White Horses

Friday 6 December 2002. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. I was standing with three friends at the top of a cliff near Mundaka, one of the world’s most iconic surf spots. We watched in horror as a gigantic black stain advanced towards the

I met Sam for the first time in person at Coolum Beach, Sunshine Coast, in a backroom doing a support show. We actually first spoke over Tumblr, where he was reposting some of my photos; we were both into writing, and fairly emotional teenage boys, s

In 1968, nine sailors of questionable mind set off on a race. The race was to circumnavigate the world non-stop in sailboats. Before GPS, before satellite navigation, smart phones and EPRB’s, nine men set off on a race around the world, in which some

Brighton Jetty – situated some 15 kays southwest of Adelaide – was first built in 1886 in a T-shape. Storms over the years, however, threatened its alphabetical stability. Sporadic batterings gradually fashioned it into an “L” until May 1994, when th

I reckon I’m the least qualified person to write about David “Baddy” Treloar, but as this issue of Horsies heads off to press, it wouldn’t do to ask Dan Ross or Laurie Towner or Nav Fox or Nat Young or Monty Webber or Nick Pope or Rod Dahlberg or Luk

There exists the most extraordinary phone booth in Japan. It sits in a serene garden overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the outskirts of a town called Otsuchi. The white, glass-framed phone booth holds within it a worn black Bakelite rotary phone whose

When I was young, I would pore over National Geographic magazines and dream of adventures like this – train hopping through the Sahara Desert on one of the world’s longest trains. I would dream of the ocean and the sand, of the loud clattering noises

When I first read about the idea to try and build a boat made entirely from recycled plastic collected from beaches in Kenya, I thought the guys involved were crazy. We had recently moved to Nairobi after my wife got a job there and I stumbled upon t

In Cuba, most people don’t know what surfing is. More of a problem, it’s not technically legal. When the Cold War came to an end in the early ‘90s, all economic support for the communist island in the Caribbean evaporated as the Soviet Bloc crumbled.

The eerie sound wakes me from a deep sleep inside my tent. I can hear it distinctly above the symphony of crashing waves and the ceaseless singing of cicadas a few metres away. What was that? I think, sitting bolt upright. I hear it again. Scratch, s

I didn’t feel any pain, only pressure. My friends and I had been surfing a reef break on the west end of Kaua'I when the tiger shark came up vertically from below and grabbed onto both my legs. I stuck my right hand into its mouth to try pry my legs

It was 1974 when I got a job on a pole-fishing boat out of Streaky Bay, working through summer to spend the off-season surfing Indonesia or remote breaks around the Great Australian Bight. Poling tuna was physical, back-breaking work. After netting l

Michael Adams picks up some of the finest teeth in the bay. He sleeps in an abandoned railway tunnel near the lagoon and walks to the beach each morning at dawn. First he rinses his face in the ocean, facing the harbour and the giant metal cranes of

I’ve been drawing and making things since I first picked up a pencil and hammer when I was a kid. After returning from backpacking around the world in the 1970s, I chanced upon stained glass as a creative pastime. I soon discovered that the medium wa

I grew up on a 13-acre property overlooking the Southern Ocean, in Anglesea, Victoria. I started surfing when I was 10 and later I would ride my motorbike down to the beach. I spent as much time as I could over or under the water, surfing or fishing.

The text message came just before 7 a.m: “Mandatory evacuation for the entire city of Malibu.” I grabbed my car keys, wallet, phone, laptop, writing stuff and a change of clothes. It was Friday, 9 November. I was not worried. Malibu gets a fire nearl

The nasal groan of the Cessna’s twin propellers buzzes us onto the runway at Kuala Namu International Airport and soon we’re floating over roads and rivers, dense coconut plantations and minarets that poke into the sky like ornate needles. Then there

Sometimes, when you’re away and wandering across faraway lands, you chance upon a place that feels like home. The kind of place you roll into after a long day on the road. Winding your way through lurid green forests with the van stezza cranked. Circ

Humans are animals best suited to land. This is something I often forget, lulled into a false sense of belonging by my time spent in the brine – first as a photographer, second as an enthusiastic (albeit average) surfer. Out of the water we can move

You might have noticed a fair number of shark-related pages peppered throughout this issue. It was never premeditated but ended up making a compelling cross-section of stories on these creatures, which evoke both fear and wonder. Along with this come

Peter O'Halloran • Wayne Rogers • Michael Orlov • Renae Scott • Nick Duncan • Paul Maddock • Gary Mountford • Tony Gilchrist • Tasha Samuels • Gary Lord • Max Compton • Ross Berthinussen • Matthew Keightley-Sawdon • Brendon Quinn • Matthew Giddy • De