Newyorksurf.com had a chance to sit down with Mike and Brian before the release of their new Surf DVD "North of Nowhere" to talk about their motivation, influences, and experiences making their second surf video.

NewYorkSurf: How did you get into surfing, or rather how did surfing find you?

Mike Nelson: I grew up in East Rockaway, and have been surfing for 15 years. My friends got me into surfing. I was kind of reluctant to do it and not really into it, but now they quit and surfing is all I think about. My surfing travels include trips to Portugal, Ireland, Hawaii, Mex, Cali, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Flordia, South Africa, England and up and down the east coast. I'm Kind of into photography, trying to expand from the surfing thing, and of course hanging with my kids.

Brian Walsh: I started surfing at Lincoln Blvd. in 1986 when I was 13. I grew up just over the bridge in Island Park and most of the "older" crew remember my Nana driving me and my friends to the beach everyday. I went on my first surf trip to Puerto Rico when I was 16 and have been hooked since. Since then I've travelled to Hawaii, California, Mexico, Costa Rica, Bahamas, & Europe.

NYSC: In your opinion, how has the media represented surfing and surfing culture in recent years?

MN: The media is kind of in a feeding frenzie on the surfing thing right now. Everywhere you look you see someone with a surfboard. The news, movies, reality shows: I think they are getting better at depicting surfing, but they still try to play up the old stereo types as well.

BW: I think they did a better job when I was a grom. You had "Hot Summer Nights" on ESPN and that was it. The media didn't get into the whole "surf culture" thing. Now everything is extreme sports this and extreme sports that. Every network producer wants to bite off the surfing lifestyle and start a Surf Reality show. On the flip side, I do think surfing is a very marketable sport/lifestyle and someone in the media will eventually get it right.


NYSC: What is the message that you are trying to convey through your films?

BW: Basically the East Coast, especially New York, has great waves and great surfers. We are some of the corest surfers in the world and the footage shows why. We want you to be stoked on surfing after watching this. Hopefully it will make your 2 foot summer slop session more fun and when it's 6 foot grinding and 30 degrees you'll try to pull in deeper.

MN: That the surf on the east coast can get good, better than many places, even if it only happens once in a while.

NYSC: What do you think is NY's biggest advantage/disadvantage as a surfing location?

BW: The disadvantage is the consistency of the waves and the cold. But those are also the biggest advantages because you can do so many other things when it is flat, and when it's cold there are empty barrels.

MN: South facing coastline is a big advantage for those south swells, but bad for those west winds - unless you know where to look!!!! shhhhhh