Nature and Nurture: The Making of Milla Coco Brown
Why Milla Coco Brown’s unfiltered, full-throttle approach has everyone paying attention.
By Jake Stolte
“Natural Selection ended up booking me and Kauli Vaast a private jet to get there. I felt like I was a billionaire, they were full serving caviar and shit, I was tripping… I was walking onto a private jet with no shoes on and you could just tell they were probably thinking, ‘Who is this Aussie chick’?” – Milla Coco Brown
A Pair of Kings
Kyuss and Rasmus, Rasmus and Kyuss. The multi-talented brothers from Byron have become one of surfing’s most intriguing double acts.
By Luke Kennedy
“Definitely some good scraps! We were actually banned from sparring at Muay Thai. There were too many black eyes, blood noses and haematomas.” – Rasmus King
Jack McCoy and The Challenge
The iconic filmmaker’s pivotal role in changing professional surfing for the better.
By Wayne Murphy • Photography by Ted Grambeau
In 1995 Jack McCoy called me out of the blue to ask if I would I like to judge a ‘top secret’ event he was organising. I was one of three judges invited, along with international shaper Maurice Cole and West Aussie surf pioneer George Simpson. Jack also wanted me to act as a ‘local liaison’, because of my Carnarvon experience, to help him smooth the waters with any disgruntled locals unhappy that a surf comp and film crew would be arriving there. Jack knew well there was going to be some anxiety and discontent, no matter how quiet and cool he tried to keep the event.”
Lust for Life
The unstoppable Gary Hughes has racked up five decades chasing big waves, exciting women, and raucous rock’n’roll. And he’s not done yet.
By Kirk Owers
“Exactly who is Gary Hughes you might be asking? He goes by many names and aliases: Shave Coat, King Cobra, Fu Manchu, Sexual Dragon, Ruco Banda, and, in the Philippines, King Buto. A pro tour competitor in the 70s, he may not have won a major event, but he did make a strong impression, especially in Hawaii, around Cronulla and at south coast reefs. Decades spent fronting rock bands, managing strippers, packing gigantesco barrels, crashing cars, finishing fights, and hosting sex-crazed parties enhanced the rebel rep. Not one to settle or fade, Gary keeps on charging, defying health and age conventions, like Iggy Pop with a suntan.”
The Wrong Side of the Bombie
A bad call on an ocean swim puts a surfer’s retirement plans on the rocks.
By Sean Murphy
“I was thrown backwards, hitting the reef, a rock or something really hard on my left side. I knew instantly that I’d been seriously hurt. The reef sucked dry again and I instinctively crawled across it cutting my hands, feet and shins and then scaling the shoreline rocks to avoid the next wave.”
Finding the Balance
Every surfer struggles to balance a committed surfing life with their inevitable responsibilities. Some manage, some don’t. For Damien Hodge, finding that balance has taken him all around the world through addiction, loneliness, and despair, and ultimately, back to himself.
By Tom de Souza
“A psychologist once quizzed my need for abnormal or risky circumstances, why I was always throwing myself into these situations. We don’t do very well in the mundane, do we, us surfers. It drives us insane, or to drink. How many core surfers are there that can do the 9 to 5?” – Damien Hodge.
Green Miles
There’s a fine time to be had in Ireland if you travel with an open mind
By Luke Kennedy
“Here we have arrived at a lonely place of stark beauty somewhere near the fringes of nowhere. As we pull up to survey the break from sea level, a rapturous line of waves creases the Atlantic, marching in purposefully; the stiff off/sideshore cutting into their faces as they reel towards their kelpy grave. A wide field of tightly clustered stones separates us from the water, a foreboding ankle-snapping barrier to entry; like some evil giant wanted to protect the wave for himself and has flung mighty obstacles into the shoreline.”
Staring Into The Void
Three decades behind the lens with Andrew Buckley.
By Luke Kennedy • Photography by Andrew Buckley
“As you pour over Shorty’s water shots you can almost hear the cogs of a surfer’s mind at work. The positioning for the shot and the instinct for anticipating the moment of synchronicity between rider and wave that will resonate long after the moment has passed. In Shorty’s lifestyle work it’s also easy to see evidence of the beatnik surfer who loved nothing more than kicking around Indo, Africa or Hawaii. He’s on the trip or at the party, one of the crew, he just happens to have a camera in hand and be very proficient at using it.”
Stoked on Spokes
Johanna Bresby’s surf/bike odyssey across New Zealand
By Roxanne Andrews
Seeking a unique way to explore the coastlines of Aotearoa (New Zealand) and engage with the real surfing communities, Bresby decided a pushy was a tough but worthy pick for the ‘off the beaten track’ assignment. “I’ve done van life, and I don’t know how to sail…yet,” confesses Bresby. I wasn’t going to walk it, so the bike made sense.”
Close Encounters: Clyde Aikau
Phil Jarratt’s tribute to a respected Hawaiian Elder.
“I saw Clyde many times over the ensuing decades as he grew into his role as Hawaiian Elder, not to mention winning the Eddie in its early years and taking on the Bay each year until he was 66. In the late 90s I invited Clyde and his family to play a leading role at the Noosa Festival of Surfing, which he did with style and grace over the next few years, sharing the Aloha spirit as only he could.”
Forever Jung
Morphic Resonance and the Quantum Entanglement of Greenough, Brewer and McTavish
By Monty Webber
“Applied to the shortboard revolution, one could imagine that McTavish, Greenough, and Brewer were not just inventing in isolation but tapping into a morphic field of surfing innovation. As George experimented with kneeboards and fin design on the West Coast of the USA in California, Bob, on the East Coast of Australia, was simultaneously reshaping the longboard into a shorter, more responsive craft. Meanwhile, halfway between these two, in Hawaii, Dick was reducing the all-round shape of his big wave guns into small wave pistols. Though separated by the Pacific Ocean, their ideas seemed to evolve in parallel, as if connected by a shared energetic blueprint.”
A Shift in Consciousness:
The synergy between Tracks and ‘Morning of the Earth’ reflected a time of radical change
By Luke Kennedy
In the very early 70s, Albe’s film and its message were evolving–even if didn’t have a name yet. Meanwhile, Tracks could more explicitly articulate the changing landscape of surf culture, and Australia at large. “Just by surfing you are supporting the revolution, “is how Nat Young signed off from his opinion piece in the first issue of Tracks.
