I still look at the mags that have images of boards. I like to see the outlines and the rockers that other people are using.
Swaylocks shows the possibilities for a free online surfing mag. You’ll probably need to be able to pay for a year’s worth of online space, but that shouldn’t be too hard. Once the word gets out, and you have enough visitors, the ads you can sell should help pay for the online costs.
The key is to have enough contributors with content that someone wants to see, and those contributors must be willing to do that for free until the site can offer some sort of compensation. Sad thing is that there’s a high likelihood that it will get all messed up from the greed and ego that humans can’t seem to let go of. After all business is about making money and once something becomes a hot commodity it changes.
I bet that all of us were totally into the mags when were gremmies. We ate that stuff up just like the kids do today.
I think the sad part of surfing mags today, is how it has destroyed so many wonderful places with the western world’s ways. We don’t like to admit that the lure of great uncrowded surf is changing the world faster than it would have without surfers. Business minded people are trying to get their hands onto the newest uncrowded surf spot and reap or rape their share of gold while it’s available. Then when it’s a mess and they don’t like it they complain and try to keep things the way they want it, or they leave for the next destination.
Wow...my kind of thread. Been harping on this one for years here and elsewhere. About time Baker or someone with a name shows up like it's new. Greg L. Doc and I have had fun with this one here before.
Here is one I wrote on my blog about a year ago. Magazine readers won't get it so don't bother. Flip another page about the latest tech taking over surfing or look at another gals arase in an ad. Surfing today is filled with interlopers..not folks who love surfing for surfing. It's about being a surfer..living in Avatar world. Not about going surfing.
There are those moments out there on the ocean riding waves that we sometimes refer to as magic. They spring up when you don’t expect them and cannot be captured again by seeking them. They just happen. I think of those moments as the driving force that keeps surf riders so attached to every aspect of the sport.
To outsiders it appears to be an mere obsession. Even among the masses who surf, most have no deeper feeling for it than they would having their favorite rock star or idol give them an autograph they can show their friends. To them it more of an addiction to fun or escape from responsibility rather than a true heart felt love of what it is to take in life as close to the earth’s living pulse as you may ever find.
Like the beating of a heart or the drawing of a breath… surfing, paddling, taking off and even sitting on the beach sizing it up has a rhythm. Recounting a great session to others who know, or have shared the same experience is universal. Like staring into a campfire among comrades . It touches some in the primeval realm and I suspect the very first humans that every slid onto a wave felt the same.
As with primordial man, wave riders create art celebrating time spent on the water… but instead of painting on cave walls you will find it sprayed on the walls of our decaying society or created in the craft used to ride waves. Others put it to the pen while others to the canvas. In a world that has lost touch with it‘s basic needs… I believe the art of surfing and the art about surfing is an unrealized struggle to escape the unnatural and return to the natural. Like many who leave society to live in the mountains, or cannot leave the farm for modern society. There is a longing to be free from false gods and societal bindings.
Time spent in the line up will require you to leave baggage that binds you to society on the sand to keep focus in the water. The mask you wear to exist among the land dwellers will fall off or be exposed in the line up. There are no secrets out there among those that ride waves. All is exposed and respect can only be earned.
There are interlopers who are dead to those magic moments and the dead that take up space in the line up are the same zombies encountered on land. They exist, but they don’t live and they never quite figure the love of surfing out while huddled together reading their magazines and wearing store bought images. They take the label of surfers, but they don’t have the ancient spirit of the sea. They offend easily, poison the water in which they swim and like a red tide are best avoided or shunned.
In the end…there are those moments out there in the ocean riding waves, that we sometimes refer to as magic. They spring up when you don’t expect them and cannot be captured again by seeking them.
What I like about Swaylocks is that we aren’t just surfer’s or people who love to surf, we also love making (our) surfboards. Since I started making boards again, I’ve found a renewed passion for surfing. Now I don’t surf to try and rip like the best guy out on the new hot design I bought, but instead I just really enjoy riding my boards. And I’m back to the old way of riding a wave from the peak to the beach (if possible) then paddling all the way back out and doing it again. I prefer to ride the wave to the very end than making a killer move and not make it to the end of the wave.
The great thing about Sway’s is being able to interact with others whereas a surfing magazine shows you their POV (which is more often the advertisers POV) with virtually no right of reply.
Howzit sharkcountry, I like the way you think, surfing is about having fun and you don't have to be the best surfer to have fun. When I was in the hospital last year I got so many great surf mags and read them all. There were so many that I had to go to the post office by the Capital and send them home in one of those if it fits priority boxes. I couldn't believe how great my Sway brothers were to me during those dark times and it was great meeting you and Bernie and all the others who came to see me. I know that I don't remember every body due to the heavy pain meds but I remember you, Bernie, uncle D and Foam dust visited me when I was going thru radiation at KuaKini. What was funny was after you came in and introduced yourself I went into lala land and thought I was on the Big Island at a resort, that was some strong stuff they were putting in me. Aloha,Kokua
Everybody surfs these days. Crowded lineups are the norm. Pecking order, rules, etiquette are on their deathbed. No matter where in the world you go, the surf shops stock mostly the same boards. Two of the biggest names in the surf industry are owned by non-surf companies (Burton and Nike). The surf mags must bear most of the blame. The American "surf industry" is based in one of the most soul-less, materialistic places on earth (Orange County). Australian surf mags shit over American ones. They actually have WORDS to read.
I hope all is well. It sure would have been great to come over to Cali and see all the brothers, but it wasn’t meant to be. When you get back here, Bernie and I will make it a point to see you and Ambrose too. That time I saw you I was afraid that you weren’t going to make it. I didn’t know what to tell the sways family, but I told Bernie you looked bad. It was kind of a bad time that I came around because you couldn’t talk yet and then the nurse came in and cut the visit.
I’m sure we’ll see a whole different person the next time, and we may even be able to catch a few waves. I’m looking forward to that day. Till then keep being who you are, Kokua, and that’s for real. I bet most people don’t know what Kokua means, but it means help, helping and that’s what you seem to love to do.
Howzit sharkcountry, Didn't realize I seemed to be in that bad a shape when you visited me,was that the only time? I do remember you introducing yourself but then it was a morphine lala land relapse and sorry if I scared you. That was the most strange time in my life and am glad I made it through it all. I think it was you or uncle D who met Terry and his wife who own Kua Aina and I don't remember them visiting me together. I do remember Terry and another Oahu friend visiting me and then his wife and Terry's sister visiting me at a different time. I wish I knew hat and how much drugs they had me on but I don't think I would ever want to go there again. When they have you that drugged up you just lose time and space and it like it never even happened. I did write down things during thse times and when I read them later I couldn't believe what i had written but it must have been true. Things like "the walls look like waterfalls" We will meet again since I can come to Oahu and stay ith Terry and Sarah and drive to town for a visit with you and Bernie. Aloha,Kokua
It wouldn't matter if magazines had loads of ads if the content was interesting. The content on the internet is just more interesting. I think some 20 something with an interest in building boards doing experiments in their garage and then bloging about it is way more interesting than some shop owner paying for an article about how famous he is or putting an ad in the surfboard section. Way more variety and some of the written content is first class. Film also.