Tracks & ASL Mag Coverage of the June / July ECL swells

[2nd Reef]

Amen to this thread!
I bought my first copy of Tracks in 1982 at 13yrs old as I boarded a train at Central to head to Byron for a few weeks with the family.
I was hooked all the way reading great stories from competent, arguably great writers. I still remember Derek Hynd writing about surfing in Shikoku Japan - "sets wrapped into the point like Harriers in attack formation" When was the last time you read something like that in Tracks? "Three Cheers for the Cyclone" with pics from all over the east coast not just bloody "Ours" with it's pack of tools. Over the years, stories about the fires that wiped out Aireys Inlet in Victoria, or the classic "G-land news" and others from Nick Carroll during the Grajagan trip that spawned "All Down the Line".
What about Wayne Lynch's "Shark Encounter" or the Tall tales and True "To Live and Die in Kuta". Where are these great stories of our culture in amongst the dross that passes for monthly fare?
Tracks talked it up as one of the classic swells of the last 20 years; it got 11 pages of coverage and 6 of these were of "Ours". In the same issue, a promo photo spread of Quikky's "Young Guns 3" got 16 PAGES!
What's this on the "backpage"? Well whatdyaknow - "Ours" again!
Sad

Bang on Monkey!

Good writing is crucial, and there isn't much demand for it these days. Well, at least not in the rags. Writers that I like to read (Matt Warshaw, NC, Jarratt, Hynd, Brisick are writing books or only contribute sporadically).

That 'Harrier' quote of Hynd's sparked my memory and I recalled a brilliant story by him of surfing a heat on the big day of the 81 Bells. A landmark day for pro surfing and also board design. The gist of it was that he and the three other guys in the heat were scratching hard to avoid getting caught inside by a 15 foot, 10 wave stepladder set. One fella, Dane Harris I think, was the furthest inside and only just scraping under the lip of each wave.

As Hynd paddled over the last, and biggest, wave of the set he and the other fellas looked around to see if Dane had made it through. He didn't show and they all feared the worst. As the spray from the wave cleared they saw the whole crowd on the Bells cliffs 'doing a scene from the movie Zulu'. All jumping up and screaming as one. Dane had spun around and taken that wave.

Ah... it might not be much in retelling but it was a story and a quote thats stuck with me for over 20 years. I just dont see good story-telling in the mags anymore.

[2nd Reef]

Yup, epic day Ringo.

And DH didn't document it with 'BEST DAY EVER' or similar hubris, just original, entertaining story-telling.

Is it that bloody hard?



Off topic but-I-really-wanna-know...... You would've seen the photos and footage of Bells 81, how often, if ever, does it get that big and clean?

And how big would Two Mile have been? Go on have a stab.

[jfdi]

Me too. I cried until I stopped.

[marcus]

sniff sniff
its not true you know..
how they say only a surfer knows the fealing
this gutslider was brought to tears

sniff sniff
its struck a chord with my feelers 2nd reef

[bojanglez]

Good read this thread!

Agree with everyone on the decline in "good" surf mags. Last ASL i bought is still in the plastic and hasn't been read. With the online stuff, and decline in content in mags, it's easy to forget they are there.

2nd Reef, and others - you've nailed it perfectly! The old day's of good writing, when you would laugh your ar$e off and really get into the style of writing and imagine actually being there and experiencing a session, trip or whatever is not recipricated in the current pages of the mags. NC, Hynd, Brisick and the like ruled!!!

[Lucky Al]

You might like to read Walter Benjamin's essay 'The Storyteller', 2nd Reef. Should be easy to find online if you're interested: The art of storytelling is coming to an end. Less and less frequently do we encounter people with the ability to tell a tale properly. More and more often there is embarrassment all around when the wish to hear a story is expressed. It is as if something that seemed inalienable to us, the securest among our possessions, were taken from us: the ability to exchange experiences.

[2nd Reef]

^^^ Thanks a lot Al. I'll check it out.


I was on a retreat once and the teacher was an Irish fella that kept us entertained during the evenings with stories. He told all sorts of tales. Perhaps it was that we meditated in silence through the day that we sat enthralled hearing his voice at night. But I think it was due to his Irish upbringing where the person that could tell the best story in the pub was the one that got the attention, and the free beers.

After one particularly colourful story a student raised his hand and, in a light-hearted way, cast doubt on that story. Patrick retorted 'Son, I'm Irish, if you've just been told a good story you dont ask if it's true or not. It's disrespectful'

[Deadbolt]

Off topic but-I-really-wanna-know...... You would've seen the photos and footage of Bells 81, how often, if ever, does it get that big and clean?

And how big would Two Mile have been? Go on have a stab.

Ive had a look around for footage of that swell and i can only find 1 or 2 grainy old photos. Anyone got some pics to share? Dont even want to think about what down south would of been like while bells was doing that

[2nd Reef]

Couldn't find any either DB. The best way to check it out would be to try and get a hold of Storm Riders. There's some great footage in that film, some shot from the air.

I've got lots of old mags buried away with photos of it. And somewhere in the spare room is a Piping Hot poster of Big Simon dropping into a mackdaddy real late on his 6'3" thruster.

Might try and find that poster.

As for down south I've been told that the swell was particularly south which meant it wouldn't have been that much bigger on that coast. Perhaps 20'.

[Nick Carroll]

That 'Harrier' quote of Hynd's sparked my memory and I recalled a brilliant story by him of surfing a heat on the big day of the 81 Bells. A landmark day for pro surfing and also board design. The gist of it was that he and the three other guys in the heat were scratching hard to avoid getting caught inside by a 15 foot, 10 wave stepladder set. One fella, Dane Harris I think, was the furthest inside and only just scraping under the lip of each wave.

As Hynd paddled over the last, and biggest, wave of the set he and the other fellas looked around to see if Dane had made it through. He didn't show and they all feared the worst. As the spray from the wave cleared they saw the whole crowd on the Bells cliffs 'doing a scene from the movie Zulu'. All jumping up and screaming as one. Dane had spun around and taken that wave.

Ah... it might not be much in retelling but it was a story and a quote thats stuck with me for over 20 years. I just dont see good story-telling in the mags anymore.

Well actually the surfer was Gabe Callaghan from Norah Head, Derek was in the heat before with Dane Kealoha, and Gabe beat me on that freakish mega wave. Gabe's daughter is now one of NSW's gnarliest up and coming iron women.

Memories can be deceptive can they not.

I'm reading this thread with great interest and it strikes me that surf mags are mostly and truly meant for surfers in their first flush of the sport, because everyone has these golden memories of that time and their memories of the mags are similarly golden. Can I tell you, surf mag staff these days bust their guts like none before. They produce magazines, website content, and dvds, they handle pressure from a surf industry that's both their best friend and worst enemy, and they face a readership that's endlessly niched. Editors don't have the same room to move as did say Jarratt, in his Whale Beach vomitorium, with the likes of Frank Pithers and Witzig frolicking about making c**ts of themselves every second evening, and a 48-page mag to produce every whole month, with the tiny surf companies begging to be involved and terrified of one rude comment from the staff...

Meanwhile everyone's complaining that the mags this month haven't given 'em the Goods, when in truth the mags delayed their print deadlines by weeks in order to cram in as much of the material as the schedules allowed, and ASL (the one I know about) is cutting a pile of footage to fit next DVD and dragging in another selection of shots for next mag, these obtained at considerable effort and expense and far exceeding anything shot in "the good old days".

Perhaps the truth is closer to home, that many of us have outgrown surf magazines but not surfing. If so then perhaps the complaining is somewhat a waste of time. Good grown-up surf magazines have been placed before the readership on a number of occasions; as some other Realsurfers have mentioned here, they've either died horribly or barely survived. You really can't expect intelligent grown-up human beings with serious publishing and writing skills to stint their families and their own later lives just to provide you with their finest work on the basis of their love for the sport, can you?

All that said I'm gonna encourage the mag staffs to read this thread because you never know how it might rub off...

[Nick Carroll]

As for down south I've been told that the swell was particularly south which meant it wouldn't have been that much bigger on that coast. Perhaps 20'.

Swell was actually very west, from a massive fetch stretching way back past WA. But the angle was such that almost all of it penetrated Bass Strait, so down south was about the same size. One of Two Mile's first ridden days occurred during that swell....but that's another story. For one of them book thingys I reckon.

[2nd Reef]

F*cken hell NC!

Aren't you supposed to be doing that paddle thingy that Big Fitz mentioned in his weekly column?

Like in Hawaii.

Not only are you omnipresent, but omniscient as well. One stray word or name and you're all bloody over it. I didn't think Dane Harris was right and as soon as I read Gabe Callaghan it all came back (you remember the photo of him straightening out on his big red board before he got to the button?)

All good points though.

Cheers!

[2nd Reef]

Would sorta make sense to me too.....

I'm thinking that if the swell was west and was 15' at Bells then it would've been coming out of the sky at Two Mile.

NC,

Did you find out about the first time for Two Mile from that Deep interview with Dave Smurthwaite? I seem to remember a shot of him that would've been around '81. Wasn't that big tho'.

[Natho]

Another DVD with ASL?

Doesn't every issue of ASL or Tracks now have a DVD??

Im sure the novelty of a DVD with ASL or Tracks has now worn thin with many punters. ASL needs to do something different to seperate themselves from what Tracks have been doing with DVDs.

Can I make a suggestion to ASL. How about a DVD on board design for the averge punter/ To me that would be of great benefit to the average surfer/ reader out there. The DVD could interview some top shapers on board design, and go behind the scenes in the creation of a surfboard.

You can then interview some of the pros on what they are riding and what they like in a surfboard. A behind the scenes look at some pros quivers. Then get TCs speel on the whole Quad thing.

Frrk I have a journo background. How about I do the interviewing for ya?.

[surfanimals]

Meanwhile everyone's complaining that the mags this month haven't given 'em the Goods, when in truth the mags delayed their print deadlines by weeks in order to cram in as much of the material as the schedules allowed, and ASL (the one I know about) is cutting a pile of footage to fit next DVD and dragging in another selection of shots for next mag, these obtained at considerable effort and expense and far exceeding anything shot in "the good old days".

Perhaps the truth is closer to home, that many of us have outgrown surf magazines but not surfing. If so then perhaps the complaining is somewhat a waste of time. Good grown-up surf magazines have been placed before the readership on a number of occasions; as some other Realsurfers have mentioned here, they've either died horribly or barely survived. You really can't expect intelligent grown-up human beings with serious publishing and writing skills to stint their families and their own later lives just to provide you with their finest work on the basis of their love for the sport, can you?

All that said I'm gonna encourage the mag staffs to read this thread because you never know how it might rub off...

NC, as the author of the thread, I wanted to comment on the above.

For my part, I have outgrown the mags. DVD's and Beannie's don't do it for me. If I want a DVD, I'm happy to pay $40 for quality and the same goes for a beannie.

If the mags are looking at including June footage in late August issue mags, maybe not splash opportunistic quotes on the mag cover wrapped in plastic to sucker the punter in for the ensuing disappointment. Rather keep it low profile and let us know what the plan is....although that would adversely effect sales I suspect ?

My point is and always was, don't treat us all as 15 year olds with the crap that was dished. I completely understand that 30 somethings are not the target market, although the large number of people who have agreed with my sentiment on here justify the intent that we are louder as the minority than the hords of grommets who obviously enjoy the junk passing through the newsagent which is keeping the mag staff on cue with mortgage repayments.

I hope if nothing else that this is read and at least some thought given to the misrepresentation that both mags carried on with in July.

PS; Thanks to all those who private messaged me and wrote on this forum - good fcuking work guys - keep it real.

[jfdi]

I'll second that idea Natho a hundred times !

Perhaps another way to look at it is that perhaps the formula they are using, even though they are working very hard, is just no longer working ? These mags can keep doing what they are doing, but I think people are really saying that even with the 'youngins' its not going to last as its not meeting anyones needs. Some may buy the mags, but if most dont connect to the 'sparkly ads' then a lot of money is going down the toilet.

Are the advertisers getting the response they expect ?

Also, surfers older than 25 are smarter than under 13 yr olds and there are more of us. When we were young how many had fathers who also surfed - a lot less than the situation today. A lot is changing.

I think the mags have regressed into some weird territory, that no demographic really likes. Maybe they may have some really good material, but its just doesnt come out right and just way too biased and single dimensioned to 1 surfer and 3 locations. Maybe all they need to do is tweak a few things and they might be a lot better.

Times change as NC said and perhaps now is time for another change considering whats on the net and non mag DVD's.

I bet the sales have dropped since they started putting plastic around the mags too ! I reckon more read it for free at the newsagent in 5-10 mins rather than buy it. With it wrapped in plastic the clothes companies get even less exposure.

[Lucky Al]

'You really can't expect intelligent grown-up human beings with serious publishing and writing skills to stint their families and their own later lives just to provide you with their finest work on the basis of their love for the sport, can you?' That reminds me of something someone once said to me - I'll just try to remember who and what.

[Clif]

NC wrote:

Perhaps the truth is closer to home, that many of us have outgrown surf magazines but not surfing. If so then perhaps the complaining is somewhat a waste of time. Good grown-up surf magazines have been placed before the readership on a number of occasions; as some other Realsurfers have mentioned here, they've either died horribly or barely survived. You really can't expect intelligent grown-up human beings with serious publishing and writing skills to stint their families and their own later lives just to provide you with their finest work on the basis of their love for the sport, can you?

My 2 cents on a couple of points NC.

1. It is now the "reader's fault" that the magazines have gone to the dogs - become shopping catalogues etc - is it?

It is actually clear to me the crew don't want to "outgrow" the magazines and feel like they should not need to, as the four pages of comments on here show. They like to read the magazines while eating their cereal in the morning sun.

2. no-one is blaming the staff, we know what its like to work for money-grabbing mugs too. If you work for the devil the association can be a b!tch I gather The problem is that the staff can't deliver quality because of Emap and Morrison pressure to target crap. But are excuses just being made? Could the staff go elsewhere and do other jobs if they don't like the 'pressure'?

3. As for producing their finest work for the love of the sport - we need to remember they are the few who actually get PAID for the material. There are crew putting up online material for FREE, and for the 'love of the sport' as you say.

4. Perhaps you are right. We should all simply STOP buying the magazines. It's our fault, we keep buying them. So RSers, STOP buying the magazines. An editor and surf journalist [albeit ex] reckons the mags aren't for you

5. Again, good luck in the Molokai. That's one story I think really deserves to be read by heaps of people. I hope they put it in the mag though