Making Friends With The Neighbours

(Mostly because I have similarly long arms.) Greta Gerwig is just so cool - despite my reservations, I really loved Frances Ha - and this Arcade Fire song is great to run to. Especially when you mentally practice about the dance moves you could be doing instead...

So are you watching the Fiji Pro? The solid waves of Fiji are back on the WCT for the women, and it's really turned on for them! I'm supposed to be working, but I'm thoroughly enjoying  watching it live here . And I don't even really like competitive shortboarding! (Update: Um, why are there no women commentating, interviewing, assisting, etc? Are there women judging? I can see them serving drinks in the bar, but so far, no-one is involved in the representation of anything in this broadcast. Seriously though, is this still happening? Oh hang on... Rosie Hodge just interviewed someone. She is so much better at this gig that Laird Hamilton. Ugh. I guess that comes with experience, which she is gathering after having done this for a while.) (Update again: Did you see that awesome little marketing clip where one of the women says 'Why are we here? Because we frickin' rip and we deserve to be here!' Awesome. Despite this, there is still comment on this from...

I have written many, many times about how almost all the swimmers I wear come from one lady - Sarah Kearney of Gypsy Jacket . Sarah and I met through our blogs, actually, and developed a friendship via our words and my love of Sarah's swimmers. Then we had the luck to meet in the sea through a mutual friend and now we are actual, offline friends as well. And I just love her. This little video by Ashley Beer gives you some idea of what a lovely, thoughtful, open-hearted woman Sarah is, but if you get the chance to be in touch with her - or to own one of her lovely creations - then you'll find out she's even lovelier than this film can convey. GYPSY JACKET from Ashley Beer on Vimeo .

I'm a lover of the sky, the sunset, forests and the sea. I'm a fan of panorama and things that make me feel small and insignificant. But I forget that sharpening my focus and looking into things can make me feel just as small, just as insignificant. So this is what a drop of water from the sea looks like when it's magnified 25 times. I'm not clear on where this drop was taken from, but you might want to think of it next time seawater is streaming out of your nose, eyes and ears after a surf. (via Lost at E Minor .) And this? This is a grain of sand.

Bronwyn Adcock has written a great piece over at The Daily Life about why the ' Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach finally realises sexism is bad for business '. You can read it via this link . In 2012, while researching a story for the Griffith Review I spoke to surfing administrators and promoters to figure out why such a retro, Puberty Blues-esque approach was warranted in this modern era. The ASP seemed rueful; of course they'd like to give the girls a better go, but they had to think of the sponsors, and the sponsors didn't see a market for women's surfing. A promoter told me the problem lay with women and girls themselves – girls don't want to grow up to be athletes he said, they want to be bikini models, that's why there's little investment in the "sport" side of women's surfing.  The problem with the arse-trumps-athleticism "logic" though is that following it wasn't working for the sport, and the ASP was struggling to ma...

This clever, funny, surf short from Ireland, Riders to the Sea , is written and directed by Orla Welsh. I saw it as part of the Ocean Film Festival touring Australia a couple of weeks ago. Clever and funny, huh. I like when women are presented as more than surfing damsels in distress, and this woman most certainly is all over this situation. I also like when women are presented as having a sexuality that isn't passive or disinterested. And hers certainly isn't. Well, until she notices the empty waves. It think it was my favourite film from the festival and it was certainly the most original. Thanks, Orla Welsh! A quick search about the name of the film reveals that it is the same as a famous Irish play from 1904. From the  related Wikipedia page : A one-act tragedy, the play is set in the Aran Islands, and like all of Synge's plays it is noted for capturing the poetic dialogue of rural Ireland. The very simple plot is based not on the traditional conflict of human ...

I have often written about how much of a sub-topical, warm water lover I am. About how last year I bought my first ever steamer (a 3/2), which I only needed to wear a handful of times. About how I have rarely had call to venture, let alone surf, further south than Sydney. This was never about gloating, this was about being honest about how and where I surf. This was done so I could be judged accordingly. But things are about to change, friends. Things are about to get frosty. Because I am moving to New Zealand. I am moving to a place of cold water, black sand, short-board dominated, lefts. I am moving to a place where the sun sets into the sea! I am moving to a place where a short-legged spring suit is not going to get me through the winter. Dang, where a 3/2 isn't going to get me through the winter! But in a way I'm kind of stoked because it's a good test. I know lots of people who have given up surfing when they have moved to colder climates. Really! And while that ...

So I just stumbled upon this image of Clara Bow over at The Sunset Sessions  tumblr, and it made me pretty happy. Surfing and cowgirls combined? Come on! So obviously I got obsessed with this, and although I didn't find out much specific information about this image, I did find a few others that are clearly form the same shoot.  This one above is my favourite.She looks so happy.  Also, here is a bonus 1929 artwork of Clara Bow surfing, by Enoch Bolles. Happy Friday!

If I could choose one song to explain my life right now, it would be this - the second movement of Beethoven's very famous and recognisable Symphony No. 9 in D Minor , which is played molto vivace (very lively). From about 9:40, shit gets so real and so, so awesome. According to the  Wikipedia site about this piece : Normally, scherzi are written in triple time. Beethoven wrote this piece in triple time, but it is punctuated in a way that, when coupled with the speed of the metre, makes it sound as though it is in quadruple time. Yep. Sounds about right... I highly recommend you play this some time today, and play it loud. And, if you know me at all, laugh.

It's a truth universally acknowledged that I'm easily excited, but nonetheless, finding ocean waves on other planets is still pretty cool. I read this story over at I Fucking Love Science : Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, looks a lot like Earth, except in deepfreeze. It’s got a nitrogen atmosphere, along with lakes and seas, channels sculpted by rivers, and even mudflats and rain clouds. The moon is so much like our planet that it’s a frequent setting for sci-fi... But while Titan appears so earthlike in so many ways, it's still a very alien place. The moon’s lakes and seas are not made of H2O -- at minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit, Titan’s surface is way too cold for liquid water. Researchers believe their water is actually a mixture of hard-to-freeze hydrocarbons like methane. And Titan’s lakes are eerily smooth: where are the waves? After all, "We know there is wind on Titan," says Alex Hayes of Cornell University. "The moon's magnificent sand dunes [...

I just thoroughly enjoyed this: In a time when irrationality seems to rule both politics and culture, has reasoned thinking finally lost its power? Watch as psychologist Steven Pinker is gradually, brilliantly persuaded by philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein that reason is actually the key driver of human moral progress, even if its effect sometimes takes generations to unfold. Although, despite it all, I'm still a massive champion of compassion, empathy and love, especially when coupled with reasoned thinking.

So last Friday night I went and saw  Out in theLineup , which was showing as part of the Byron Bay Film Festival .  Out in the Lineup  is that film about gay and lesbian surfers that you have been hearing about for a while now, and which I have been really looking forward to seeing.  From the film's website :  ‘Out in the Lineup’ uncovers a culture that has strayed from its foundation of freedom of spirit, open-mindedness and connection to nature. David [Wakefield] and Thomas [Castets] learn about the dominance of male rituals in surf culture and the way this has marginalised minorities. They also hear about the pivotal role sponsors and media play in maintaining out-dated stereotypes. On ground level they hear stories of fear, isolation and self-doubt, but they are also inspired by tales of hope, self-empowerment and transformation. Beyond simply exposing this taboo issue, this film seeks to affect change. It aims to confront the surf industry and the ...

My friend, Kim Satchell, showed me this clip the other day. Thanks Satch! ) I love this approach to thinking about life, relationship, experience, culture, and love. In particular, I love the way he is open to the mess of things - the funk - and all the heartbreak and complexity that entails. Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm all 'Bring on the heartbreak! Bring on the pain!', because I'm totally not. I want to avoid that shit as much as I can. But I also recognise that if you are going to live a life then that stuff is going to come at you, so you might as well have some way of making sense of it. Or at least, to find a way though it. And of course that means seeing yourself within all of that - for taking responsibility for your place in the mess of relationships, of culture, of difficulties. Seeing your place in this stuff lets you learn something from it, even if that something is simply 'Well, I won't do that again'. Like Mr West here, I d...

If you're in Byron Bay tonight, Out in the Lineup , is showing as part of the Byron Bay Film Festival . You should come!

I really should change the wax on my boards more often, huh. But then, I look at this kinda gross ball of filthy wax and think of all the fun I had building it up - all the footsteps, sunscreen, sweat, sand and salt - and I can't really be too bummed out. Kinda gross, but kinda awesome too. Thanks summer!

People often talk about how, when they go surfing, their troubles drift away or at the very least, they don't think about them. Or that they see it as time out from the stresses of their life. I've never really felt like that. I don't know how they disengage like that! I was thinking about these things this morning as I surfed. I was having a great time in the water. There were little waves breaking down on the inside that were fat but they broke long and clean, and every so often there was an awesome double-up that came through. I was having a ball and I got a lot of waves. Like, a lot . The water was clear as possible, the sun was out and there were only a couple of other people anywhere in the vicinity. Seriously, it was so great. But my brain kept thinking about things on the shore, on the land, awaiting me at home. A large part of me wanted to stay out the whole day in this watery playground, but my brain kept dwelling on the responsibilities I have and the things ...

After a solid summer of surfing for hours every day, I am a marked woman. My body is marked with lines burned onto my skin by the sun. I wear these marks with a mix of pleasure and concern – as all Australians know, there's nothing healthy about a tan . I know that being so much in the sun is a huge risk to my long term health, as well as any aspirations to long term vanity I might have held. Cancers, wrinkles, freckles, sun-spots, lost elasticity are all a payment for surfing. With luck I'll pay the price with everything but the first. And so my body betrays my indulgent summer. A summer spent paddling, sitting, laughing, turning, trimming, nose-diving, bobbing about on the surface, even catching some waves. A summer spent with old friends and new in the sea. A summer spent, morning and evening, almost exclusively at one break. A summer, indeed, of love.  And all of this is marked out in tones on my body. My legs, more than any other part of my body, are browned ...

I didn't grow up in a family of surfers. My dad surfed when he was a teenager. Apparently he surfed quite well, but he gave it up. Now I think about it, I've never asked him why he gave it up, so that should be a conversation I aim to have in the near future. My mum spent loads of time on the beach throughout her life, but never really took to the waves.  My sisters and I grew up next to the beach but none of us took it up when we were young either. My youngest sister did for a while, but she never really committed. And this was despite spending hours of our lives out at the Maddog surf factory, where my mum worked in the office! We were around the beach and surfing all my childhood, but for some reason, it never caught any of us in its grasp. Too much ballet I suppose. It took me until my mid-20s before I felt any interest in taking to the waves, which I then did with enthusiastic gusto! But surfing has remained my own, and it has never been an experience I've sha...

This summer I have surfed more than I have surfed in a really long time. And I've basically only surfed one break! Seriously, I haven't even checked anywhere else the entire time. Isn't that terrible? Well, it would be except the waves have been so incredible that it's hard to feel bad about it. The sand and swell and winds have been lining up to create long, clean, clear waves that break from the point all the way into the beach. And for some reason, things have been lining up for me, so that I catch a wave, paddle back out and then catch another and another and another. It feels as though something has lifted - a weight, a fog, a sadness, a darkness - that has opened me back up to this place and to surfing in a way that I have not felt for longer than I wish to admit. It has allowed things to come together in ways that I can't really explain here. I wish I had the words and the courage to explain it - maybe I'll try to find them sometime soon. But for now, w...

One of the things that frustrates me about a number of the women on the World Championship Tour is that they promote themselves as female surfers without engaging in the politics of their choices beyond things like, 'We're beautiful women and we should be able to celebrate that' or 'We're promoting the sport and it's good for women's surfing'. What I mean is that while the women are happy to defend their choice to pose in a bikini, and to speak up about what they should be able to do, what they should be able to expect, and how we should celebrate their beauty, they avoid talking about the implication of their decisions for the image of women's surfing, as well as for other women who surf. Of course, there are some women on the Tour and in the qualifying series that speak about this stuff, and do so regularly. One excellent example is when 'Curl' magazine ran a great feature in 2012 called, 'Over Exposed' , where they asked a number ...