New York Ether

Australian film-maker, photo journalist and musician Andrew Kidman has been lurking in the New York area since late September enjoying the unusually good waves and hopefully not writing any more pieces about the Island. He’s had tacos at the Tiki Bar, escarole soup and Grandma slices in a booth at Gino’s, eaten the Laurel’s bacon and slept in Island Park. Andrew has even been caught spreading local NY gossip so watch what you say to him. Read more

Standing Here with My Brother

On Saturday, November 14th, The Tommy Brull Foundation will host its 2nd Annual Fundraiser to benefit at Cannon’s Blackthorn in Rockville Centre. Tommy Brull was a local surfer who passed away almost ten years ago in a tragic accident and the foundation, which bears his name, aims to provide direct assistance to individuals with mental, physical or emotional challenges in our broader community (Nassau and Suffolk).

UnsOund Pro 2009 Highlights

The 2009 Unsound Pro finished up on Sunday afternoon in an
increasing SE swell provided by an approaching cold front. The surf
on the final day of competition slowly grew throughout the day,
culminating in waist to shoulder high waves at Lincoln Blvd., in Long Beach, NY.
While the surf did not quite match the quality of the past few years,
it was big enough to provide the local community with some exciting
surfing action. Read more

The Art of Hanging Five

Born and raised in Southern California, Chris Cutri has always been drawn to both surfing and the arts. Formally trained with a penchant for Italian films and garage sale thrusters, Chris brings his passion passion to life in “Hanging Five”, following the lives of five artists all connected through the Sea. “Hanging Five” has its East Coast Premiere at the New York Surf Film Festival on Sunday, September 27th at at 6:00PM. Read more

The (Unofficial) New York Surf Week

The unofficial surf week in New York may have officially started yesterday down in New Jersey at the 17th Annual Manasquan Longboard Classic, but it gets back on this side of the river on Wednesday for the start of the 11th Annual Unsound Pro in Long Beach, NY which runs through the week and weekend and overlaps the 2nd Annual NY Surf Film Festival which opens on Friday, September and runs through Sunday, September 27 at Tribeca Cinemas. The waves better show up to the party.

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This Mysterious Character and Incredible Surfer

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”  - Jack Kerouac

“Searching for Michael Peterson” which opens its US Tour at the NY Surf Film Festival on Friday, September 25th at 8:20pm takes off the rose colored glasses and offers a deeply personal and honest film which explores something of the darker side of the early ’70s Australian surf and social revolutions. Arguably the greatest surfer of his time, MP won virtually every pro surfing contest in Australia from 1972 to 1977 before his mind and body succumbed to heroin and undiagnosed schizophrenia. Read more

You Can’t Get Barreled in Florida

Mark Petrocelli shreds. He’s been traversing the South Shore beaches for the past twenty years, honing his skills at various Central mysto pointy walls and high tide ledges with occasional pit stops in Florida and Indo. He’s a quiet and at times shy dude who is easily found by trouble, like ladies breaking into his apartment and texting lingerie-clad pictures of themselves with white wine while he’s in the city eating pizza or having part of a board bitten off after dropping in on the wrong Long Beach local. Still, you won’t hear him claiming his surfing nor the boards he shapes that others shred. He’ll mention it in passing and will only elaborate if you ask. Read more

A Fresh(water) Perspective

So, you think you’re hardcore because you surf in New York in the winter? Well, think again. Try it in Cleveland, where by mid-December — just as the waves are really getting good — you have to start worrying about pack ice forming in the shorebreak. Where your view from the lineup might include a giant smelter, a pile of coal slag or the crumbling facade of an abandoned factory. And you think we suffer bad flat spells here in New York? A Cleveland surfer might go months (months!) without rideable surf, either because the Lake is frozen or just because it’s a lake. What about short swells? We East Coast types complain about the one tide swell. In Cleveland, they get blink-and-you’ll-miss-it swells. Not “you should have been here yesterday” swells, but “you should have been here ten minutes ago” swells. Read more

Healing Rivers

On Monday, August 24, a growing group of surfers will complete the 3rd Annual SEA Paddle NYC event. SEA Paddle is a 28-mile paddle around New York City to benefit the SEA (Surfers Environmental Alliance and Autism Awareness. The brainchild of Darrick Doerner and New Jersey SEA Chairman Andrew Mencinsky, SEA Paddle has drawn legends such as Gerry Lopez, Joel Tudor and Tom Curren and a core group of local surfers looking to raise the level of awareness about autism and advance the SEA mission to improve the environment. In 2009, it is SEA and the Autism charities’ goal to raise over $300,000 in donations and corporate sponsorships, and local surfer Justin Schwartz is prepared to go his third round with three gnarly rivers. Read more

The Soul Factor

“Is there any soul left in surfing?” It’s been a common question in the surfing world from the very beginning. The very word “soul” has a different effect on every surfer. For some it inspires the feeling of everything that is right with our pursuit. It expresses the connection between surfer, surfboard and the wave. It describes our bond with nature, the tie to the natural rhythms of our blue planet, and helps us to rationalize the far reaching effects of even gravitational pull and the movement of open ocean tides. For others it’s a derogatory expression that has been hammered into us by overzealous capitalists, hell bent on getting us to purchase products that we really don’t need. The avalanche of surf media moguls and Hollywood producers, who flaunt the word “soul” on a regular basis, certainly hasn’t helped either. It’s been repeated and purged from the lips of “wannabees” so often, that perhaps the over-saturation of its use is more to blame than anything else. Read more

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