Inspiration
Meet the people who weave life into the fabric of surfing. We profile interesting characters with an amazing story and an obsession with the ocean. Read about up and coming surfers and crusty old locals who smell like billy goats and ride single fins. If they have a story to tell, you’ll find them in here. Come and be inspired by artists, business gurus and thought leaders in our well of inspiration.
If it feels like the surf industry has abandoned New Zealand then you’re kind of right. We look into the state of play of the industry and where the rubber meets the road here In New Zealand. I first started writing and photographing surf around 1993 – guys like Munga......
Filmmaker Geoff Campbell returns to his hometown and brings us a gnarly Thrasher skate edit, filmed in and around Dunedin, New Zealand. Internet Birthday Episode 3 features a cast of talented Australian and Kiwi skaters including Nick Boserio, Rowan Davis, and Jack O’Grady who spent two weeks cruising around Dunedin in......
Desert Dogs is a new film by George Syme and Tommy Butland. It follows their journey on a self-funded surf trip to the edge of the desert and beyond. The pairing of George and Tom in this collaborative surfer-filmmaker style is breaking new ground for New Zealand surf filmmaking. In......
Like it or not, we are living in a world that has waged a war on style. Hank Bilous is deep in the thick of it, aiming to strike the right balance between technical skill and self expression. The professional freeskier, turned surfer, turned nurse explores and challenges these dynamics......
Place of Thorns tells the story of one of the world’s most incredible waves, Puerto Escondido, from its discovery by early surfers when it was just a small coffee port in Mexico, to the bustling tourist Mecca it has become today. After five decades, Puerto continues to draw surfers from......
“I never wanted to make surfboards for other people,” says Homa Mattingly, founder of Seer Surfcraft. As we walk through his backyard shaping bay, it becomes clear to me that he’s failed – at least on that front. The contents of his shaping area have invaded his living space, and......
A building swell at the Paris 2024 Olympics saw Billy Stairmand and Saffi Vette progress to Round 2 in Tahiti today. Both surfers made New Zealand proud, grasping opportunities in their respective opening heats at Tahiti’s infamous Teahupo’o. Over 15,000 kilometers from the host city, Olympic Surfing debuted for Paris......
On the eve of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games we turn to our trusty readers to see who you believe will win the coveted Olympic Gold medal at Chopes. Take our polls right here – we have one poll for the women and one for the men. The forecast is......
We’re on the eve of the Paris 2024 Olympics with Billy Stairmand and Saffi Vette on their way to Tahiti’s infamous Teahupo’o – the reef break at the end of the road. They’re our Kiwi hopes in a contest that will undoubtedly grab the world’s attention. Here’s what you need......
Thirty years ago, ISA president Fernando Aguerre dreamed that surfing might one day be included in the Olympic Games. No one could have predicted how challenging that pursuit would be. The Impossible Wave follows Fernando Aguerre’s improbable mission to push surfing into the Olympic spotlight. After 27 years and 12,000 hours......