"For us it really does simplify these life lessons. You're never bummed with your efforts."
The Puerto Rican surfer and world record holder for most turns on a wave, completing an astonishing forty turns with a couple of quasi-airs on a five-minute long river wave in Indonesia, Dylan Graves, has delivered his most profound moment yet in his latest surf travel adventure.
Dylan, who is of middle age although not a fat, shiny, liver-coloured man, is an example of who we can be if we don’t fall into the trap of remaining in our velvet cages of couch, device, home.
In this video, he chases waves in Norway’s Lotofen, a wild ol archipelago just above the Arctic Circle.
“In the last episode, we pushed pretty far north in Norway and surfed freezing waves in the Barents Sea. This time we headed… less north. Still deep in the north, just not as far north.. Chasing waves through a Norwegian winter.
“After days in the Arctic, we jumped in the car and drove 15 hours south through Norway chasing a wave that our friend and swedish pro Tim Latte has been obsessed with for years. The destination: Lofoten. And while this was a mission to get to, all of Tim’s calls so far had been worth every bit of effort we put in.
“Plus it was a chance to see a different part of Norway, hunt down a few cold-water rarities, stop by the northernmost surf shop in the world… and somehow squeeze sessions into the shortest days of the year. In winter up here, the sun barely clocks in. Every surf is a race against light, weather, and time.”
It ain’t easy hunting waves in these parts of the world.
There’s no hacks, no shortcuts, just fifteen-hour drives, short days, long paddles, inconsistent sets, simple sometimes brutal commitment… as comfortable as that can be sometimes,” says Dylan Graves. “Ahhhhh surfing. Silly surfing to some. But to us it really does simplify these life lessons.”
Watch more of Graves’ weird wave follies below.
Forever essential.
Click here, here, here, here and here.
And here.
Here, too.