Tracks

Mental health is a hot topic of late.The once taboo subject is now a talking point at dinner tables, workplaces and even the pub. It’s no longer shameful to discuss a bout of the blues and it’s ok to put the quest for a meaningful life above the purs

Shaun Anderson (pictured) didn’t have the smoothest start to this day.With a clean swell bending into crystalline slabs at his favourite offshore reef, he was eager to hit the water and hitched a ride out on his mate’s ski around seven a.m. At least

In 1976, Fred Hemmings, along with fellow Hawaiian, Randy Rarick, co-founded the basis of the first Professional Surfing World Tour consisting of 12 events around the world. Considering Hawaii’s status in surfing, Hemmings and Rarick designed the Tou

The surfer’s eye. That anticipation of what’s to be found when you get to the surf. Optimism/imagination as your mind conjures the ideal scenario.This dreamy fantasy setup has its origins in a few local North Coast points and back beaches. ■

When Tracks phones up the Angourie natural-footer he has just finished shaping a board on Baddy Treloar’s old racks. Baddy passed away two years ago but Dakoda spent the better part of a decade living next door to the soul-surfing icon, inhaling all

The 2021, top five, surf-off was held at Trestles, around the corner from ex-president Nixon’s old joint, but it wasn’t the star-spangled banner that flew proudest on finals day. As Medina roared to victory, Brazil finished one, two and three in the

Fortunately, the fear of missing my flight pushed me along just fast enough.When I made it to the terminal an hour later, delirium had set in and my favourite button up shirt was drenched in sweat. It didn’t matter. I was going to Mexico. This was my

Several of the crew’s journals feature accounts of natives handling craft ranging from complex outrigger canoes to simple wooden bodyboards with great skill in the balmy waves of Tahiti and Hawaii. These excerpts are generally accepted as confirming

The economics student turned photographer can’t say no to a trip for fear that the opportunity may never present itself again.What if it’s the one that offers an unparalleled experience, beguiling light, or the right confluence of elements for the pe

We all have our own treasured memories of the waves we’ve ridden, but the image of surfing – the very idea of it – has in many ways been defined by Australian photographers. John Ogden’s striking new book, ‘Waterproof Australian Surf Photography sinc

Cederman responded with his Raglan Surf Report, a series of social media skits and videos that take the piss out of surfing and surfers. It’s that very rare bird in surfing; it’s actually funny. It had me thinking about surfing’s relationship with co

“Michael is representative of a lot of good Australian kids, but more purposeful and a little more stylised. He lives at Kirra and knows exactly what each wave is going to do. He doesn’t fight it but seems to fit into its curves and flow with its ene

Back when I was a pro-surf photographer, I was often caught in a painful internal conflict. As a lifetime surfer, having to sit out glorious sessions to shoot photos was sheer torture. I tried vainly to rationalise it: “Well, if I was working on a bu