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It’s perhaps the most exciting time in recent history to travel. The planes are back in the sky and the pandemic is all but a painful memory. The world is ours to rediscover and none of us is quite as complacent as we once were. So we’ve dedicated this issue to those who love roaming the globe and dreaming about their next adventure.
NATHAN FLORENCE: POSTCARDS FROM THE LEDGE
Has any surfer been more barrelled in a calendar year than Nathan Florence was in 2022? The North Shore local went full nomad, surfing and documenting iconic sessions from Shipsterns to Scotland, and the Mentawais to Mullaghmore. So, just prior to his back-breaking session at Jaws, Ben Mondy asked Nate for his take, in his words, on 12 months where he tweaked the very trajectory of surfing.
WRITTEN BY BEN MONDY
NEW ZEALAND: NORTH ISLAND NOMADS
A rusty, campervan adventure across Aotearoa. Flanked by his girlfriend, Lewis Kennedy-Hunt explores the north island of New Zealand and stumbles across reeling cobblestone- points, novel adventures, hot springs and good fishing. The sort of trip every Australian should cross the Tasman for.
WRITTEN BY LEWIS KENNEDY HUNT
NAZARE : OF MICE AND MOUNTAINS
Each year a collective of big wave zealots make the pilgrimage to Nazare to ride the towering peaks of Praia do Norte. The wild rush for adrenaline and the promise of big wave fame means lives are risked every time a new swell collides with the unique, Nazare bathymetry. In this quaint, Portuguese fishing village religion and superstition both play a part in an age-old battle with the violent, North Atlantic Ocean
WRITTEN BY NICK BALBOA
MOROCCO: BEHOLD THE UNSEEN
Sometimes the journey is the real reward of surf travel. Sunny Fassler follows the scent of a mythical Moroccan wave. As he attempts to solve the riddle of the break’s whereabouts he wanders fabled citadels, sips mint tea with mysterious characters and loses himself in the romance of an ancient culture.
WRITTEN BY SUNNY FASSLER
LUCY SMALL: YAMA GHANA
Lucy Small travels to Ghana to make a film about a thriving surf and skate scene amongst young, West African women. The Pro Longboarder and activist soon finds herself immersed in the culture of a country that was once known as the epicentre of the global slave trade but is now bitterly determined to redefine its identity in the modern world. Buoyed by the infectious enthusiasm of her film subjects, Lucy rides lonely beachies and long right points, before eventually stumbling on the location of one of Africa’s best-kept secrets.
INTERVIEW WITH LUKE KENNEDY & LUCY SMALL
SAM YOON: AS THE SOUL FLIES
Sam Yoon provides a blue print for what it means to choose the surfer’s path. Maybe you have a fleeting memory of Sam from his celebrated cameo in Andrew Kidman’s film ‘Spirit of Akasha’? Or perhaps you were at Kirra one time and hooted a supple-limbed natural-footer spearing through muscular, eight-foot tubes on a 7’11” fish he’d crafted. It’s also possible your paths crossed in some place where a hefty swell was colliding with a challenging set-up. It could have been Hawaii, J-Bay, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Japan, Mauritius, Tasmania or Morocco… However, it’s more than likely you’ve never heard of Sam Yoon or his distinctive, super-sized twin fins, and to be honest he’s just fine with that.
WRITTEN BY LUKE KENNEDY
INDONESIA: SUN, SURF AND… CELIBACY?
For decades life on Bali has been laid back and locals tolerated some of the more promiscuous tendencies of its western guests. Meanwhile, the rest of Muslim-dominated Indonesia has, in an official sense at least, always been more conservative. When a criminal code banning pre-marital sex and cohabitation passed in Indonesia’s parliament at the end of last year, it sent reverberations around the world. Will the new laws radically change the culture or was the whole ‘Bali Bonk Ban’ just a media beat up?
WRITTEN BY ISIS FLACK
