A Tale of Two Surf Fests

Spain’s Duct Tape Invitational vs. San Diego’s Shape Festival

SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA

STORY AND PHOTOS BY EVAN SCHELL @THESLIPPERYSALTWATERCHRONICLES

In recent years, surfing’s popularity throughout the world has drastically increased. Professional surfing events have become overly commercialized and are now targeted to mainstream audiences using the traditional sportscast format, complete with cringe-worthy banter à la retired pro surfers.

The surf industry’s headstrong pursuit of legitimizing surfing as a “sport” has created an obvious division within the surf community at large. To put it simply, some surfers thrive within the parameters of competitions, while others choose to avoid them because their surfing doesn’t fit the “criteria” or structured nature of contests. All that to say, original contest formats that meet both of these groups in the middle do exist.

Shaper Studios’ Shaper Festival of Surfing requires surfers to ride boards that they have hand-shaped and puts an emphasis on everyone having fun. Five years ago, the Shaper Studios team put together the first Shaper Festival, and over the years it has blossomed into a community beach day that draws in surfers of all ages and skill levels.

Contestants have the opportunity to surf in heats with legends and some of the world’s best surfers at Seaside Reef in Encinitas, CA. This year, Vans team riders Dylan Graves and Leila Hurst competed in the Invitational Division alongside Josh Kerr, Kahana Kalama, Nate Strom, Donald Brink, and Chase Wilson. A steady pulse of waves as high as your chest or head graced the contest area and provided a full day of action in and out of the water. A mobile shaping bay was a stone’s throw from the beach, and a group of shapers, including Matt Calvani of Bing Surfboards, spent the day hand-shaping boards for a charity auction. Live music by local bands Bird Concerns, Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin, Well Well Well, The Alive, and Jason Lee & The Riptides buzzed up and down the beach until sunset.

The camaraderie amongst the surfers in the Shaper Festival is palpable throughout the contest site and doesn’t stop at the water’s edge. Contestants were seen checking out one another’s hand-shaped boards in the lineup during their heats, and these friendly moments are what sets this contest apart from run-of-the-mill events. What Shaper Studios has created through their festival is rooted in surfing’s historic community spirit and reminds everyone involved that when all is said and done, surfing is supposed to be enjoyed.

ZARAUTZ SPAIN

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ELISA ROUTA @ELISAROUTA

Surfing legend Joel Tudor knows how to choose his guests. For the 2018 edition of the Vans Joel Tudor Duct Tape Invitational, an inspiring community of surfers hailing from around the world found their way to Zarautz, Basque Country, Spain.

The 41-year-old king needs no introduction. As a figure in the surf world known for his incomparable style and powerful surfing, Joel Tudor handpicked 16 of the world’s top longboarders to celebrate the beauty and elegance of a timeless style of surfing in summer-like conditions.

Among the talented guests, the enthusiastic Spanish crowd could cheer for their favorites, including visionary Alex Knost, seven-time Duct Tape winner Floridian Justin Quintal, and local rising star Nico ‘Niki’ Dora Garcia. Mixing up fresh faces — a group that included Frenchmen Nathan Sadoun (19) and Jules Lepêcheux (15), Californian Zack Flores (17), Floridian Saxon Wilson (17) — with Duct Tape veterans, the 14th Vans Joel Tudor Duct Tape Invitational celebrated creativity, craftsmanship, and the evolution of a surf legacy.

On Saturday’s expression session, surfing legends Joel Tudor and Dane Reynolds shared a few peaks in the playful conditions at Zarautz. Showing off a frenetic creativity and effortless style, Andy Nieblas raised the bar of modern-day longboarding. The 23- year old from San Clemente, California paid tribute to progressive logging. In pumping three to four-foot waves, the alternative aficionado also rocked the festival’s official final by defeating three of today’s greatest advocates of alternative surfing like Alex Knost, Ryan Burch, and Tyler Warren.

During three days, the 2018 edition brought together surfers, skateboarders, artists, and shapers in the picturesque Basque town.