archive

Monday 6 December 2010 Four films at the Wavescape Surf Film Festival in Cape Town this December have been nominated for Movie of the Year at the Surfer Poll Awards in the US, while Sea of Darkness, made by South African Michael Oblowitz, has been nominated for Best Surf Film and Best Documentary.

Tuesday 30 November 2010 The 11 surfboards by 13 artists represent a unique mix of genres and styles in South African art from the weirdly apocalyptic Only the Mystic Duiker can Save Us from What We Have Become by Andy Mason to the cute but cruel piscine iconography of 5000 Leagues by Kim Longhurst, and more besides. More on the auction.

Tuesday 30 November 2010 Not since George Greenough has anyone ridden so many barrels for art. We almost scrapped this film. We feared mind-numbing repetition. You do ride plenty tubes with Conley. You are force-fed the sweet candy of his tubular addiction. But you will suck it down like an elixir in a windswept drought. You’ll enjoy brilliant editing, insane music and epic out-the-barrel shots. You’ll get the angle from the inside and outside, and shriek as he gets stupidly shacked. More films showing at the Wavescape Surf Film Festival here.

Tuesday 30 November 2010 Shot in Cantagalo and Rocinha, two impoverished areas of Rio de Janiero, this short documentary will open your eyes to a lot of things. Rocinha – population 250,000 - is considered the the biggest slum (Favela) in Rio. Instead of evangalising and lecturing, the film is a rich and sensitive portrayal of the small things being done by a group of surfers to bodily pull the youth of their community from the dark pain-scoured underworld of degradation and hopelessness. They discover surfing, the foaming bridge to freedom.

Wed 1 Dec '10 Sick photos from films at the Wavescape Surf Film Festival, which kicks off with surfboard art at Depasco Cafe in Cape Town from 1-8 December, followed by the films between 9 and 20 December. Check you there. More info on the films and surfboard art exhibition here.

Tuesday 30 November 2010 Big ego, massive talent. Maverick. Is that Jamie O'Brien? He starts off with a diatribe against the surf industry. He rips into surf politics. He burns the ASP rule book. If you follow him on Twitter, you’ll see how he rides his own wave and brutally assaults life. Dig sick slabs and pure adrenalin? Dig this. Dik airs, giant backside hacks, and barrels big enough to suck in a Lloyds' shipping container. Three years of filming in Tahiti, Mexico, Indo and Hawaii. Kiff music.

Monday 29 Mo-vember 2010 According the new school, onshore is the new offshore, according to me, when its been flat for the past 3 weeks, I will pretty much surf anything, even if anything is a combination of mushy closeouts, swarms of blue bottles and the ever lurking presence of the man in the grey suit. Last week False Bay got whipped up into an onshore soup bowl and it was just what the Cape Doctor ordered with surfers from all over the peninsula making the mission to the chop suey main course at Kalk Bay. Simone Robb got out of the wind and enjoyed some beers at the Bell while capturing the action.

Jordy walks on the rock Friday 26 November 2010 Jordy is on the Rock, and enjoying the prospect of some tough encounters on some slabbly volcanic reefs. All is not lost just because he only came 2nd on the world surfing tour. Read More