47

Rose City Rollers outfitted a step van with 150 pairs of skates to host mobile outdoor events.

f you haven’t been paying attention for the last decade or two, you probably think of derby as a niche sport that combines the showy melodrama and staged fights of professional wrestling— fishnet stockings, pseudonyms like C3PHoe, Cherry Poppins, Correctional Felicity—with the scrums and breakaways of rugby. “We get the, oh, roller derby, you use your elbows a lot,” says Mutch. Adds Palau, “Most people assume it’s only brawn and all we do is shove.” Those presumptions are a carryover from derby’s long history, which yo-yoed in popularity from epic skate-a-thons in Depression-era Chicago to banked tracks and cinematic feuds in the 1970s to the formation of the modern sport in Texas in 2002. These days, at its highest level, jorts and glitter have largely given way to spandex and fitted pinnies. More and more athletes—Mutch included—use their given names. And while the sport is still wildly entertaining (and, within very specific rules, very much full-contact), elite derby requires power, finesse, cardio endurance and lightning-quick communication—and for a jammer like Mutch, the ability to juke, twirl, move laterally and even leap the apex of the track’s turns. “There aren’t many other sports that could create such wellrounded athletes,” she says. Her own progression has paralleled that of the sport in many ways. Born in Seattle but raised from age 8 in Port Orchard, Washington, Mutch describes her parents as “pretty punk rock.” She thought she would end up an artist. A musician. Her dad, a lifelong skateboarder, took her to the skatepark sometimes. “I thought it was so cool,” she says. “I wanted to be just like the 48

guys in Lords of Dogtown—Tony Alva and Jay Adams and Stacy Peralta.” But she spent more of her time doing the conventional gamut of youth activities: soccer, dance, gymnastics, basketball. “I was mediocre at all of them,” she says. “And I was a terrible skater when I went to kids’ birthday parties at the rink.” But when she gave derby a try at 14—with the Kitsap Derby Brats—it clicked, at least emotionally. “Something in me said, oh, I can do that,” she says. “And at my first junior tournament, I fell in love. I found my people.” Growing up, Mutch wasn’t a misfit, really; she just wanted to find a place to fit in, feel valued, feel appreciated—feel heard. Throughout her teens and early 20s she suffered from recurring vocal polyps, which made her so hoarse she couldn’t speak much louder than a whisper. Kids told her she sounded like she smoked a carton a day. But her quietness wasn’t shyness. “It’s not that I lacked confidence,” Mutch says. “I literally couldn’t be heard.” For her, the accepting derby community was especially significant during those earlier years. “I’m just realizing it as I talk about it, but I didn’t have to fake it. I went through so many different phases and

“I went through so many phases and styles, trying to figure out who I was, and derby was the first step.”

styles, trying to figure out who I was, and derby was the first step.” In 2007, when Mutch picked up derby, the sport was more punk than it is today—which dovetailed with her family vibe. But while roller derby has counterculture roots, it is also a highly structured team sport—a sweet spot for someone like Mutch who was, without realizing it at the time, seeking a group identity and a physical challenge. Her background in other sports gave her a good foundation for lateral movements and juking, but back then, she says, “I was a tiny little thing. I was the best player on a team that lost every game.” When she turned 18 she briefly skated with a small adult league, the Slaughter County Roller Vixens, before joining Rose City Rollers in 2012. It was just long enough to have an epiphany. “I had these little frilly shorts on, and red lipstick, and I was getting my ass kicked,” she says. “I’d be knocked over, then I’d stand up and get knocked over again. At halftime, I was like, fuck these shorts. I was mad. I took them off, took off the stupid lipstick. I wanted to be serious and look the part.” Mutch is quick to point out, though, that it’s not a judgment on other players who choose to have fun with their personas and presentations; for her, casting aside the costumery was a way to step up her game for herself. In the years since, more and more athletes have done the same. Once Mutch joined Rose City, her rise wasn’t immediate—until it was. “I knew my place at age 19, which wasn’t as a starter,” she says. “But I didn’t know how to pace myself at the gym and in practice. I’d go so hard. To be honest, it was a good thing, because I knew that THE RED BULLETIN

“She’s like Mighty Mouse,” says Rose City Rollers founder Kim Stegeman of Mutch’s talents.

eventually I was going to be one of the main jammers on the team. And it happened a lot quicker than I thought.” In 2014, leading up to the team’s first WFTDA championships ever, Mutch somehow found yet another gear in training, and it paid off: She was a starter, and in the very first jam of the first game, she scored 30 points against Chicago’s Windy City Rollers. (Most games have single-digit scores on both sides.) She was named MVP of the tournament. THE RED BULLETIN

To observers, she was fulfilling a potential that had been staring almost everyone in the face. “I’ve known her since she was playing in the youth league, and even back then, it was like, holy shit,” says Kim Stegeman, who founded Rose City Rollers in 2004 and is now executive director. “She’s like Mighty Mouse.” Then, in 2016, Mutch got her voice back. After her fourth and final polyp surgery, her teammates could finally hear what she was saying—in the huddle and on the track—over the screams of

spectators. Two years later she won the World Cup with USA Roller Derby, and RCR is now at the top of the WFTDA heap. Yet, even as derby has swelled from 30 leagues in the U.S. in 2006 to 451 on six continents just before the pandemic began, it still has a DIY, for-the-skaters bythe-skaters ethos. And that’s by design, says Stegeman. “We forged a community for females in their 20s and 30s who wanted to belong and compete, where you can have a knockaround and make friends,” she says. Almost every position is 49

Mutch wants more people to fall in love with roller skating, whether that’s through derby, park or cruising down a sidewalk.

With her personal drive to take derby seriously, Mutch is pushing her niche sport to new heights.

“Mutch is one of the most gifted athletes I’ve ever trained. Her physical talents are obvious.”

volunteer, from referees to scorekeepers to the people slinging beer—and almost every player is an amateur. “I can count on one hand the number of people who play derby for a living,” Mutch says. She’s among them, but she’s done her time: working a series of retail McJobs, carhopping at a Sonic Drive-In, joining the local carpenters union. More notable, roller derby has retained a core value that truly makes it stand out among elite sports: its acceptance of transgender women, intersex women and nonbinary and gender-expansive players. If you self-assess as female, you can participate. Period. “We were in control of what we wanted the league to look like, and we rooted it in empowerment and inclusivity,” says Stegeman. One of Mutch’s teammates, Oona Roll, identifies as nonbinary, and knows that if they ever decide to transition, they won’t have to give up their sport. Another teammate and longtime player, OMG WTF, 42, coached Mutch and the national team in 2016 while taking time off to transition, then came back to skate with Rose City in 2018. They also own skate shops in Portland and New York with their partner, the legendary Bonnie Thunders. “Now that I am trans masculine instead of femme presenting, I get a different response when people come into Five Stride and I tell them I play for Rose City,” they say. “But it’s not the fault of derby. Derby supports me. Everyone just calls me Gramps.” No doubt, there’s always work to be done—as of press time, there were 115

“She’s strong, fast agile, explosive, and her proprioception is off the charts,” says strength and conditioning coach Quint Fischer.

anti-trans bills on the table in 30-some states—which is why Mutch is slowly turning into a vocal advocate. “She’s coming into her own,” says Oona. “I can see her understanding that she isn’t a little kid anymore. She has an audience now.” Stegeman agrees: “I’ve been able to see her growth as an athlete who sees herself as having influence.” Because we’re talking roller derby and not the NBA or the USWNT, Mutch doesn’t have minders and governing

In March, Mutch married Sophie Kaplan, an Oregon state record holder in powerlifting. THE RED BULLETIN

bodies telling her what to say or not say, so part of her journey is simply finding her own version of balance. But there’s no way she’s staying silent any longer. “With so many anti-trans bills being introduced lately, I hope that people can look at roller derby and see how trans athletes compete in a full-contact sport,” she says. “I can tell you firsthand that it doesn’t necessarily give anyone an advantage. And I’ll still smoke you on the track.”

t the Odd Barbell, a strengthfocused gym in far SE Portland, the walls are hung with Wu-Tang and Pride flags and the chalkboard is scribbled with the powerlifting goals of its clients. The weekend before today, Mutch got married to her longtime girlfriend, Sophie Kaplan, an Oregon state record holder in powerlifting who’s partway toward a master’s in sports medicine and a doctorate in chiropractic. They met doing CrossFit, where Kaplan would show up and check Mutch’s time, then try to do better. These days, Kaplan coaches at the Barbell, so it’s where Mutch often works out. It’s a deloading day—single-leg good mornings, broad jumps—which Mutch knocks out with perfect technique and seemingly no effort. “If you see a girl doing something you can’t do, it’s probably Loren,” owner Melanie Schoepp calls from across the room. 53

On a big day, though, Mutch does sprints. Olympic lifts. Weighted cyclic jumps. Red Bull strength and conditioning coach Alex Bunt, who started working with her this spring, was first at a loss about how to challenge her. “I scrolled through her Instagram and I showed everyone this crazy thing where she popped from a kneeling position onto her feet, then onto a 30-inch box into a perfect pistol squat,” he says. “So I designed a program for myself—and I’ve been doing this stuff for 15 years—and then made it so hard I can’t even do it.” He says Mutch doesn’t train for derby per se, but rather for general explosiveness and power, for the acceleration to get up off the ground and sprint, for the strength to resist and push through a wall of blockers. In the Before Times, Rose City regularly worked out as a team at Magnus Strength & Conditioning with head coach Quint Fischer, but Mutch set herself apart. “Over my 13 years of coaching, Mutch is one of the most gifted athletes that I’ve ever trained,” he says. “Her physical talents are obvious when you watch her skate or lift—she’s strong, fast, agile, explosive, her proprioception is off the charts, and her footwork is immaculate.” Kaplan puts it this way: “My wife can do Stupid Human Tricks all day long.” Mutch’s approach to fitness is a major reason she’s raising the athleticism of derby to another level. “Every single year she somehow gets faster, somehow gets stronger,” says OMG. “She’s so determined to execute any move as perfect as it can possibly be, and if it’s not perfect, she’ll make it perfect the next time.” Her dedication to the sport extends to a new generation, too. Over the last few years, she has flown all over the world to coach, but she also instructs Rose City’s junior skaters. “It would be like Michael Jordan coaching a bunch of 7-year-olds,” says Stegeman.

But everyone agrees that Mutch is also the first to put her team ahead of herself, redirect the credit and then sign every autograph at every tournament. When asked why she thinks she’s a star, or how she is changing the sport, she struggles to answer—as if she can’t quite believe the impact she has and is too bashful and courteous to claim it. She can swagger at the gym and the rink, but she’s not used to public introspection. “There are always going to be people who stand out in a game,” she says. “When my teammates are good, I’m better because of it.” “It’s amazing how humble she is for how good she is,” Kaplan says. “She just wants everyone to come to the top with her.” Yet it’s more than that. She wants more people to fall in love with skating, whether it’s derby, park or just cruising down the sidewalk. It’s already happening: One windfall of COVID is that roller skate sales have gone through the roof. Over the last few years, derby has aired on ESPN, and there’s talk of a pro league. It all may broaden Mutch’s appeal even more, and there’s no position she’d rather be in. “I want people to realize just how incredibly hard we work and how difficult it is to play roller derby at our level,” Mutch says. “The other day, Sophie told me how when we first met, she thought I had this ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude.” She pauses. “But she’s come to learn that I do. I give a lot of them.” Back at Luuwit, it’s about time to go. But Palau calls to Mutch, “You wanna jump me?” She and Adams lie side-byside near the lip. Mutch drops into the large bowl—swoosh—pumps over a bump into the small bowl, skates up the wall and airs up and over her teammates. They’re watching her trucks fly overhead. The sky is fading behind her. The symbolism is hard to ignore: She’s on the verge of taking off. Her arms flail just a bit, but she lands it.

“I want people to realize just how incredibly hard we work and how difficult it is to play roller derby at our level.”

Mutch might be helping to raise the profile of roller derby, but it’s still all about having fun and building community.

When the action heats up inside the Cage, crowds grow and emotions soar.

BEHOLD

There’s no place on Earth to play hoops like the iconic court on New York’s West 4th Street, where legends are born and weak moves to the rim are very publicly rejected. Words DAVE HOWARD Photography ANTHONY GEATHERS

THE CAGE

he court is small. Start with that fact about New York City’s iconic West 4th Street park. It’s obvious enough just at a glance: If the 3-point lines were stretched back to NBA distance—to accommodate the pros who sometimes take the court there—they would nearly touch the halfcourt circle. Watch one of the big-time summer-league games inside the Cage, as it’s nicknamed, and it’s as if giants have colonized a child’s play set. But try to find out exactly how far from regulation size the court is? That’s where it gets interesting. Google it and you will see estimates ranging from “a little smaller than regulation” (the official New York City Parks page) to fully half the standard 94 feet. The legends are evasive, too, answering only that games can feel tight, even

This image of a 2016 playoff game captures the intensity that the leagues bring out.

THE CAGE REWARDS THOSE WHO CAN SQUEEZE OFF SHOTS IN NARROW WINDOWS OF SPACE. 58

a little claustrophobic. Kenny Graham, the founder of the summer leagues that have turned West 4th into a streetball icon and global destination, responds to the question with a coy shrug, saying only that the green-painted rectangle has “been said [to be] many sizes,” and “people love that fact about the court.” It’s as if to say: Why spoil the fun with a tape measure? The unusual dimensions contribute to the aura of the place—but there’s more to it than that. They actually change the game. Players who rely on speed and finesse find their wings clipped, because everyone is so packed in together that it might feel as if there are twice the number of players on the court. The 20-foot chain-link fence bubble-wrapping West 4th only contributes to the sense that the walls are closing in. The Cage rewards those who can squeeze off shots or gather in rebounds in slender windows of space, or better yet carve out their own real estate in the lane, moving bodies as needed in the paint—which the old-timers nicknamed Death Valley. To call it physical is a skyscraper of an understatement. And this being New York City, some of the spectators pressed up against the other side of the fence will be hecklers, and they will let you know when you screw up. Jason Curry is the founder and president of Big Apple Basketball; he grew up watching his father compete in pickup games there and went on to play with and coach elite players on West 4th. After making a mistake in a game, he’s thought to himself: “I would’ve rather done that anyplace other than here.” “A lot of people struggle to play at West 4th Street because of how small it is,” he says. “It’s almost like survival of the fittest. You can’t be soft in any capacity and survive on West 4th Street, or you will get eaten alive.”

The court is a grand stage. Kenny Graham sensed that instantly about the place when he first stumbled onto it in 1976 and joined in pickup games there—that this court was unlike anything else he’d come across in his travels delivering groceries around the city. In contrast to the typical locals-only neighborhood games you’d find in different boroughs, players migrated in from all over the city, which literally meant they were from everywhere. THE RED BULLETIN

Roughly 70 teams play in leagues at West 4th every year.

In the fourth quarter of a close game, the tension on and off the court is palpable.

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Easy layups are not common in the Cage, which favors highly physical play.

TO CALL PLAYING IN THE CAGE PHYSICAL IS A SKYSCRAPER OF AN UNDERSTATEMENT. 60

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“There’s guys from all ethnic backgrounds that come up here to play: Jews, Italians, Irish, Black guys, Indian guys, you name it,” Graham says. “There’s no other park like that in the entire country where you have that type of diversity.” And then there is the prime location. Most outdoor courts are tucked away in somewhat remote corners of the city, but West 4th is in Greenwich Village, right there on 6th Avenue—a major artery in Manhattan. The hublike West 4th Street subway station empties out right next door. “It almost gives the feeling of playing on Broadway,” Curry says, “in the sense that it’s all eyes on you.” The court’s pickup games have long been a distraction and source of curiosity to the masses of people passing by, and going back to the 1960s there was a league there that only lasted a few years. A few coaches decided to reformulate the West 4th league, and Graham saw the potential for something big. He signed on as an official. Within two years he became co-commissioner and director. It was in those roles that he exhibited an uncanny knack for brand building. He created Kenny Graham’s West 4th Street Pro Classic, with its own logo and line of merchandise. As the 1980s dawned, the summer league started drawing bigger and bigger names from college and pro ranks. A virtuous circle followed: As the games became more competitive, the audience sizes grew, and as the number

of spectators spiked, an even higher caliber of player began arriving, putting the game on the map for more NBA stars. Dr. J dunked in the Cage back in the day. Before long it wasn’t just native New Yorkers like Stephon Marbury, Jayson Williams and Rod Strickland who were finding their way to the diminutive playground court. Curry remembers the time a decade or so ago that Dwight Howard showed up—during the superstar, Superman Dwight Howard era, when he was arguably the world’s most electrifying player—just to watch a game. Much of pop culture followed. Denzel Washington visited, as did Spike Lee. Hiphop stars drop in there, and commercials for national ad campaigns are shot there. Those who never make it to West 4th in person can play there on the EA Sports video game, NBA Street V3. The pandemic caused a one-year pause in the summer leagues. But Graham says summer league play will resume on June 25. When games restart and the city is swollen with people again, tourists will throng to the Cage, joining the crowd of regular spectators around the fence. And Graham will be selling hats and T-shirts to people from South Korea and Norway and Brazil, feeding the sense that the place is the ultimate basketball fishbowl. “I tell people who are local: What’s on that shirt—that shirt is going to be worn all over the world,” Graham says. “All over the world!”

Trash talking— between players, coaches and fans—is standard fare at West 4th. THE RED BULLETIN

A young fan in full Kobe gear enjoys the action in the Cage.

The court is an escape. Jack Ryan grew up a basketball savant in Brooklyn. By the time he turned 12 none of his friends could stop him, so his brother, four years older, invited him to play with his friends. When he torched those kids, too, Ryan decided it was time to really test his game in Manhattan. “I said, ‘OK, let’s see how good I am,’ ” he recalls. It was obvious enough where to go: West 4th Street. That’s where the legend of “Black Jack” Ryan was born. Ryan infamously whiffed on opportunities to play in college and the NBA—failures documented on a Netflix show that can safely be written off to immaturity and a rough childhood. At home, his father’s nickname for him involved a variation

Two competitors in the men’s division get ready for a game to start.

WHEN YOU PLAY AT WEST 4TH, YOU JOIN A BROTHERHOOD. IT’S TRULY THAT UNIQUE. 62

of an F-bomb, but at West 4h, Black Jack was home. He and the court seemed made for each other. He was once kicked off a college team for showboating, but streetball is a different game; inside the Cage, his flamboyance was an asset. Ryan once dropped 44 points on former Detroit Piston Phil Sellers, and when a friend told him as much afterward, Ryan blurted out “Who’s Phil Sellers?” According to one published account, Hall of Famer (and New York legend) Chris Mullin described Black Jack as the best shooter he’d ever seen who never played in the NBA. Ryan sensed as much of a family there as he’d ever had back in Brooklyn. There was a stability to it. He loved that the scorekeeper, Omar, had a habit of drinking too many 40-ouncers out of paper bags before games and kept screwing up the score, prompting Graham to correct him—but Omar was always the guy who kept score regardless. The taunts and jibes from the court announcer, the game’s balletic combat, Graham’s steadfast rules against violence—it all provided some stability in a world otherwise lacking it. He’s been the MVP in one of the leagues there and even has a tattoo of the court logo on his calf. And he still sees Leo, Sherm, Doc—all the guys he’s formed friendships with over nearly 40 years of playing there. “Now that I’m older, it’s family,” Ryan says. “It’s my home away from home. It’s my backyard.” The court is a community. It sounds odd to say, because the neighborhood is so dynamic and diverse that it defies a single identity. Also, the game is so physical, it can teeter on the edge of open hostilities. After witnessing a number of fights, Graham developed zero-tolerance rules—including temporary or even lifetime bans—for people who instigate. But there’s a shared esteem among those who take the court. All the hardearned and carefully nurtured animosities evaporate by the time everyone returns for the next game, and the players resume their collective observance of familiar and beloved rituals: the crossovers and fadeaways and teardrop runners in the lane. You play at West 4th, those who have taken the court say, and you join a brotherhood or sisterhood of those THE RED BULLETIN

Two high school boys teams run the blacktop, which is way smaller than a regulation court.

Every game has intensity, but perhaps nothing tops all-star games on Championship Sunday.

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After a year off due to the pandemic, league play in the Cage is expected to resume this summer.

“IT ALMOST GIVES THE FEELING OF PLAYING ON BROADWAY—IT’S ALL EYES ON YOU.”

who have experienced something truly unique. “There’s a camaraderie that goes on there,” Curry says. “As tough as it is, as high-level as it is, there’s a respect for everybody that comes onto that court.” People watch out for each other there. When Curry was 5 years old and sitting outside the court watching his father play, a deranged man wandered past and kicked him, and everyone in the game abandoned the court to chase the fleeing assailant down the steps of the subway station. The game here is central to so many lives. Seventy teams play in leagues there: 20 each for men and high school boys, 16 for women, 14 for middleschool teams. Graham, now 69, shows no signs of slowing his pace despite declaring that he’s retired—because, he says, at West 4th “you see the fruits of your labor.” He’s now seeking to outsource the magic of the place, the multicultural stew that is the pride of the Cage. To that end, Graham is working with officials in the Dominican Republic to bring high school teams from New York City and other U.S. basketball hotbeds to the Caribbean island nation during the year-end holiday break, to participate in a cultural experience that also involves basketball tournaments. He views this as the next logical way to grow the West 4th Street experience. And maybe it has also helped to fill his time during the pandemic—but soon enough, things will get back to normal: Players will show up as reliably as the tides, and fans who occupy the same seat or spot along the fence during the summer leagues, night after night, will resume their vigils. The Cage has been around for so long now that it is embedded in the narrative arcs of entire families, generations migrating there together, parents handing down like an heirloom the experience of watching or playing inside West 4th. So this is true of the court, too: It’s a time capsule. Over the decades, Manhattan endlessly morphs and shifts and reshapes itself. Buildings fall and rise again, and restaurants flip ownership and identities, and parks fall into disrepair and then are reborn. But that rectangle of hallowed hoops history shoehorned into the Village? The Cage, it seems, is forever. 65

Calling the Shots Skateboard photographer Jake Darwen reflects on some of the most out-of-this-world images from his portfolio. Words ANDREAS WOLLINGER

Full Pipe

Anthony Schultz, Seoul, South Korea, 2016

“There’s this perfect full pipe in front of Seoul’s largest shopping center. The only problem is all the security guards around. A couple of the guys distracted them; Anthony had enough time for exactly two attempts and then they barred us from the area.”

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When he was 16, Jake Darwen’s dreams of becoming a professional skateboarder came to a halt when he suffered a knee injury. But during his recovery, the Auckland, New Zealand, native picked up a camera. Now based in Los Angeles, the 28-yearold is one of the most sought-after skateboard photographers in the world, thanks to his sharp eye, perfect timing and his ability to transform boarders’ fleeting tricks and their surroundings into complete works of art. “I think that’s how to get a photograph to tell a story,” he says. Instagram: @jakedarwen

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Under the Rainbow

Casey Ainsworth, Adelaide, Australia, 2015 “Casey came across this really steep bank one day, so we went back in the evening to be undisturbed. That’s when we realized that the stadium was lit up, which only made the whole thing look even more spectacular.”

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On-Time Flight

Marius Syvänen, Tugun, Australia, 2018 “It’s almost too good to be true but this bowl is just a couple hundred meters away from the landing strip at Gold Coast Airport. Marius and I worked out that planes landed about every 20 minutes. Whenever a plane came in, Marius took off. It took a long time for us to get it just right, but it was certainly worth it.”

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Double Take

Jake Hayes and Jordan Trahan, Los Angeles, 2019 “A classic schoolyard session at the height of summer. My flashes were practically exploding in the heat, but the guys kept a cool head and managed to get their kickflips over the table in perfect sync.”

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Bright Lights, Big City

Marquise Henry, Los Angeles, 2020 “I have always been a big fan of backlighting my subject whenever I get the opportunity. I love the way the shadows meld with the ground and the glow behind the person.”

Art Skills

Louie Dodd, Melbourne, Australia, 2016 “Louie always skates in such great places that you want to be there to be able to photograph him. Luckily I got my wish. This abstract sculpture is in the heart of Melbourne.”

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Super Soaker Dean Palmer, Beijing, 2014

“I’d always wanted to photograph someone in a waterspout fountain, but people mostly don’t want to get wet. I asked Dean if he felt like it when we were in Beijing together. He was soaking within five minutes. He went back to the hotel, got new clothes and we did it all again.”

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Throwing Caution to the Wind Franky Villani, Los Angeles, 2020

“I didn’t take any photos for a month after the COVID outbreak began. Then we realized that closed schools were safe, as there was no one around. Franky instantly chose the least-safe trick: the 50-50 grind hippie jump —over the railing and through a hole in the fence.”

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Balancing Act

Gabriel Summers, Melbourne, Australia, 2015 “To this day nobody knows who built it or what they built it for—a random structure with nails and overlapping bits of plywood sticking out of it. Gabriel knew that he had to have the balance of a gymnast to get his board into the right position and then just hope for the best. Thankfully nothing happened.”

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Quick as a Flash

Ronnie Kessner, New York, 2019 “We’d gone to this station for something to eat. On the way out I realized that from up above you could see all the way down, which immediately gave me an idea for a picture.

I communicated with Ronnie by phone, and an assistant also used a flash from above, which created the shadow. We didn’t have much time. The security guys were on our heels.”

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Forbidden Entrance

Kayle Lawson, Melbourne, Australia, 2016

“This site was locked up for years, but then locals removed the locks and there were exactly two weeks where people got to skate. Pictured here is my best friend Kayle doing a switch backside lipslide.”

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YOU DON’T JUST NEED A VACATION. YOU NEED AN RV.

GO ON A REAL VACATION

guide Get it. Do it. See it.

CAVE RIDGE VINEYARD

THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Napa and Sonoma may be the icons of the American wine tasting scene, but across the country there are more under-the-radar spots that are perfect for an outdoor summer visit. Words LIZBETH SCORDO

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Mountain views and vines for days at Cave Ridge Vineyard in Virginia.

G U I D E

Do it Arizona

Take a break from wine tasting in the Hudson Valley at Bad Seed Farm Bar, which serves hard cider.

Hudson Valley, New York

The third-largest wineproducing state in the country (behind California and Washington), New York churns out a range of homegrown vinos from the Finger Lakes to Long Island. But it’s the Hudson Valley that’s not just one of the easiest to access—many wineries are 90 minutes from Manhattan—but also one of the oldest U.S. wine regions, with some vines dating back to the 1600s. At the 37-acre Benmarl Winery (which holds New York Farm Winery license no. 1), you can reserve a tasting at an outdoor table overlooking the bucolic valley below, try estate-grown Rosé and Cabernet Franc, and tack on a pizza from the onsite wood-burning oven. If you’re looking to picnic, hit the laid-back Robibero Family Vineyards, a smaller venue situated on the leafy Shawangunk Ridge. Staffers

New York’s Hudson Valley is one of the oldest wine regions in the U.S. 82

will pour you a four-varietal sampler of greatest hits— often including its estategrown Cab Franc and Vidal Blanc—that you can cart out to a picnic table or stone firepit on the expansive lawn. (Feel free to BYO food or grab charcuterie at the winery.) For even better vineyard views, secure a space beneath the vinecovered pergola on the property’s 92-foot deck. The Empire State’s hard-cider scene has exploded in recent years, and you can sample a slew of them at Bad Seed Farm Bar, which pours from taps inside an open-air shipping container right on the apple orchard, with local live bands performing on Friday and Saturday nights. Outdoor Fix For one of the valley’s short-but-strenuous hikes that’ll give you a good glimpse at the Hudson from 1,200 feet, try the 3-mile Breakneck Ridge Loop trail, which starts near the village of Cold Spring. Where to Stay Reserve a room, cottage or house at Buttermilk Falls Inn & Spa, which also has a farm-to-table restaurant, organic garden and animal-rescue sanctuary on the property.

The entire state is home to just 100 wineries, spread out over three main regions, including the Sonoita Valley. That’s where you’ll find Los Milics Vineyards, in the hills about an hour southeast of Tucson. Owner Pavle Milic serves a lineup of his standout Spanishskewing offerings, like a Monastrell-Tempranillo blend and a carbonic Garnacha. The winery recently started hosting tastings at its crush pad, with a future tasting room currently in the works. Head about 80 miles east of Tucson to the jagged Chiricahua Mountains and you’ll find LDV Winery, a small producer that crafts its wine using the four grapes (Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Viognier) it grows on its 13-acre vineyard. Set up a tasting and tour led by owner/ winemaker Curt Dunham,

whose wife and co-owner, Peggy Fiandaca, has boozemaking in her blood; her grandfather was a fabled Kentucky bootlegger during Prohibition. In nearby Willcox, Carlson Creek Vineyard—run by brothers John and Robert Carlson—just opened its new tasting room at the family’s 280-acre vineyard surrounded by some of the state’s highest mountains. You can opt for a tour here, too, or just settle in for a tasting on an Adirondack chair a stone’s throw from its vines. (If you’re in Phoenix for the weekend and don’t want to make the trek south, both LDV and Carlson have tasting rooms along Old Town Scottsdale’s growing “wine trail.”) Outdoor Fix For excursions near the vineyards, seasoned mountaineer John Carlson recommends the Cochise Stronghold—a collection of granite peaks and domes—for climbers or the gloriously lowtrafficked trails of Chiricahua National Monument for hiking, where you’ve got a good shot at spotting desertdwelling wildlife like coatimundis and javelinas. Where to Stay Rhumb Line Vineyard offers a couple of groovy Quonset huts with private baths and plenty of stargazing opportunities.

Sip a glass of wine at Los Milics Vineyards, about an hour from Tucson.

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Wine Country Toulouse Vineyards & Winery in the Anderson Valley offers tastings of multiple Pinots and whites on the property.

Bottoms up at Toulouse.

Anderson Valley, California

The Shenandoah Valley is a popular respite for residents of Washington, D.C.

BAD SEED, LOS MILICS, TOULOUSE VINEYARDS

Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

Thanks to its collection of sprawling wineries connected by a series of scenic drives, this region between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountain ranges has become a popular get-out-of-the-city jaunt for residents of nearby metropolises like Washington, D.C. Historically, the area has always been an agricultural hot spot but has grown to become a wine boomtown, too, thanks in part to its limestonerich soil and dry climate. Mad mountain views abound at Cave Ridge Vineyard, where you can book an umbrellacovered table on the rustic raised deck or stone courtyard, order a flight of estate red, white or sparkling and then stroll the vineyards of Cab Franc, Chardonnay and newly

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planted Pinot Noir. Look for live music sets on weekends. Muse Vineyards—owned by a former U.S. ambassador and an English barrister—is one of the area’s top picks, with tons of local awards on its walls and 20 varietals planted on its 35 acres of vineyards, some of which sit at 1,000-feet elevation and others down on the banks of the Shenandoah River. Order its sampler flight of five—which usually includes two vintages of its fabled Clio, a Bordeaux blend aged in French oak. Pair it with a picnic on the manicured lawn or try tasting on its vineyardfronting terrace. Outdoor Fix From Muse, you’re only 30 miles from Shenandoah National Park, where you can tackle canyon hikes that lead to flowing waterfalls, treks through wildflower fields and backcountry camping. Where to Stay Cabins, cottages and farmhouses are available on Airbnb throughout the valley, making for a good home base if you’re visiting wineries and wandering the park.

Thanks to its proximity to the coast, this charming stretch of Mendocino County grows some of California’s most primo Pinots, a grape that thrives under a hefty dose of marine layer and cooler climates. While Anderson Valley growers have been selling grapes to producers around the state for decades, its tasting-room scene is still relatively quiet compared to California’s better-known big-dog regions, with around 30 wineries dotting the 15-mile-long valley and a setting just as stunning as its better-known winemaking counterparts to the south. To taste at one of the area’s top Pinot producers, make a beeline for Goldeneye. It’s a larger commercial outfit but worthy of a stop to sip some of its single-vineyard offerings on the patio. You can also pick up a picnic basket to dig into while sitting under the property’s colossal black oak tree. After planting their first Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes on an abandoned apple farm more than 20 years ago, spouses Jason and Molly Drew make wines at Drew Family Cellars that are now some of the most buzzed-about in the valley. Though their actual winery isn’t open to the

public, you can sample a mix of current offerings—usually a white, Syrah and two Pinots—on the covered outdoor courtyard at the Madrones, a Mediterraneanstyle complex outside the town of Philo that’s home to three tasting rooms, an inn and restaurant. The nearby 21-acre Toulouse Vineyards & Winery follows sustainable practices, like utilizing organic compost made of discarded grape skins and stems to naturally fertilize its soil. Tastings of multiple Pinots and whites take place either on the patio or beneath a covered space out in the vineyards. Outdoor Fix Be sure to add a morning visit to Hendy Woods State Park to your trip. The park is made up of two groves’ worth of ancient redwoods and is a solid spot for some quick hikes or a kayak ride along the Navarro River. Where to Stay The Boonville Hotel dubs itself a modern roadhouse, with 15 rustic rooms and cottages, plus a courtyard restaurant serving a locally sourced prix fixe menu. Many wineries require or recommend appointments and are open only certain days in the week, so be sure to check ahead of time.

G U I D E

Do it TRAIN LIKE A PRO

“NO WAVE IS EVER THE SAME”

Surfer Carissa Moore reveals how she trains for unpredictable challenges.

Carissa Moore is sitting on the beach, headphones on, staring at the ocean, waiting for her heat to begin. Once she paddles out into the lineup, she’ll have 30 minutes to show judges her most creative surfing. “I try to take a couple deep breaths—and just let stuff go,” she says. It seems to be working. One of the most dominant surfers in the sport, Moore, 28, has won four world titles. Growing up in Hawaii, she learned to surf at Queen’s, the storied break in Waikiki. She fell in love with the sport, and success came quickly—she began competing at surfing’s highest level while in high school. Known for her clean technique and powerful style, Moore has continually pushed the sport’s boundaries. Earlier this year at a contest in Australia, she landed one of the best airs yet seen in women’s contest surfing. “There are always new challenges, so I’m constantly learning and adapting,” she says. This summer, if all goes well, she’s a favorite to stand on a podium in Tokyo.

“I think the thing I love most about surfing is that every day is different and no wave is ever the same,” says Moore.

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Fitness

WATE R

“I warm up every morning”

“I need to practice in the ocean”

“It’s important to find the best waves to train in. My schedule always flows from trying to find good surf. If the waves aren’t good, I’ll probably go for an hour, but if it’s good, I’ll surf more like three to four hours. I usually spend 40 minutes every morning warming up, especially when I’m on the road, doing moves that activate me and make me feel good. I use a band to activate my glutes, and I do dead bugs for my core. I also do a couple sun salutations to get the blood flowing.”

“I think the best way to learn airs is to practice in the ocean. I’ve done some trampoline work, which has helped me become more aware of where my body is when I’m in the air. But really, it’s all about seeing those sections in the ocean and reacting. I get feedback from my dad and watch video footage. I also watch other people to see their body positioning. Then I go back out and keep trying. There are a lot of failures—like a lot of falling and stuff. That’s why I focus on technique.”

L AN D

JEN SEE

“I work out on land almost every day”

TREVOR MORAN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, LUCAS GILMAN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

AI R

“I work out with my trainer three times each week, and we do a lot of circuit training. I don’t actually use too many weights; it’s mostly body weight. I train to make sure I can get in the water and do what I love every day. I love burpees, skaters and mountain climbers. I do intervals, like 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off. My regimen is always changing, because I get bored if it’s the same workout. Each week I go to Pilates once and I usually go for a run twice.”

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“I WORK WITH A LIFE COACH” “I’m a lot about balance and being happy. There will be mistakes and things that don’t go right, but I think those things shape you into something better. I work with a life coach and check in with him often. I like to journal; on the road, I’ll write reflections on my events and kind of debrief. I always write my personal goals. Doing those things helps keep everything simple and focused for me.”

FU E L

“I genuinely like healthy food” “I like the way that healthy food makes me feel. But I do like a nice muffin or some chocolate. It’s about moderation. My nutritionist has helped me find things that are light and also taste good. Growing up in Hawaii, food is such a beautiful social thing. It’s a big part of our culture to enjoy what you’re eating. It’s also a big part of traveling and experiencing a new place. On comp days, bananas, trail mix and GoMacro MacroBars—the banana and almond butter flavor is my favorite—are my go-to meals.”

G U I D E

See it

Calendar

Available Now

FILER CREEK

July SUMMER GAMES After years of planning—and a year-long delay due to the pandemic—the Tokyo Summer Olympics are set to kick off on July 23. Roughly 11,000 athletes will gather from around the globe, but the event playbook will look dramatically different: no foreign spectators—perhaps no spectators at all—regular testing and a potential ban on cheering. It will truly be an event made for television, with new sports like surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding added to the mix. Skater Brighton Zeuner (pictured) will definitely be one to watch in NBC coverage. Thru Aug. 6; nbc.com

August 6

EVO ONLINE

Available Now MOTO SPY SEASON 5 Red Bull’s flagship series covering the 2021 AMA Supercross Championship follows riders Ken Roczen, Cooper Webb, Marvin Musquin, Jett Lawrence and Justin Barcia from the moment they prepare for their first race in Houston, Texas, to an intense showdown in Salt Lake City. The final stretch of the season is a nail-biter between Roczen, whose natural talent continues to shine through as a 27-year-old veteran despite a career plagued with injuries, and Webb, the 2019 titleholder who is on a streak to dominate the sport. redbull.com

The Evolution Championship Series, the world’s largest and longest-running fighting game tournament, returns to the online realm for two consecutive weekends in August. This year’s competition will feature Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, Guilty Gear Strive and Tekken 7, with more games expected to be announced. Anyone can enter the regional qualifiers for free for a chance to work their way through a bracket—all the way to the very top. Thru Aug. 15; evo.gg

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STEVEN LIPPMAN, SANDY MACEWAN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, GARTH MILAN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

There are few unexplored rivers left in the world, so when Canadian Ed Muggridge was approached by fellow kayaker Sandy MacEwan to complete a first descent of Filer Creek, a 41-mile stretch of whitewater that runs from the coast of British Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, it wasn’t an opportunity he could pass up. redbull.com

GO WHERE THE ROAD TAKES YOU. AND THEN SOME.

GO ON A REAL VACATION

LIQUID GOLD Whether you’re surfing, boating or simply chilling on the beach, here’s the best new stuff to take your summertime fun to the next level. Words JEN SEE

The Channel Islands CI Mid is optimal for laying down flowy turns in bigger conditions.

G U I D E

S U R F

AC T I O N

CHANNEL ISLANDS SURFBOARDS CI MID

KASSIA + SURF 2MM OF EARTH LONG-ARM SPRING WETSUIT

HURLEY PHANTOM BOARD SHORTS

Shut out chilly ocean breezes with this long-arm spring suit, perfect for summer dawn patrol and sunset sessions. The Kassia wetsuit line combines eye-catching design with thoughtful details. Smoothie fabric over the chest and back repel wind, while jersey fabric on the sleeves ensures flexibility. The back zipper offers easy entry, while double-blind stitching and glued seams add durability. $340; kassiasurf.com

Play hard in and out of the water in Hurley’s flagship board shorts. Stretchy Phantom fabric blends recycled polyester and spandex for maximum mobility. A DWR coating sheds water and gives them a lightweight feel, even when wet. A classic drawstring waist keeps things secure, while the fast-drying fabric means you can head straight for that post-surf burrito. Keep it simple with one of five solid colors or get crazy with floral prints and stripes. $65; hurley.com

DA KINE ROLL-TOP DRY PACK

OLU KAI HO’ŌPIO PAE SANDALS

SAGEBRUSH BAGS BOARD BAG

Trim, glide and carve long, arcing turns on this collab between Channel Islands Surfboards and fluid California surfer Devon Howard. The design shines in bigger surf, where a modern rocker profile and tucked rails through the tail ensure control in high-speed turns. Ride it as a single fin for a cruisy feel or get radical with CI’s custom 2+1 True Ames template. Stock lengths run from 6’6” to 7’10”. From $1,095; cisurfboards.com

Keep your gear dry in this versatile roll-top dry pack. Use it on the daily to haul your wetsuit and towel down to the beach or bring it along on that epic boat trip you’ve been planning. Da Kine keeps it simple with a single large compartment. The roll-top seals tightly and should float in the event that your bag takes an unexpected dip in the drink. Light, breathable straps make this pack easy to carry, even in intense summer heat. $70; dakine.com

Olu Kai celebrates the famous waves of Hawaii and the women who surf them with a new Surfer Girl collection. Created by artist and surfer Kailah Ogawa, the image on the footbed depicts Waikiki, where Hawaiian queens once glided on their wooden Olo boards. Olu Kai uses waterresistant straps and lines them with jersey knit fabric for comfort. A PU footbed is anatomically shaped, and a rubber outsole helps with grip. Comes in two colors. $70; olukai.com

Carry your favorite board to the beach in style and protect it from sun damage and incidental dings in transit. Sagebrush sources deadstock fabrics, which are left over from production runs at bigger manufacturers. Each bag is hand-sewn in California. Upcycled burlap bags originally used to store coffee beans reinforce the top and prevent the sharp nose of your surfboard from piercing the bag. Available in numerous sizes. From $130; sagebrushbags.com

A roll-top dry pack is perfect to haul your wetsuit and towel to and from the beach. THE RED BULLETIN

G U I D E

WAT E R

ISLE EXPLORER

Scout mountain lakes and ocean coves on this inflatable paddle board. At 11’6”, it offers a stable ride. Military-grade PVC gives the board a rigid deck, and a proprietary lamination process ensures durability. Front and rear bungees secure snacks, extra clothing or fishing gear. And when you’re done for the day, it packs down into an included travel case. Isle throws in a coil leash, nylon fin, hand pump and three-piece carbon paddle. $795; islesurfandsup.com

STIO CFS BOARD SHORTS

These board shorts are perfect for long days at the lake or stomping through creeks. Stio constructs them from a sturdy, four-way stretch poplin fabric that brings UPF 50+ sun protection. The water-repellent finish dries quickly, and the shorter leg length allows plenty of mobility. An adjustable drawstring closure guarantees an easy fit. A zippered mesh pocket secures small essentials like keys. Choose from six colors for women and seven for men. $89; stio.com

P L AY

SPEAQUA BARNACLE VIBE 2.0

Enjoy your favorite tunes on the water—or just about anywhere else with this compact Bluetooth speaker. The waterproof unit floats and even works underwater. A suction cup attaches to paddle boards or boat decks. Or remove the cup and attach it to any GoPro mount. You can pair the Barnacle Vibe with your phone or load up 8GB of available storage with your favorite songs. Speaqua estimates battery life at eight hours. $89; speaqua.com

YETI HOPPER FLIP 12

Leave the bulky cooler at home and tote this soft-side alternative to the lake. Yeti covers the exterior of this lightweight cooler with a flexible Dryhide Shell that’s waterproof and puncture resistant. Coldcell insulation keeps food and drinks cold, and a wide opening provides easy access; it’ll hold up to 13 standard-size cans with ice. A shoulder strap makes it convenient to carry—and you can attach a bottle opener to the cooler’s hitchpoint grid, too. $250; yeti.com

PATAGONIA TROPIC COMFORT HOODY II

Carry your own shade with this airy hoody. Constructed from recycled polyester fabric, it offers 50+ UPF sun protection. Wet or dry, you’re protected. Patagonia designed the loosefitting hood to slide over your favorite hat, and thumbholes make sure the backs of your hands stay covered. HeiQ odor control keeps you fresh even in humid weather. Also available in women’s sizes and colors. $59; patagonia.com

INSTA360 ONE X2

Never miss the moment with this compact, waterproof powerhouse, which captures 5.7K video from 360 degrees. Audio input flows through four mics. Grab video on-the-go, then edit it in Insta360’s phone app. A steady-cam mode transforms the ONE X2 into a single-lens camera, while an invisible selfie-stick feature creates a third-person POV on the fly. Low-light action is no problem with a max ISO of 3200 and a 1/8000 shutter speed. $430; insta360.com

If you want to capture action on the water, the compact Insta360 ONE X2 is game for anything. 90

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The inflatable Isle Explorer paddle board is durable, stable and easily stowable.

Sand Cloud’s Extra Large towels come in more than 20 colors and patterns, including Poppy Natural, shown here.

G U I D E

B E AC H

L I F E

HYDRO FLASK 32 OZ WIDE MOUTH

SAND CLOUD BOHO XL

SMITH CASTAWAY

SKINNIES CONQUER 50+ SPF

BILLABONG ALL DAY ECO PRO BOARD SHORTS

POLER REVERSIBLE CAMP PONCHO

Sustain all-day beach adventures with this insulated bottle. Double-wall vacuum insulation keeps drinks chilled against the heat. (When winter arrives, it will keep post-surf coffee hot, too.) The wide mouth makes it easy to add ice or stir in drink mixes. Durable stainless-steel construction won’t rust in the ocean’s salty environment. Upgrade your vibe with the new pineapple color, which Hydro Flask says inspires calm and positivity. $45; hydroflask.com

No one enjoys wearing sticky, white sunscreen. This Kiwi brand aims to make it easier to protect your skin. You only need a pea-sized amount of the water-free gel, which goes on easy and stays put, even in the surf. The active ingredients provide UVA and UVB protection, and Skinnies says one application will work up to four hours in water. It contains no parabens, preservatives, fragrances or alcohol and meets Hawaiian reefsafety standards. $50; gotskinnies.com

Whether you relax in the sand or picnic with a friend, this big towel’s got you covered. And despite its 60-by-68-inch size, it packs down small, meaning more space in your bag for beach toys and snacks. The lightweight Turkish cotton dries more quickly than most towels, and the woven fabric helps keep sand out of your swimsuit. Sand Cloud, which donates 10 percent of profits to marine conservation, says the fabric will soften with washings. $68; sandcloud.com

These eco-conscious shorts are constructed from recycled polyester infused with Ciclo Technology, a new textile additive designed to help synthetic fibers biodegrade more efficiently and reduce plastic pollution in the ocean and landfills. The four-way stretch fabric means you can launch a massive air out surfing or dive for a point in a beach volleyball game. Available in two colors. $60; billabong.com

Protect your eyes in style. The Castaway offers a wraparound profile and large eye-shielding coverage. It also features Smith’s ChromaPop+ lenses, which cut glare while enhancing color and contrast, or scratch-resistant, polarized Techlite lenses. Spring hinges self-adjust to fit your face, and Megol temple and nose pads prevent slipping. A leash is included for safety. Choose from seven frame-and-lens color combos. $229-$259; smithoptics.com

Warm up around the firepit in this reversible poncho. This cream/aqua limited edition features an ocean-themed pattern drawn by illustrator Stevie Gee. Thermastuff synthetic insulation and a spacious hood give it a comfy feel. The poncho is also handy for changing out of your wet bikini or wetsuit post-surf. A front pocket holds essentials such as your phone or snacks. And if you unsnap it, the Camp Poncho transforms into a blanket. $100; poler.com

A pea-sized amount of Skinnies sunscreen will give you four hours of protection in the water. THE RED BULLETIN

G U I D E

A N ATO M Y O F G E A R The world’s first electric snowmobile, deconstructed. Words KELLY BASTONE

t might not seem like the season to contemplate snowy adventures, but now is the time to put down a deposit and preorder this powerful but quiet machine, built around an innovative electric motor that will allow riders to enjoy the sound of skis slicing through snow.

TA I G A EKKO From $15,000; taigamotors.ca

U LT R A L I G H T SUSPENSION

Taiga’s proprietary aluminum-and-carbon rear suspension is about half the weight of traditional shocks and delivers excellent traction over rough terrain.

COLD COMFORT

To combat the energydraining effect of low temps, the insulated battery uses a liquid thermalmanagement system so it can maintain full performance at -40°F.

ZERO LAG

Climbing power and zippy performance come from a toothed belt that couples the motor directly to the track drive (versus a typical CVT transmission). It helps reduce throttle lag and creates a progressive response. THE RED BULLETIN

B AT T E R Y PLACEMENT

Like modern designs for electric cars, the Ekko’s battery is integrated into the chassis to save weight, boost structural stiffness and improve the sled’s center of gravity.

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HANDHELD R E PA I R

Internet connectivity to the onboard computer lets riders dial in their preferred ride qualities and facilitates remote diagnostics and repair without visiting a dealer.

FA S T A N D FURIOUS

The motor’s 180 hp is unaffected by altitude, hits a max speed of 75 mph and accelerates with impressive torque (going 0 to 60 in less than 3 seconds).

O U T TA GAS

Needing no gasoline, oil or futzy repair, the motor emits far fewer pollutants than standard snowmobiles (which lack catalytic converters and generate particulate levels equal to up to 40 cars).

RANGE ROVER

A full charge lasts 60 miles (or 87 miles with the extended-range option). To recharge, plug into a standard outlet overnight, an auto charger for two hours or a DC fast-charger for a 20-minute revival.

GLOBAL TEAM

THE RED BULLETIN WORLDWIDE

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THE RED BULLETIN United Kingdom, ISSN 2308-5894 Editor Tom Guise Associate Editor Lou Boyd Chief Sub-Editor Davydd Chong Publishing Management Ollie Stretton Advertising Sales Mark Bishop, mark.bishop@redbull.com Fabienne Peters, fabienne.peters@redbull.com

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The next issue of THE RED BULLETIN is out on August 17.

THE RED BULLETIN

ANDREW MILLER/RED BULL ILLUME

“It’s important to show the young the right path to preserve the soul of snowboarding,” says American photographer Andrew Miller, who captured this shot of Escher Burns-Low with professional snowboarder Travis Rice at Trout Lake in British Columbia. “This is the look of a kid who has seen the light,” Miller says of the image, which was a 2019 Red Bull Illume finalist. The contest is back this year with entries open to all photographers and videographers until July 31. Visit redbullillume.com for more info.

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The Red Bulletin US 07/21

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Kolohe Andino