Hello from the Shaka – the surf tribe’s monthly newsletter about all things surf 👋
"I just spent my whole life – so far –working out how to spend as much time in the water as possible. Maybe I would have a better car, a house or a mortgage.. but it’s not really what I want. [...]
So much of being a great surfer, I think, is removed from actually riding a wave: knowing how the ocean moves, reading its energy and knowing when to go and when to let go.
I think that’s why surfers spend so much of their lives staring at the ocean, because there’s so much to stare at."
Drew McPherson in A State of Play. If you just click on a link this week, let it be this one.
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In case you were wondering, we have been enjoying a mild winter down in Portugal. As forecasted in the last Shaka, there was one big swell (that lit up all of Europe and Nazaré) and then a series of smaller swells with good winds, clean conditions and sunny skies. Weeks spent in a state of play.
Whether you just got out of the water or your next session is still months away, you always need to keep that surf stoke high: here are some humans playing on different kinds of waves, for your viewing pleasure.
SURFING AS AN ART FORM
- What does it feel and look like surfing J-Bay (South Africa), one of the best right-hand point breaks in the world? I don't know, but this video made me feel like I was there: Surfing JBay - A New Perspective with Dylan Lightfoot.
- Of course most of us (me included) don't surf like the professionals in the videos, but surfing can be an art form in all kinds of ways. Watch a conversation about surf crafts and art: Art Form.
- When your actual surname is Barrel and you live in Lakey Peak, Sumbawa, there are good chances you're going to turn out a good surfer: "[...] Rajo started off surfing on broken scraps of visitors' boards, but when Matt Biolos visited Lakey's, he noticed his talent and decided to make him some boards". Rajo Barrel.
TALES FROM WINTER IN HAWAII
Every Winter some of the best surfers in the world flock to the North Shore of Oahu to hunt for the gnarliest waves and the biggest barrels of their lives at the Banzai Pipeline. While visiting surfers get their share of the spotlight with heroic rides and death-defying wipeouts, it's usually the Hawaiian locals that get the best waves in their own home.
- If you're a longtime Shaka reader you might already be familiar with Mason Ho, possibly the best and most stylish surfer out at Pipeline. This Winter he already won one of the most prestigious contest, the Backdoor Shootout, got supremely barrelled at Pipeline and even went surfing with his dad at one of the sketchiest waves on the North Shore.
- Don't think it's only men at Pipeline. As I'm writing this the Pipeline Pro World Tour contest is running, for the first time finally with both men and women divisions in the competition. To no one's surprise young Hawaiian Moana Wong is already in the semifinals of the event. Read an interview with the Queen of Pipeline.
Remember to always remain in a state of play and see you in the line-up in 2022.
Gian
co-founder @ thesurftribe.com
