VZ

Cool New Shit at Vonzipper

The Five Minute Wave

F R E S H

Crowded 12X12 Acrylic on Canvas

Highways 18X24 Acrylic on Canvas

Twisted 18X14 Acrylic on Canvas

?

I designed these for Reunion Wetsuits Japan.

Which one do you like?

Dumbo

Friendship

Storage

This was a photo taken of me in  2008 with most of my 1st place trophies. I decided to donatethem to the ZeroPovertyNow.org which is a non-profit organizaton that helps underprivelaged children. The trophies were given to the kids during a day camp put on by the organization in July 2008 at Malibu, California.

Koooooooooooooooooooooks

By Jon Steele and Mike Black

EEEEEEh

Congrats Devin on winning the "Cutest Baby Ever" Award this week !

ReUnited

I just designed these for Reunion Wetsuits.

Check out the Reunion Blog too.

Will Crum

Will Crum x Dan HodKinson

This is how a real band does it!

Yeehaw

Corpus Christi - Galveston - South Padre - Austin

I just landed in Texas! It's funny because I never imagined myself doing a surf trip to Texas but I'm here with Jon Steele, Will Crum, my buddy Kameron brown and Morgan Faulkner and his girlfriend Brittany Tupaj. A tanker is scheduled to cruise through towards corpus christi in two hours and I guess we're going to ride it's boat wake?

So we pulled up and and looked up the channel and we could see the top of a tanker coming from really far away behind the bushes. So we waited around, drank a couple beers. Finally it was about a football field away so we jumped in the water.  before we knew it a wave was forming up the wall. It's interesting how it bounces off the wall into a perfect little peeler. The wave seriously went for about 4 or five minutes. It was for sure the longest wave I've ever ridden. It peeled perfectly down the channel. It was the raddest experience ever. I mean the waves may not be the greatest in Texas, but that's pretty rad to ride a wave five minutes long. 

Yes, that is a cat in a Posum trap...

Don't mess with Texas!

Save me a Copy!

This morning at about 1:00 a.m. I got the call a from my friend Yazzy letting me know that a highly acclaimed publication in Australia called The Weekend Australian Magazine ran my photo on the cover of their latest issue. The shot was taken in the Lofoton Islands of Norway. I recently went there to surf in the Artic Circle with photographer Yazzy who took the shot on one of the first days we arrived. I'm stoked because the magazine has a viewership of about one million readers so I hope some of my friends over there can score me a copy for when I come to the Noosa Festival this year!

Crazy

Slap Chop

Blake Washington

Last Haloween

Scary

My Canvas

King Tut from Christian Wach on Vimeo.

Canvas Blog

Canvas Surfboards Blog

The Birth of New Surfboards

Available at Icons of Surf 2009

Nooser

Noosa Quiver

10 CJ Nelson Aviso

9 City Fog

5.4 TPatterson

5 Aviso Trunk Board

-

Dane Peterson Photography 

Noosa 2009

Kameron Brown?

Harrichan X SeaWalk

Wave Cheque

Hang Fingers

Italian Job

Photos by Alessandro Dini and Alberto Salaris

Sardinia Italy-October 2009

Big Tuesday

I arrived in Pisa, Italy for my first time ever. My older brother had been there years before and I remember him always talking about it and how much he enjoyed Italy.  When I arrived at the airport everyone was giving me funny looks, curious as to what my board bag was. A couple people even asked me what it was, some even in Italian. It wasn't long before Alessandro Dini came to pick me up. I knew right away it was him when I noticed his Gotcha T-shirt. We drove to Viareggio first and had my first taste of amazing Italian food. It was a mixed plate of fine ham, cheese, and bread. An Italian beer to top it off. He took me around town and showed me the spots he surfs on a regular basis. Beach breaks for some fun Loggin'.  With an awesome forecast of a nice northwest swell coming to the island of Sardinia, we drove to the ferry that night. 

We arrived in Sardinia after a nice overnight sleep on the ferry.  Our group consisted of European team rider Giovanni, Alessandro, a camera man nick named Yeahyah, and myself. Fortunately, Alessandro had really good local friends there. One in particular was named Marco and he surfed with us the entire time. We had our best session with him the next day on "Big Tuesday". The waves were offshore, big and blue. Not what I expected in the Mediterranean Sea! We surfed a couple spots but our second session was by far the best. Only three of us out, and some epic waves! What more could we ask for? 

Now, I am back in Viareggio and the waves are very small. Luckily, there is a new swell on the horizon for this weekend. Tomorrow Richard Dog Marsh and Glen Hall will join us and we will head back to Sardinia for more action. 

Check back for more updates!

Ciao

Cwach

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF 

ALESSANDRO DINI ( FIRST ITALIAN SURFER AND ITALIAN SURFING INSPIRATION )

Cosmic

US OPEN

US Open Corona Noseride Event from Dana Morris on Vimeo.

Corona Noseriding Invitational

by Dana Morris

Hodad

Don't drop in on Sterling Spencer!

Yes Please

Canvas Blog is up and running.

Website will be up within the next week.

3000 Feet Up (In Sandals)

Arctica

By Yazzy Ouhilal.

Cowboys and Indians

By Harrison Roach

On Set For George Trimm's new cowboy and Indian Segment.

HannahBoBanna

Take a walk sometime. You might just find something interesting.

Charge!

Fresh Fruit For Rotten Vegtables is premiering at Infinity Surf Shop next week! Come hang!

$15.00 Parking

ALL Photos By Taro At Nakisurf

How Do you get to the Bu?

JJ Wessels, a friend of mine and really good surfer showin' his stuff away from Sano.

JJ from Madison Dyer on Vimeo.

Slash

Photo by Kaitlyn McGuire

6'12"

Exist:Create:Become

The 6'12" ready to ride!

The next creations in the process. 

The Hot Tub is almost complete. 

The first of our lengthy lovers is getting dressed and almost ready to go.

All boards shaped by Ryan Engle at Nation MFG. 

Cosmetics and creative direction by Christian Wach.

Chief Slapaho

Dane Peterson Photos

Canvas//Take-1

The 6'12" Model. 

A mini noserider at only seven feet. The first model; the embryo.

The 6'12" Model. 

The HotTub Model.

A 5'7" twinny at mach speed. 

The HutTub making friends.  

The birth of Canvas Surfboards.

 

Painting Images by Dane Peterson. 

All other photos taken by shaper Ryan Engle at Nation Manufacturing.

Collaboration By Affiliation.

TrimZina X DFlex

Me buddies George Trimm and Darren Eudale doin the side slip boogie in Japan. 

BIKES IN JAPAN. from george trimm on Vimeo.

Collaboration By Affiliation

A collaboration of  peculiar artists using all mediums to create limited surfboard collections that exhibit unique shape and design. 

SLIDE Coming to the U.S.

Jesse Timm inspired.

Photo by Ron Greene

Surfingmagazine.com

I've been asked by Surfing Magazine to do a blog on their website! It won't be updated as often as this but I have my first post on there of my Australia trip. I'm really stoked to showcase some loggin' on their site. 

Thursday Night At Hurley

JULY 9TH 

HURLEY HEADQUARTERS

1945 PLACENTIA AVE.

COSTA MESA, CA

www.hurley.com

ALSO 

JULY 18TH

SHELTER SURF SHOP

2148 E. 4TH STREET

LONG BEACH, CA

www.sheltersurf.com

(562) 342-4402

Call Me For Details

949.370.3917

Lawrence Wach on Facebook

I wonder where I get it...

Wax On Wax Off

This is a watercolor I painted in my 8th grade art class taught by Andrea Reish. It was quite the process too. First, we looked through old islamic artworks to get inspiration. Next, we drew our image in pencil and then we painted it with watercolors. After it was all colored in we covered the entire paper with hot melted wax. When the wax dried we rolled up the paper and crunched it up so that the wax creased and flaked in some areas. After beating the shit out of the work of art that at the time seemed ruined, we proceeded to destroy it even more by painting over the entire painting with black paint until it was nothing but a black piece of paper. Once the black paint dried, we used an iron to melt the black paint and the wax  off the paper. The image came back to life and the black outlines were the finishing touch. Pretty amazing we were learning that in 8th grade. 

I Just Love Surfing...

Photos by Ben Gonan.

Benshooting@hotmail.com.fr

Life After Death

Carsey Joe

My little brother Carson Wach led San Clemente  High School to winning an extra $10,000 for the arts department at the Hurley Walk The Walk fashion show. He sewed and designed the majority of the clothes for the show. Here's a shot of them celebrating after being handed the check. Carson's the kid wearing the black jacket with blue diamonds up the sleeve holding the picture frame.

Now, Carson works at Hurley full time and stars in Hurley's "Micophone For Youth" webisodes with our good friend Blake Washington. Pretty rad for a couple of kids who started out as interns...Carson's also learning everything about denim design with a guy named Matt Baker who heads the denim design department at only age 20. I guess Matt had his own line of jeans called REKAB at age 15 in Fred Segal and Carson really looks up to him. Carson just got back from Kinkos where he printed out his 7th denim pattern he's designed himself on Illustrator. He's almost positive this is the perfect pattern but it's all trial n error. He's made seven different pairs just to get the right fit. I can't wait to get a pair!

Summer Stylin'

So Kameron and I decided to give some surf lessons this summer. These were our first two groups and they had a blast. The first group was our friends Lilly and Jane who are sisters from Texas. They really like callin' us yall and we can't figure out why..They're cute girls and they happen to love hangin' out down at Sano just like us so we figured we'd connect the dots and teach em' how to surf. Their Dad Sterling's really nice too. He's got the radest van you can imaging. A dually Sprinter that's white with black trim and the full set up inside to store boards for days. He can fit his whole quiver in the thing including two stand up paddle boards and a leaf blower!

hahahahahahhaahhaahha gotta love it...

Lily warmin' up for her lesson.

Kameron flirting as usual...

"Dude, I got beers in the car..."

Plop?

Lily and Jane splittin' the peak.

Lily shredding the Surftech blacktip with grace and agility.

Now here were the real troopers... These kids were gettin' pinned by their boards, smashed in the shore brake, dragged by their leashes, sand in their mouth, chased by crocodiles and yet they still managed to stand up on their very first waves EVER. I didn't even stand up on my first wave ever! From Left to Right is Cole, Mini Christian, and Chase. These kids are funny lil sand crabs and really know how to chow down the marsh mellows, eating an entire bag between the three of em'. Check out the style these kids got!!

Sand Surfin'

Cole's FIRST WAVE EVER!!

Kameron...more stoked than the grom hahah

Chase's FIRST WAVE EVER ! How's the smile?!

Pre Marsh Mellow Munch

They even threw their first shakas! 

:)

Check out Cyrus Sutton's Do it yourself website. This is a really awesome idea and I think everyone should contribute to it. 

Korduroy.tv

Korduroy.TV Trailer from Cyrus Sutton on Vimeo.

Ahoy Matey

Darren over at Ahoy just sent me the most killer board bag.  I sware the thing fits perfect and the colors are rad. It's unlike most board socks that are a pain in the ass to put on. This one slides right on and off comfortably and has a unique opening for the fin. 

Check out their bags at http://www.myspace.com/ahoysurfboardbags.

Email Darren to get your new durable Ahoy board sock. ahoysurfboardbags@ymail.com 

Hells Angels

Mr.Naki

Naki's pretty much my new favorite surfer after our radical trip to Niijima, a secluded island off the southern end of Japan. U-SKE did an amazing job of capturing it as well. Also, Hayato Maki was shredding super hard on the 5'0 Cole Aviso. Thanks dudes for having me along on such a sweet trip. I'd love to travel with anyone of your guys again. 

Photos By U-SKE

Boogie Boarder

Harrison Roach is one of my best friends,

one of my favorite surfers,

 and, believe it or not one outstanding boogie boarder.

Photo by DJ Temple

Fits in the Trunk

Finally Home. Yay. 

Photo by Nick Hartman

ChirsChan  and Mr. Naki takin' the Kotetsu to Niijima! 

Photo by U-SKE

First Point Noosa. 

Photo By Dane Peterson

GUY

This guy was way too into it.

Hajimemashite

Japan has been great! My journey started off with Ryo from Reunion Wetsuits in Narita near the airport where we stayed with our good friend Yamasan. We ate awesome Japanese sushi, drank plenty of Asahi, and had a magic show done for us by the same guy for the second year in a row. 

The Picaresque premiere in Tokoyo at the CLub Le Baron was great and although I couldn't make it to the premiere at the Greenroom Festival, I heard it was all-time. The Greenroom festival by the way was really nice and nothing like I expected it to be. The place where it was held was insane. The entire floor bounced as thousands of people in the crowd jumped up and down creating wavelengths in the wooden floor. Donovan, BLORR, and The Mattson 2 + Ray Barbee all put on spectacular performances throughout the festival. 

After the Picaresque premiere in Tokoyo I headed for Taito, Chiba to stay with my good friend Yuta Sezutsu at the shop where he works called Revelation Surfboards. Our friend Matt Chojnacki from Sydney was also staying there as well which made it a fun little group of loggers to go surf and skate with. The waves were pretty flat the first couple days so we just ate a lot of Moss Burger, skated, and painted one of Yuta's Boards. 

When the contest rolled around the waves picked up a bit but the conditions were really bad, onshore and closed out. For some reason I decided to ride the CJ Nelson Aviso 10 footer and scored a 9.0 in my first heat for just hangin' ten. After that I thought, well, I might as well ride this board for the rest of the contest. I think Yuta, matt and I were the only people in the entire contest to ride single fin logs. Matt scored an even higher 9.25 in his first heat. Unfortunately I ended up in the same heat as Yuta and the waves were just crap. It was really anyone's game. 

After winning six heats I found myself in the finals with one of my favorite surfers, Bonga Perkins, in a man on man heat. I was kinda shocked actually. I never thought I would have done that well so I was really stoked. I think it was my first heat I'd ever surfed with Bonga before. It was a rather mellow heat and by the end of it I needed an 8.75 to beat him and I just couldn't make it happen. Second place was good enough for me. I was just stoked to start off in the first round and make it to the finals.  

Now I'm off to Niijima with legendary photographer and all around rad dude,  Naki. The forecast is really good so we hope to score some fun uncrowded waves. The water is warm and it's sunny unlike Taito so I feel like I'm going to a new country. I've never been there either. Naki said he hasn't been there in 15 years so it'll be interesting for him see how it's changed. Chiba shredder Hayato Maki is joining us as well. We're going there on a jet engine speedboat of some sorts. I'm excited to see what happens next... 

Naki's beach BBQ and board swap. The Avisos pictured are the 5'2" Cole BD3, The 5'1" Cole BD3, The 10' CJ, and my model, The Herbie Fletcher 9'1.
Triangles.
Rusty artwork.
Some Japanese school girls.
The Picaresque premiere at Le Baron.
7/11 autograph signing.
To The Greenroom.
On our way to Mos Burgerdes.
San Frapananese.
After my first heat in the beautiful Taito conditions.

chiba is 千葉県 not china

5th Covershot in the Past Year

Yazzyphoto.com

Reward

Broken Glass

Djs

Swim

Invite only

Party

Alex Calkins Gets Weird

WEST

COAST TOUR , JULY !

Coming to a city near you.

Picaresque Trailer 2009 from High Seas Films on Vimeo.

The Faroe Islands

Russian Roulette

Despite making it across the Norwegian side of the Russian border, we still had to clear Russian customs. We entered the large gates of the Russian offices. I felt intimidated by the sight. A short, wide officer approached our vehicle and muttered something in Russian. He then pointed to the office. We parked the car and started for the office on foot just before we heard a loud shout that sounded something like, "looogage!" We hurried back to the van and emptied it of every item inside. As we lugged everything to the office doors the guards starred at us from inside and outside the windows of the building as if we were aliens. They hadn't seen a group like us in their entire life. We were surfers. One from Canada, one from Australia, and three from USA. We talked amongst ourselves wondering what would happen next. The worst part was our luggage which consisted of many large suitcases, camera gear, a tripod, a giant surfboard bag packed to the brim with three boards, video equipment, microphones, maps of military bases that line the coast, laptops, even a geiger reader which detects for radiation in the atmosphere. Not the best list of items to bring to Russia. 

I stepped into the office with doubt in my mind that we'd even make it to the other side. We easily made it through the Norwegian office half way to Russia, but still had the Russian customs to surpass. The office echoed with the  voices of the Russian guards. I felt quite nervous for some reason. The looks on the faces' of the guards were full of boredom and bitterness. It seemed to me they'd been waiting for a group like us to up for years so they could arrest us and put us all in some secret gulag for the rest of our lives. I didn't think they were about to show us any mercy. They knew we were from places they despise and they didn't like us at all. 

I stood waiting behind a thick red line marked clearly on the ground. I was convinced we were being arrested when an officer came out of a random door and took a snapshot of Matty hauling the board bag through the office. He went before me. To my surprise he made it to the next area draggin' the thing nonchalantly through the gate. I was also certain we'd be contained and held for questioning for hours at the very least. I was last in line and waited impatiently. A light flashed from red to green prompting my turn at the counter. As I approached the counter, the man behind the desk watched me closely as I reached for my passport and other travel documents. All I could see were his eyes and up. Everything eles was hidden behind the rather tall booth. The glass between me and him stopped about three inches from the counter. I actually remember the small hallway vividly. The lights above were circular shaped almost polka dotting the roof. The rest of the hallway was covered with mirrors from all angles with a white wall behind the officer's back to disguise his actions. The top of his head fidgeted from one side of the desk to the other as if he was confused. About five long, tense minutes later, I heard three extremely loud stamps as if he was pounding is fist on the his desk in front of him. The sound sent a chilling feeling down my spine. He then slapped my things back on the counter in front of me and proceeded to stare into my eyes making no gestures or sounds. I was quite frightened by his gaze. Finally, he nodded his headed to the left indicating it was O.K. that I move along. I grabbed my belongings as fast as I could and pushed through the metal gate. 

The lady at the next desk didn't like our group one bit. She didn't speak a word of English and spoke to us as if we should have spoken Russian fluently. She showed no mercy. Somehow, about an hour later, we exceeded her post. Not one bag was searched or questioned, not even the board bag which made me wonder what was going on. We followed the automatic opening doors through the building and outside to where we felt we had finally made it into Russia. 

We set out in search of a military town called Murmansk where we were booked to stay the night. The road curved for miles on the same route through snowy hills and dead trees. Around us, we could see large military towers bolting into the sky on the tops of every tall hill. They probably watched for invaders and people coming through the border. I don't really know what their purpose was but it sure made me feel uncomfortable. Right off the bat, I felt like we were being watched the entire time we there. 

The road finally took a turn for the worse and became a wide, muddy, mess. The tracks of other vehicles were present so at first we thought we were on the right road. Without a car in sight for miles, we drove onward hoping for the best. Out of the blue, we came upon a motorcycle with a caddy on the side. Three young boys were on it, two on the bike and one in the caddy. We asked them "Mumansk" and pointed down the road  where we were headed. They nodded their heads and pointed as if we were on the right track. 

The sights on the way were horrendous. Every so often a huge pile of concrete would be on  the side of the road. If it wasn't a pile, it was an abandoned building on its way to becoming that. Old power facilities, army bases, bridges, apartment buildings, you name it.  They were either uninhabited or destroyed. Although that was frightening to see, we were told of a city called Nickel that was supposedly the most polluted town in the world. When we came upon it, we knew right away what it was. It was the first town we saw. All we could see were huge smoke stacks billowing out black smoke, some old, square apartment buildings, and black, petrified trees covering the landscape around it. The snowy hillsides surrounding were smothered in black soot. It really looked like hell from afar. We couldn't believe people could actually live in a place like that. I really felt sorry for that place and the people who had to live there. 

After six hours of driving the completely wrong road, and a couple more dirty, godforsaken towns, we arrived in Murmansk. We got there around one a.m. on a Friday morning. The first thing we saw as we came into town was a car come bolting around a corner in front of us, veer into the curb, and crash. "Welcome to Murmansk," I thought. 

We arrived at our hotel after circling the town a few times and asking a couple locals how to get there. We parked the car in the hotel parking lot, grabbed our mostvaluable belongings, and checked in at the front desk. I recall the girl behind the counter being one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. She was gorgeous. She wasn't that nice to us at first but after a little charm she lightened up and smiled. She took our passports and told us we would have to pick them up in the morning after she registered them. I thought that was kinda sketchy leaving our passports but hey, being a foreigner in Russia is sketchy period. 

Scheduled to leave the next day, Pat Millin and I thought it would be a great idea to go out. We figured we'd check out to the discotecka downstairs in the hotel. Three shots of Vodka and two beers later we were ready to hit the dance floor. It ended up being really fun and we felt totally safe there. There were a bunch of hot chicks there too but the only problem was figuring out which ones weren't prostitutes. They all seemed like they could be so we didn't take our chances. We did a some groovy dancin' though, and sure cut a rug. We definitely put a smile on people's faces which I thought was rad. We ended up going to another club as well where a group of drunk Russians wanted to fight me for some reason. Maybe it was because of my hair or the fact I was from American. Luckily there was one guy in the group who spoke nearly perfect English and he insisted Iwe both get the fuck outta there because some shit was about to go down if we didn't. He took a taxi with us back the hotel. I think he thought it was rad we were from California and he wanted to make sure everything was O.K. He wanted us to know there were some good people in Russia too although we were already certain Russian people were crazy anyways. We said our goodbye's and called it quits on our wild night in Murmansk.

We all woke up around three p.m. the next day in a hungover blur. It was May 1st, a Russian military holiday in Murmansk and people were out and about walking the street for there was nice weather. There was hardly ever nice weather there. A man named Surgey who was an english speaking tourist guide took us around Murmansk for the day and told us a bit about the place. It was really neat to learn about things like why certain buildings were from the Stalin era and others were from the Khrushchev era. We also learned about Russian economy. The fact that every single person  was entitled to their own apartment during the Soviet Union period and that was why most of the same buildings from that time still existed. The reasons some people still wanted communism and some didn't. It was really interesting to hear the point of view from someone actually living there and aware of the history. Our tour ended after a couple of hours. Just before saying goodbye, we bought some unique Russian memorabelia from him. We scored communist Russian military hats, "matryoshka" dolls, some Vodka,  and some funny T shirts. I also bought a vintage 1960s Russian Zenit 35mm camera at our hotel and took some of my first photographs I've ever taken with film.  If any of them came out I planned to put them on here (I still have to get the roll processed). We knew it was a long journey back to the border but we had some other things to take care of before escaping. 

A man who could help us get to the coastline waited for us in a town called Zapoyarnyy, little hellhole town on the way to the border. On our way there we would stop and speak with him about reaching the ocean. Almost the entire coastline in Russia is Military enforced, especially where we wanted to score so we needed to speak with this guy.  Along the road to the small town, we found the road to the beach and debated just going down it. It was either take our chances and charge the dangerous, military enforced road, or meet up with the guy who could possibly help get us there. We decided to keep going for our chances were extremely slim of actually making it to the coastline. We finally arrived in Zapoyarnyy. Zapoyarnyy, a town that just recently, about six months ago, opened to foreigners was really scary. The town was off-limits for years because of the, "pathway to hell," as I called thought of it that exists there. It was a giant hole about six miles deep where they were testing sound waves during WWII to try and produce a large enough sound wave to create an earthquake in the U.S. The people in the place were creepy. We heard from a reliable source that one in three newborns are born with deformities and no one lives past the age of 50 due to of all the pollution that causes cancer in the atmosphere there.  

We eventually met up with the man and discussed the premise of our situation. There was nothing he could do to help our desire to make it to the coast that night, however, he could help us with any future escapades. The problem was, we needed to acquire this strict military permit to get to the coast.  It would take two months of preparation, writing, and inquiring to try and get us permits of that sort from theFSB, previously known as the KGB. He said he could work on it for us and pull some strings. We were quite bummed we couldn't pull off surfing in Russia while we were already there, but we knew that wouldn't stop us from going back, for now we knew what to expect. By the time we were done meeting with him, it was too late to make the border in time to get out. Because it was a Russian holiday, the border would be closing earlier than normal. We were stuck, in Zapoyarnyy of all places.

It was a scary night. We checked into the only hotel that existed there and it was anything but luxurious. The smell of burnt metal filled the air and a hopeless band played for an empty ballroom downstairs. We each got a single room and took the small elevator to the third floor where we were all located. From the window in my room I could see people wandering outside. Wandering like zombies with no hope, no dreams. It was depressing to see people living like this. Uncomfortable, I finally fell asleep.  

We woke up the next morning and booked it for the Russian/Norwegian border. We got to the border and went through a very similar exchange as on the way in to Russia. Once to other side, we were all ready to kiss the ground and thank God we were able to get the fuck outta there!

Going to Russia really opened my eyes. I've always been able to find a reason to complain about where I live or even America in general. The way it's over populated where I live, or how it's so polluted, or how the people are rude. But in reality, I am so lucky to live there. I have so many blessings that other people in the world will never have and that's just the way it is. It's not my fault I was born where I was born. I'd probably hate America too if I were Russian. I would be so jealous and bitter of the way we, as Americans, get to live our lives. I mean, we even got to go to Russia to try and surf. They can't even really go to the coastline, much less surf. I really don't blame them for being mad at the world. They have been suppressed by a corrupt government for so long and things are just now slowly starting to change. From now on I will thank God everyday for the freedoms I have where I've grown up. Despite everyone's negative outlook on USA, I can honestly say I am proud to be an American.

A Poem for the Chords

A Poem For The Chords from Christian Wach on Vimeo.

How often do you get the chance to scale a mountain in Norway? Just when we though we made it to the top, there was a completely different mountain to climb. The view from the summit was amazing and well worthe the battle to get there. There's actually a mailbox at the very top with a journal inside of it. I wrote a paragraph and drew an illustration which inspired me to write the song in this short film. I hope you like it. I wrote and recorded it while surfing 1,300 miles away from the North Pole in Norway.

BACK TO THE USSR

We're leaving on a flight in about two hours for Russia...Hope we don't run into this guy on the way to the beach.

NEW BLOG ADDRESS

http://www.christianwach.blogspot.com/

Sorry for the inconvenience...

Sea Walk in a Nutshell

Yazzy Photo

Hi,

My name's Christian Wach, I'm 19 years old, and I'm from San Clemente, California. I just graduated high school in June of 2008 and I feel like my life has finally just started considering I felt like I should have been outta there a long time ago with all the traveling I've been doing. Basically, my life consists of surfing on all types of boards from longboards to shortboards, even wooden planks! I love going to new and remote places to surf and writing articles on my trips. I've been writing about these funny little adventures I've been experiencing and the instances that occur between people and I in other parts of the world. I've had five published writings in the last year in domestic and international magazines including my first and most prestegious in Surfer's Journal out of Southern California, two articles in a Japanese magazine called On The Board, One article in the UK in a magazine called Drift AND they ran my portrait on the cover, one article in a New Zealand magazine called Slide, and one in an Australian magazine called Australian
Longboarding.

Life is really, really good at the moment. I've been really fortunate to do what I love to do on a regular basis instead of following the norm like most people in my peer group. For example, a buddy and I just went up to Northeastern Canada to go surf! It was my third time there so I pretty much knew what to expect, however, on my first trip there, I somehow got talked into going during the middle of winter by the photographer who lives there named Yazzy. Boy, was that a mistake. I got there and started thinking, "What did I sign up for?" haha I wasn't really expecting a blizzard right off the plane! I had to go surf in below freezing water too, but hey, it paid off and I ended up getting a six page spread in Surfer magazine about the trip, surfing in the snow!

I've never really been too into writing until recently, but my Mom was always a really talented writer.Her writings were so inspiring to me growing up. She loved to write songs and poems and all sorts of neat little writings, and maybe that's where I got somewhat of a love for it. I don't know. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2007 after taking her own life due to severe mental and physical depression. I figured I could take one of two roads in my life. It was either let her decision to do that affect, and ruin my life, or use it as a positive way to stay motivated and focused on what she would have loved to see me accomplish in my life. Which is in effect, professional surfing, traveling, writing, song writing, modeling, movie making, all these wonderful creative outlets God has blessed me with that I've been fortunate enough to build upon since. I give her credit for all of my success. She really was an amazing mother even despite the rocky road towards the end.

It wasn't until last February of 2007 that I became motivated to write articles when I got home and just wrote a little 800 word piece and sent it into Surfer's Journal. Sure enough, the surf industry's highest acclaimed magazine, found a home for it and published my first piece of writing, in their magazine along with a two page action shot of me. I was SO stoked! I consider that one of my biggest accomplishments thus far in my surfing career. That really encouraged me and gave me the confidence to go yah, I can do anything I want in this world as long as I do it well and to the best of my capability! You just don't know what's going to happen in this crazy thing called life do you? I'm also in a modeling agency out of Los Angeles, called Otto Models, I play guitar, sing and record songs, and I also do a lot of freelance artwork and design on Illustrator. I paint as well. You can check out my music on my music page,http://www.myspace.com/christiansebastianwach The recordings aren't spectacular because they have been done on GarageBand, but I have fun doing it anyways and maybe someday I will record them in-studio.

My father Lawrence, my older brother Steve, and little brother Carson are also huge inspirations to me. My Dad is so supportive of my career and he's into everything I'm into which keeps our relationship very close. It isn't surprising to him when I tell him I'm off to some exotic place. Heck, I don't even think he'd mind even if I were going to North Korea as long as I kept in contact and scored a life experience. I know our love for playing guitar, surfing, and design have all been influenced by him and I owe my success to him in everything I've accomplished. I love him very dearly and I look up to him in so many ways. I also owe a lot to my older brother Steve. Although he is my half brother, I consider him not only a brother, but also the biggest stimulation for most of the interests I've acquired today. Growing up he was always artistically savvy and also a great musician himself. He always rode single fins and wore beaver tails and listened to groovy music. I just always thought he was so fuckin' rad. Today Steve lives in Laguna Beach near Victoria which is an attractive area to raise a family, he has a beautiful wife and two lovely Children. I'm so proud of everything he has accomplished. On the other hand, my younger brother Carson is the radest brother I could ever ask for. It's funny how I look up to him in a lot of ways. We've always been really tight. He is so incredibly talented. Carson started out as an apprentice but after spreading his charm throughout the Hurley factory, he started working for Hurley doing webisodes as the "Youth Face of Hurley." It's a job they made specially for him and his best friend Blake. They put a smile on anyone's face because they're such funny characters. He also designs clothing patterns on Illustrator and sews his own jeans, boardshorts, and even bikinis for girls! Carson is also an amazing musician. He's in a killer band called Dead Beat or... something like that. He writes some of the best songs I've ever heard. A lot better than myself, but we Jam little shows here and there. It's fun. Life is fun! That's all there is to it, and if you're not having fun, you better start somewhere!

Christian Wach

Leaving Lofoten

Well, we've reached the end of our journey here in Norway. I Ahhhh man, it's been so awesome too! Everything from hiking, to fishing, to snowboarding on our surfboards, to camping.... It's really been an awesome trip! I've eaten so many waffles and so much cod I'm starting to almost get sick of it, but not quite! haha...We got some really sick water shots yesterday evening on my longboard too. They're really nice. The surf was kinda shitty and then I paddled out and it all of the sudden turned on and became glassy.

Tomorrow we're headed on a flight to Russia. I'm a little pretentious becasue of all the things we've heard about Russia but I think it should be a rad experience. I don't know when the next time in my life I'll have the opportunity so I'm going to take my chances. We don't even know if we can surf there yet but hey, it's worth a shot. I just hope the water is cleaner than I've been hearing. I guess radio activity is pretty prevalent in the ocean up there. It's supposed to be a heck of a lot colder as well.




Stars lead to the milky way.


A view of the Lofoton Islands from above.


Our inspiration for the band name . . . D Feesh Heads. A one hit wonder out of Norway.


Oslo Airport. Yazzy photo.


This is where lil red riding hood must live.


Vintage hand-made Norwegian fishing boat.


Aliens in Ocean Minded Ugg boots have arrived.


Kraemervika Rorbuer where we are staying.


Guitar, laptop, backpacks, suitcase, headphones, voice recorder, capo, beer, charger, camera, lamp, baby carriage, rug, un-made bed.


Really fun lowers-type reef.


Some random guy took this of us in the airport. He couldn't quite figure out how to take a picture. I don't think he's ever taken one before in his life.


Lofoton Living.


The Norwegian diet.


Jammin' out on the dock near the Viking ship.


Pick a key, any key.


Just arriving in Norway. You are now free to roam about the country.


Free Willy's back yard.


Pat Millin and Matt Whitehead, Welcome to Norway.


G

Order A Board !

I recently started riding for City Fog surfboards. The boards speak for themselves. The company is going to be set up like RVCA in a sense that different artists work for them and paint their boards. I have a model coming out with them called The Purchase. It's a sqaure tail log that will be perfect for the fun smaller days. I also have a performance model with them that is in the works. Once I have pictures, I will post them. Check out some of their other models and ideas at the following addresses.



City Fog Icon



CJ Getting Weird On The Pedals...



City Fog Ad Campaign



Some Artwork By CJ Nelson



http://www.facebook.com/find-friends/?ref=friends

http://www.myspace.com/cityfogsurf

Today I was kidnapped by a Viking.

I like it here.

DUKE WOULD APPROVE

We spent our last day in Noosa riding a variety of Tom Wegener's newest creations. Everything from the new "Tuna" model Tom has been developing, to 18' semi-hollow single fin trimmers, and also alaias. We also tried out a Bill Wallace 20' toothpick. That was a little tricky. Here's some footage of the newest crafts to come from the Creation Plantation, Tom's factory. Tom, Matt Williams, George Timm, Kameron Brown? and a few others enjoy these ancient reincarnated designs at Noosa's First Point.


tuna fun, alaia fun, finless rocks!! from matt williams on Vimeo.

OHH SO CROO

If you're Japanese,
you've never surfed before, or,
you just straight up enjoy watching tandem,
you might just like this !

Otherwise, I suggest telling a Japanese person, someone who's never surfed before, or someone who likes tandem to watch it.




UHH SO CROO from Christian Wach on Vimeo.



Japanese accents are rad.

RED ALERT

Yesterday we encountered a life and death situation up in the glaciers of Norway. We set out for a secluded beach just on the other side of Mt. Grees. While hiking the mountain with local mountain extraordenaires, Ed Viestrus and Dave Hahn, en route to the beach, an unexpected catastrophe occurred. In this extremely shocking footage, Ed and Dave explain the premise of the situation. You can see we are quite a ways away and from there we had a bird's eye view overlooking the beach only about a mile below. Suddenly, we heard an enormous crack. The bone-chilling site of snow cascading rapidly toward our group was the most immense rush of adrenaline I've ever felt in my life. Fortunately, most of the snow and ice from the avalanche landed in the moat between the glacier and the steeper part of the slope. We were only blasted with a powder cloud from the avalanche. Still, this was a really scary event and a definite reminder to be ever respectful of the power of the mountains. The memory of this breath-taking experience will forever be engraved in my brain. Watch the footage for yourself...

No Way r

Check out the boots haha. I feel like I'm going snowboarding every time I put them on!


I'm havin' a blast here. I'm in Ballstad Norway, in the Lofoten Islands, off the Northwest coast of Norway! It only took four flights to get here and $450 later for my boards to make it. I met up with Pat Millin, Cyrus Sutton, this Aussie bloke named Matt, and Yazzy a photographer from Canada, in Oslo, Norway, kinda accidentally. Pat and I were just walking through the airport when we ran into the others. SO stoked we did because Yazzy greased it sooooo hard with the board bags. We actually checked in twice somehow! The reason we did that was because we each had too many bags and we didn't want to pay again for the boards or any of our other luggage... Ok, so first we hid the board bags and got our baggage tags. Then we went and put the tags we received on the boardbags where we hid them. After that, we dropped them off at the oversize baggage drop. Then we went back and waited in a separate Scandanavian Airlines line and checked in again at a different counter and got more baggage tags. The lady was like... "You already checked in, where are your baggage tags?" We told her we never got any. She was sorta confused and suspisious but after a little greasin' she just put the tags on there. We were on our merry way! How sly is that?!


Mr. Yazzy


Pat Millin excited for the climb. He actually made it to the summit crazy mofo !



We've climbed about five mountains already and it's only the fourth day. Shit, One of the climbs w as seriously INTENSE. We were literally hanging off the side of this sheer face at one point wayyy up there. I was shitting my pants because I am SO immensely scared of heights. Maybe that's why I am a logger and don't surf Jaws. I was almost crying to Yazzy telling him I wanted to go down and he totally agreed. He felt the same way. He didn't have the $500 Vasque boots people use to climb Mount Everest that we got sponsored with for the trip. We definitly took the wrong route up the mountain for sure. SO freakin scary. Pat and this crazy Aussie guy Matt made it to the summit but they're derelicts. I imagine it was a killer view from up there. I'm going to try and conquer it eventually, but definitly not taking the goat trail again. We've also made friends with another ridge where Yazzy has been eager to get the "covershot." We've hiked it about four times now. By the end of the trip we're going to hate that ridge. It's pretty rad though. There's a huge lake at the top of this hill where when you get to the top, you can see down into the calderon. You'd have no idea it's there until you hike it. It looks like the top of a volcano but intead of magma there is a massive frozen-over lake. A stream flows down the side of the ridge where we drank fresh water from. Something about the water here is amazing. It's so fresh and replenishing. Everything about this place is kinda like that though. There's somehting very special about it. They say it's closer her e to heaven so it's easier to be touched by and angel. I dunno. I feel like it's a very spiritual place.


The forbidden ridge...


A view from the VIking ship.


Yes, this is the summit that Pat climbed. It's way higher than you think.


The days are never-ending here in The Lofotons. November through January it's dark all day long and all night. Then this part of the year every day is getting 20 minutes longer day by day until the midnight sun occurs in June, July, and sometimes August. You can surf all day and all night if you want. The sun pretty much goes around the sky in a big circle. It's never straight overhead. We havn't seen the Northern Lights yet though unfortunately. I feel like I've been here for two weeks already.


Norwegian barrel.

A couple of days a go we went out on a Viking ship! Dude, it was an experience. Full remake of an old Viking ship that they used to sail from Norway to Iceland, Sweden and all over the arctic circle to pick up the hottest chicks. Then, export them back to Norway. That's why there are so many gorgeous girls here. And yeah, it's no rumor. Women here are extremely beautiful. You should have seen in the airport man... Pat Millin and I were staring every two seconds.


The bow actually fell off while we were out to sea. Luckily the crew managed to rescue it !


There's somethin' fishy in the water.


The ship in action.


A Viking has set sail.


Norwegian cutie :)



You should see how beautiful the mountains are here. They are Huge. We're staying at this killer place as well called the Kraemmervika Rorbuer. T hey have really good food and nice people own it named Ingvar and Torgun. They have really nice kids, 8 and 9 that have been hanging out with us around the place as well. I became pretty good buddies with one of the sons named Andreas. They have music equipment here like a drum set, some speakers and an EQ system. The reason they have all this is so that local bands can come and play without having to bring their equipment and also so that traveling musicians can perform as well. Today I taught Andreas how to play the drums and we have a little song we're going to jam tonight for "Open Mic Night." I'm also going to perform some of my songs. Yazzy, Pat, James, the writer who is writing our story for Outside Magazing (who is by the way, one of the funniest people I've ever met), and I, are going to perform a couple songs we came up with yesterday. Pat and I are the rastafarian vocalists, Yazzy's on raeggae strum, and James is on the Balstad beats. We're called the Fish Heads apparently after the vintage fish head bags hanging on the wall behind the drum set where we practiced.


Andreas.


Kraemervika SKATE sesh.


One of the numerous spectacular sites.


d feesh heads

We took the Kraemmervika speedboats out today and went fishing! SO ZINE dude... I caught the biggest fish I've ever caught in my life. A huge Cod! I only caught two fish but they were both pretty big. Probably about two or three feet long. Cod is the number one export in Norway. It's interesting. You see thousands of=2 0cod hanging from wooden stilts in uniform lines. The cod dries for 2-3 months. There are 17 catagories of Cod. The highest quality goes to Italy and lowest quality, the fish heads, go to Africa for Cod stew. Pretty weird how the world works like that. Anyways, The bay where we fished today was incredible. Huge sheer mountains come down into the ocean and create an insane fjord which is like a huge bay.

As far as the surf goes, it's been pretty flat but really nice weather. We surfed once and it wasn't even that cold. I thought it would be colder, but then again, the sun was out, and it was keeping us fairly warm. The waves were fun too. Fun little lefts for the CJ Nelson Aviso model I brought.


My Ocean Minded ugg-shoe-shoe-slipper-thingys are working out great in the cold.


Andreas couldn't quite find the focus haha.


Rock-infested peelers.

That's pretty much what we're up to. Soon we will be camping about an hour away on some deserted beach where we have to take a boat to. Then we have to hike about an hour to the beach where will then post up and really live it rugged because at the moment we're living like kings eating waffles and cod all day. The outdoors will be a great angle for the Outside Magazine article. After camping for as long as we can bear without getting frost bite, we're heading North to Russia to camp some more. We've heard there's a lot of radio activity along the coastal waters so I'm a little nervous about that but what's an adventure without a little fear? I'm looking forward to it. After that we are flying over to the Faroe Islands. That's an entirely different adventure we'll be tapping into. I'll try and send out more updates as soon as I have more to write about because that's pretty much all of it. Thanks for reading!


Save me.

NAERSROIDE

TIP_T!ME is a look into my trip this year to Noosa Heads, Australia. All the surfing footage seen was shot by Geoff Fanning aka Fanno. Everything eles was captured by me. The music and the editing was also done myself.

It's meant to be a little repetitive, but none of the surfing footage is repeated. It shows a select few from the semi finals and the finals of the Noosa Noseriding Division 2009. These surfers are Harrison Roach, Ezra Norris, Trent Dickey, and myself, Christian Wach. The other two guys in the movie are my friends Kameron Brown and George Trimm. I hope you like it!



TIP_T!ME from Christian Wach on Vimeo.

Poop Fruit, Veg Out

If you like Another State of Mind, you're gunna like this.

Here's the trailer to Steve Cleveland's new movie.


Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables from Surf Craft Media on Vimeo.

It's Pretty Ponda

Post-WEENZA '' is the sequel to WEENZA '', my first stroll through town on Kameron Brown's little red Honda scooter. However, in this escapade we take you through the beautiful sites of Noosa Heads, Australia. I edited the movie on the plane ride to Norway after my trip to Australia for the Noosa Festival in 2009. We start off from my friend Harrison Roach's home and end up down at first point. If you've never been there, it's a great place to visit. I myself could even live there. The music is played and recorded by me and it's quite ironic how the music actually follows the film in a funny way. Maybe it's just me, but I thought it worked well and I didn't plan it like that. It just happens. Enjoy!


Post-WEENZA '' from Christian Wach on Vimeo.

Beep Beep

HANG

Compadres

If you're ever going to travel anywhere in this world, make sure the people you travel with are reliable and friendly. Without the humorous vibes from my friends Kameron Brown, George Trimm, and Harrison Roach, my trip would not have been the same. I thank them for the radical experiences we had together this year and I especially thank Harrison Roach for putting up with all three of us at his homestead for a whole month and ten days. It's not always easy to put up three people even if they are some of your best friends. I would gladly go anywhere in the world with these guys again. Each one of them are very talented individuals. Whether it's surfing, jammin' out, or simply putting a smile on someone's face, these guys do it well.


Thanks dudes!




LAX Curbside



Kameron enjoying the sites at A-bay.



Unpacking the boards.



Where's my passport?



Mr. Roach pre sicky-cruiser.




DJ Geometric, aka Mr. Trimm.

Oi

Wow.

This year was an amazing time at the Noosa festival. I have been there five years in a row now, and have never scored so hard. Everything about this trip was incredible. There were so many positives. My best friends came we stayed with my other best friend, Harrison Roach, his Mom took great care of us, the waves never really stopped pumping, we threw an amazing party for my friend Kameron's birthday, I made the pro final for the first time, I met a special someone, we hung out with Tom Wegener and Matt Williams(Tom's apprentice), we all got to ride the Tuna, Mikey Detemple and Dustin Miller's film Picaresque premiered which was a huge hit, and I ended up winning the noseriding division for the third year in a row, which was only icing on the cake for me. Honestly I could go on and on about each one of these topics and I will, but for right now I'm going to leave it at this and post some images that depict what I am talking about. Everything about this year was truely phenomenal. It's like all the stars lined up. Nothing ever really went wrong, except I did lose my brand new digital camera but hey, you live and learn. Had I never lost it, I might have too many pictures to put on this blog! Anyways, we had an epic time and I hope I can return there every year for the rest of my life, and maybe one day even live there. It's one of the only places in the world I've traveled to and really thought I could reside. It's such a unique place. I feel so privileged to have been there for the 2009 Noosa Festival of Surfing. I don't know how I could ever top this year, however, every year has it's surprises and qualities that set it apart from the last.












I

Skegos Nuevos [Mark Stavron]

Get your custom fin from Mark Stavron !

Any Template.

All hand-made.

Ph: 949-218-6635
Fx: 949-218-0891
mark@ofishl.com

Thanks ALMOND!

Lightner Photos


So stoked on the new board! The thing rides great too!
Thanks Dave!
-Christian

Lovely Song

Nantes by Beirut from Colin Skillings on Vimeo.

Lil Boy

This is What's Cine!

Recently, a friend of mine named George Timm and I scored some fun waves during that "Super Swell" That didn't end up being that super.. .Other than the fact we scored some empty line ups and rode the Alaias with Dan Malloy! That was ZINE! Just don't go to that one spot...Rights and Lefts. You just might not get a wave!

Dia De Los CJ

Posca Pens - House Paint - Markers- and Some Gold Paint. I recently  painted this for my good friend CJ Nelson.

There're no waves . . .

LET'S GO SKATE from Christian Wach on Vimeo.

What Time is it?

By Wesley Whithead

Bird's Eye View

:)

SURF-KNOTSEA-TikiTipTime-PIckasso-Zine !

Bring Your Skateboards :)

17.15 Seconds Mate

Golden Breed Noserider Invitees

Christian Wach, USA (1st 08)

Ezra Norris, Noosa, Q (2nd 08)

Jai Lee, Noosa, Q (3rd 08)

 Matt Cuddihy, Noosa, Q (4th 08)

Bonga Perkins, Hawaii (08 world champion)

Antoine Delpero, France (08 world runner up)

Harley Ingleby, NSW (08 world number 3)

CJ Nelson, USA (legend)

Joel Tudor, USA (former world champ and event winner 2001)

Josh Constable, Noosa, Q (former world champion)

Dane Wilson, NSW (legend)

Chad Marshall, USA (hot CA junior)

Julian Wilson, Coolum, Q (legend)

Dane Peterson, Noosa/USA (legend)

Belinda Baggs, Noosa, Q (legend)

Joy Monahan, Hawaii (08 world womens champion)

Golden Breed Noserider Reserve List

Alex Knost, USA

Harrison Roach, Noosa, Q

Jordy Brown, Vic

Matt Chojnacki, NSW

Seb Wilson, Coolum, Q

Alex Bullpitt, Caloundra, Q

Trent Dickey, Noosa, Q

Ben Haworth, UK

Brett White, Noosa, Q

Zye Norris, Noosa Q

Justin Healy, Caloundra, Q

Zac Southgate-Smith, Noosa, Q

Almond Surfboards

I Don't really know these guys but I sure dig what they're doing. Keep up the great work! 

5'0" Aviso Trunk Board

Wanna Board?

PndaneseLamachandas

. These are just some of them.

The Shingle Fin

Canadians are into weird shit eh'?

JA-CA-AU

Look for this freaky wooden surfboard rider guy in some new water showing flicks.

April 2009

Pertaining to, characteristic of, or characterized by a form of prose fiction, originally developed in Spain, in which the adventures of an engagingly roguish hero are described in a series of usually humorous or satiric episodes that often depict, in realistic detail, the everyday life of the common people.

SURF-KNOTSEA

Parkin Photography

Coach Mom

I grew up as little, blonde, freckle-face surfer grom who was excited at any glance of a wave at Doheny. My brother and I were always being hauled around with surfboards, smoothies and bagel shack by the best Mom we could ever ask for. I remember her laughter as she became just as excited about the waves as my brother and I did. She would spend her last dollar on us if that’s what it came down to. I can still taste the huge 32 oz. acai smoothie she would always bring me after excruciating days, sitting in a desk for hours at school while dreaming of surfing Malibu. That was her favorite place to take us. Although it was a mission to get up there everyday, one summer I remember charging it up there almost everyday if the waves were pumping. She drove us so many miles that summer she actually pinched a nerve in her foot so we gave up the old manual 4runner and bought a new automatic one. That is until she forgot to pay the bill one month and we woke up to thinking the car was stolen when in effect it was repossessed. It worked out good because we ended up getting a huge lifted truck for surf trips. All of these memories fill my mind when I look at or hold the one thing my Mom always told me to hold onto, and that is this little wooden cross. She gave one to my brother and one to me and specifically said, “I want you to have this and keep it forever.” To me, the cross signifies my Mom’s legacy as a person, and what she truely lived for. That was to be a believer in Jesus Christ and help spread the word to other people.

This past year has been a rocky road for my life, and my family. A huge disaster happened which I would have never thought possible as a kid. My Mom came down with a severe case of depression and was bedridden for almost three years straight. She started becoming suicidal and literally lost her mind. Basically she became a maniac. She was extremely sick. Before taking her own life on May 8, 2007, she had already attempted suicide many times. It took a huge toll on my family and now that she’s gone our lives will never be the same. She was, the best mom any kids could ever ask for. “Coach mom” was what she lived for. She lived to make our lives what they are today and above all, serve God. I know I’ll see her up there someday. 

Harchan can

Baja=Relaxation

PLEASE

You tell em' Matteo :)

Launch?

i Bienvenido !

   

Juan Itelligente-Pickasso-Czine-Mateo-Britt-RanchOcho

If Surfboards Could Fly

A Ryan Heywood photo.

The Real Surfer Joe

By

                                                                                  Yassine

                        Ouhilal.

Tow Ats?

Jared Mell and I towed behind our buddies expedition in Mexico last summer. We almost broke our wrists doing this but hey, the nearest hospital was only 6 hours away..

New Quiver

Polka-Dotted Dolphins

hmmm . . .   ?

Sticky Rice

When the waves got flat in Japan, we resorted to balancing contests in the rice patties.

WEENZA "

Mr. Brown and I.

They're NOT SANDALS. They're shoes!

Damn Pirates!

The order of events when skating inside a pirate ship. The last shot of the mast in the sky was an all-to familiar sight of mine after eating shit numerous occasions. 

EENY MEENY MINEY MO

Pickle Shreds

Japanese Majic

Something that clearly struck me amazing was the food in Japan! We ate like kings. Every time we ate anywhere it was an experience and a half. Everything from Moss Burger to Korean BBQ was  absolutely delicious. Even McDonalds tasted better for some reason! I went to sushi one evening with Ryo from Reunion wetsuits, my wetsuit sponsor, and my good friends Yama and Tsun.  I really didn’t know what to expect other than amazing food.  Although I love sushi in the U.S. , it was quite different in Japan. The presentation was wonderful and it always tasted fresh.  I mean, where else in the world do you go to sushi and the sushi chef does magic for you? I mean, come on! That’s exactly what happened that night. We were about half way through with our meal and all of the sudden the sushi chef started busting out magic tricks. At first, he mesmerized us with a couple card tricks that you’d figure any magician would be capable of doing. Then he got really crafty with the big finale at the end. By the looks on their faces, I had a feeling Ryo, Yama, and Tsun  were exalting me in Japanese as he did wherever we went. The chef had me pull out a card and it was the ace of spades. Then e asked me to sign it. I concluded he was just asking for an autograph assuming Ryo had been telling him about the upcoming event in Taito, but little did I know, he was contriving the finale of all finales. He slid the card back in the deck and set the stack of playing cards back on the table in front of me. I watched him carefully, not knowing what was coming next. He slowly pulled out a brand new, unopened bottle of green tea from a little cardboard box behind the sushi bar. Then he began signing something in Japanese on the top of the bottle; most likely his signature but for all I know, it could decode the magic trick. I may never know.  My eyes scoured it, watching his every move.  He slowly ripped away the green wrapper from the little plastic bottle, and right away, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The ace of spades playing card I had just signed was now inside the unopened bottle of green tea! Even my Japanese friends that brought me there were in  just as much shock or more than I was. We were astonished   None of us could believe our eyes. We thought of every way possible he could’ve done it, however, to this day, I still can’t make logical sense of it. I kept the souvenir and it still sits on a shelf in my room. Everybody asks what it is, and I always have an interesting story to reminisce upon. They always have the same reaction, “That’s not possible!”  I tell them . . . “Only in Japan.”