Koa Rothman in “The best way to replace those calories is with sugar and carbs!”

Dietary advice (and fluid surfing) from exciting Hawaiian Koa Rothman…

Koa Rothman is the likeable and cheerful younger brother of Makua and the son of that eternal breaker of men, Fast Eddie Rothman.

He is a twenty four year old whose short life has already been plump with drastic moments.

This, for example.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWLKoq1A7lh/?utm_source=ig_embed

And this, of course.

Over the course of the last four months, Koa’s has made twenty-one episodes of his blog series This is Livin. In this episode, which is three days old, Koa travels to southern California where he surfs Newport Beach (56th street), visits the online legal marijuana community Weed Maps, is awakened by a four-shot coffee, goes into a heavy trance after eating two large doughnuts, comes out of that delirium in time to surf okay-ish Wedge and so on, so forth etc.

Vigorous with undiminished flair.

 


Long-disappeared Andy Irons Footage: “Full of raw torment!”

Andy Irons' surfing throbbed with exertion, passion etc.

Andy Irons brought the thunder when the world was wilting under the heat of Kelly Slater. For three consecutive years, he owned the world title.

But, sometimes when you bring the thunder, you get lost in the storm: courting trouble, fits of temper, madness, the burden of it all.

Why bother with the modern world if it spawns so many poisons?

Therefore, ain’t it a nice thing to peel ourselves away from the anguish of Andy’s death almost a decade ago and melt into a bonus extra from Taylor Steele’s 2001 film, Momentum Under the Influence, a film populated by surfers under twenty three.

It’s a joy, an honour to watch.


Watch: Flap your wings inside pretty and blue and user-friendly Desert Point pipes!

Five-ish minutes of easy backside tubes… 

The Bali-based surfer Dylan Hayllar took a puddle jumper (plane, not board) across the Lombok Strait recently to ride a wave that puts everyone in a good mood.

Desert Point.

Is it ok to say its name now that it’s populated by surfers of all race and nationalities, stand-ups, lay-downs etc?

In this five-and-a-half-minute short, Hayllar whittles easy-looking four-foot Desert Point tubes down to toothpicks. His face, I imagine, is frozen in a tube steak shine after so much shade.

It ain’t John John’s Space but, in some ways, its accessibility and how makable the waves are, even for everyday mutts, gives it something you might love even more.


Helicopter-boy Matt Meola in “Wave your hands up in the air Johnny!”

It might slo-mo you to death but wait until Matt spins like a top! Seriously primped!

Here’s a four-minute short that ain’t what you’d call feisty. It cups an ass-cheek real slow, gets you ready for harvesting time, in this case, a hit of Matt Meola spins that gonna make you spit a gob of your tobacco.

Slow motion, slow motion, slow motion. It kills me

But then Matt, who is twenty nine years old (oh don’t the time fly) and from Maui, awakens what I thought was dead from the waist down.

There is a flint and steel in Meola’s surfing that is impossible to ignore. He opens his housecoat and we can only stare.

The music of Hawaiian multi-instrumentalist Tavana gives it a pleasing fuzziness, like the cool air in your face from a just-opened window.

I would suggest, watch.


Watch: John John Florence’s new (short) film “You Could’ve Escaped This Years Ago!”

Missed the Hurley Facebook stream a couple of hours back? Watch John John's hypnotic new short film here!

A couple of hours back, Hurley streamed the new short of John John Florence, officially called Space but perhaps more aptly titled You Could’ve Escaped This Years Ago, on their Facebook page.

Didn’t work in Australia. But you can watch via video channel Vimeo. Hit the big play button above.

Back in June, I wondered: was John John’s knee injury part of the theatre of his transition from the tour? Was he wrapped in an intolerable existential crisis?

Last at Snapper to Mikey Wright. Second-last to the fanatically intense Zeke Lau at Bells. A long dick in the guts at Lemoore. Second-last to Jesse Mendes, Bali. His withdrawal from the Margaret River Reboot had the undercurrent of a drowning man who’d do anything to find a little air, to breathe.

Of course, pro surfing needs John John more than he needs it.

The two-time world champion, who is twenty five, radiates a calm and dignity unseen in any sport. No regularly updated social accounts, no interviews, nothing.

John John lives to surf.

It’s evident in this film.