Photo of the Week: Yellowstone

Just to let you know, I was riding a massive dinosaur when I took this shot.

Wipeout Wednesday: Zen from the Crowded North Shore

Yep, it's that time of year again-- as winter in the Northern Hemisphere is heats up, the entire professional surf world begins to descend upon the North Shore.  Just in time for the masses, our friends at the Surf Blog present: Wipeouts from Oahu!  Happy Humpday!

Part One: Painting Your Path with Drew Brophy

While scouring the web in search of art to fill the whiteness clinging to the walls of our new digs here in Sausalito, I expected a surf art exploration to be a straightforward and picture laden experience. What I found, however, is that the stories behind the brilliant hands producing the iconic paintings, images, and films that have shaped the surf industry, are as equally profound as their artistic pieces.

Three artists who conjure immense respect and have played hugely influential roles in shaping today's surf culture are Rick Griffin, John Severson and Drew Brophy.  Each artist hails from a drastically different background, yet all have made an impact that reaches far beyond the board weilding masses.  Their art has had widespread cultural implications, inspiring people across every class, demographic and location to seek more in whatever wave, liquid or otherwise, they happen upon next.

Moving in chronologic retrogression, from present to past, we look into the life of contemporary artist Drew Brophy.  Born in South Carolina, Brophy grew up obsessively surfing the fickle waves of the East Coast and painting boards in the downtime.  His talent was evident, yet when his highschool guidance counselor pulled him aside and sternly warned- “Drew, you can’t just surf and paint your whole life”,  he was crushed. 

Determined to prove her wrong, he moved to Hawaii in the early 90's, hell bent on chasing his dream of becoming a prefessional surfer.  Fueled by the money he scraped together selling his art, Brophy traveled around the globe, surfing some of the world's heaviest breaks, always with his paint pens close at hand.

His prowess for painting proved to be his real calling, when in 1996 he moved to San Clemente and began painting boards at Stewart.  Shortly thereafter he approached Matt Biolos of Lost to collaborate and it was here that things really took off.  The duo traveled the world shaping, painting and surfing, and soon he was being commissioned for premier event posters and private pieces of various kind.

This year Brophy took his art to new heights, staring in his own TV show The Paint Shop, in which he shares inspiration and techniques for those of us brave enough to put a skull or sparkle pony on our board.

To hear his full-story first hand, check out Drew in the videos below:








"It's a fabulous Ride, I can't wait to see what's next for me." ~Drew Brophy

Dispatch from Abroad: Wheres the Nature? Fear the Rat

Who doesn't love nature? well maybe some of these city slickers wearing cufflinks, drinking 100RMB mojitos, and sitting in the club all night. But I think, even they wish there was a little bit more nature surrounding them. I moved to Shanghai a couple months ago from San Francisco, and will be here for at least the next three years. I love the art, I'm getting used to the food, and I love the bustling pace of an economy hard at work, trying to catch up with its more developed neighbors.

One thing I have really been missing is space and nature, so when I think of writing to everyone on the endless session, I would like to take a moment, and ask the everyone takes a second to be thankful for green grass, walking on real dirt-rather than pavement, hearing the birds outside...

Even the Chinese in this city want more green space. they play little gardening games on their Ipads, keep little solar powered dancing plants on their dash boards, and even sell bonzai trees in the markets. On a sunny evening, you can go to the market and buy a cricket for 2RMB, to put in your room so you can hear a bit of nature. They sell squirrels, and pigeons to bring home (Although these might actually be for eating) or paint pictures of scenic gardens.

Last week I went to this nature preserve outside of town. I thought I would be able to breathe some fresh air, sit on the grass, or see a beautiful lake. what I found was an overrun polluted lake with little people motor boating all over the place. the grass was all trampled down and there were people camping all over the place like a week long Phish show.

I don't think I'm going to get much nature while I am living here... Luckily I am a short flight from some of the best diving in the world. In the meantime, I will be stuck in the subway, fearing the Rat tails...

Wipe Out Wednesday

BRO!

Doggelganger- Finding your Perfect Adventure Companion

No matter how you look at it, there is no better pet to take along on an adventure than a dog.  Well, a trained hawk or rhino would be pretty sweet, but I think the logistics are a little more complicated.

If you've ever wondered what your perfect K9 mate would be, ponder no longer.  The Pedigree Adoption Drive down in New Zeland has teamed up with NEC Technology to develop a futuristic "human to canine pairing software" called Doggelganger.  This awesome application analyzes your face, piece by piece, and pairs you with your soul-mate pup.  If only we had endless acres and treats...

Murmuration

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Beyond words. Beautiful. Spontaneous. Beholding Natures Energy in the Raw.

Rip Curl Search SF: Saluting the King

Despite all the banter harking awful paddle-outs and fickle waves, the first two days of the Rip Curl Pro Search "Somewhere in San Francisco" have been a frenzy of excitement.  Tubes have been plundered, lips hacked, floaters dropped and history has been made.

 Yesterday, on a day that dished out set after set of majestically peeling bombs, the beach was packed in anticipation of Kelly Slater's third round heat. Needing to simply advance through this round to claim an unprecedented 11th World Title, Slater was patient as always.  


Paddling out to a northern peak that the field otherwise shunned, he dropped into a few fizzling closeouts and found himself significantly behind Aussie Daniel Ross about midway through the heat.  With about ten minutes remaining the King took a chance on a frothing shack, momentarily stealing the crowds breath, but got swallowed up in the belly of the beast.  

As the clock churned down to under five minutes, it started to look like it might not be Slaters day, when suddenly a promising set appeared on the horizon. The feathering right opened up teasing him to do his worst. With knifelike precision he accelerated smoothly down the line, systematically linking hack after hack all the way through the inside.  The crowd erupted in a frenzy.  The King had come to be crowned at Ocean Beach.

While the tour championship may be wrapped up, the contest here in SF is still anyone's to win, and with many competitors on top of their game-- including Owen Wright who blew up a wave following Kelly's heat, in what he thought was free-surf time-- you can be sure that there is more action to come.  


Today the competitors are off, and the current projection looks like we won't have anything solid/surfable for at least a few days. When they do return to the water we finish off the third round with Josh Kerr (AUS) taking on Tiago Pires (PRT) and Jordy Smith (ZAF) looking to best American phenom Patrick Gudauskas. 


The winners from the final two heats from the third round will face off with Joel Parkinson (AUS). Round four heats are detailed below. 

Heat # 1 Men Round 4	singlet	plc	name	from
	Orange		Matt Wilkinson	AUS
	White		Taylor Knox	USA
	Yellow		Kieren Perrow	AUS

Heat # 2 Men Round 4	singlet	plc	name	from
	Orange		Gabriel Medina	BRA
	White		Miguel Pupo	BRA
	Yellow		Kelly Slater	USA

Heat # 3 Men Round 4	singlet	plc	name	from
	Orange		Owen Wright	AUS
	White		Alejo Muniz	BRA
	Yellow		Brett Simpson	USA

Heat # 4 Men Round 4	singlet	plc	name	from
	Orange		Joel Parkinson	AUS
	White		1.11	-
	Yellow		1.12	-