Down the Drain follows a passionate kayaker as he paddles up Cornwall’s River Tamar to learn how climate change is affecting our river wildlife, the fresh water we all need to drink and grow our crops, and the safety of our homes…
Rupert Kirkwood, the ‘lone kayaker’, who has paddled every inch of every waterway in the South West.
Shot over the past five Winter seasons, “The Color of Winter” is a film focused on the intricacies of Rob Machado’s life on the San Diego coastline during California’s iconic North Swell Seasons from November through March.
From designing surfboards to surfing daily, this all new and never before seen online release is a glimpse into the R&D process behind Rob’s eponymous Rob Machado Surfboards brand and its seven-year partnership with Firewire Surfboards to refine, produce and distribute Rob’s surfboard designs globally.
From his home break at Seaside Reef to the world class beach break at Black’s, The Color of Winter will give a detailed view of the R&D sessions that created Rob’s popular Glazer and Seaside and Beyond models, as well as others; all captured on film by Pat Stacy with a clear intention.
“In the beginning, this film started out as me wanting to learn about film” pat says describing his prior career as a surf photographer as “a focus on still imagery that today is transitioning into moving imagery with video and film.”
With regards to his specific intent with The Color of Winter, Pat explains that “The idea really, the intent, was to show that just throwing your surfboard in your car and going surfing at your local break is a blessing. I wanted to show that if that’s a part of your life, you’re very fortunate.”
To Pat, the film also seems like a sort of grounding exercise in reality, amidst a backdrop of constant scrolling, saying that “We constantly see imagery of pumping Hawaii and perfect Mentawai’s, and it’s easy to overlook surfing at home, because as magical as those days can be in far off lands at popular surfing destinations, your surfing experience at home is a treasure, whether you’re in California or anywhere else.”
Over an Acai bowl in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, Rob describes California Winters as “Cold, crisp, offshore… Pat and I thought it was important to only shoot during the first hour of light or the last hour of light.”
It’s a task that Pat shines at as Rob points out; “The most impressive thing about Pat is his ability to be in the exact right place for every wave while swimming around in all this moving water with a really heavy RED camera. Pat’s ability to nail shots is incredible.”
The Color of Winter will premiere on Rob Machado’s YouTube channel at 4:00 PST on Thursday April 21st. It’s a new kind of film release for Rob who, after a career premiering and distributing films through traditional mediums today finds himself on YouTube saying “It’s weird, I lived through the VHS and DVD era and today, I guess I’m a YouTuber now…I’m not sure what that means but it’s what we’re doing right now, so I’m in.”
The 15th-17th April saw the 2022 Scottish Surfing Championships held in Brimms Ness, Caithness. Conditions were a consistent 2-4ft west swell, with a steady offshore wind all weekend. Opens & Masters heats were run at the bowl, a right hand, heaving slab. With longboards run at both the point and the cove. Brimms more mellow offerings.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that competitive Scottish surfing has been heating up the last few years, with the arrival of young talents to the top steps of the podium, and a stacked field of competitors at the last outings. This has produced edge of your seat heats all the way through to finals.
In the mens open Semi’s, a 3rd place Mark Boyd scored a small keg with 5 seconds on the clock to secure his spot in the finals. Going on to then take his 3rd Championship title by 0.1 points over last years winner, Craig McLachlan.
Mens Open Final:
Women’s Open Final:
Masters was a hotly contested finals. Mark Cameron, last years winner, put on a stellar performance with two high scoring waves in the final. However Mark Boyd, seemingly unbeatable this weekend, took the win by some margin, in his first ever entry to the masters category.
Masters Final Results:
After taking his tenth championship title last year, Malcolm Findlay retired from competition, leaving the longboard field wide open. Sam Christopherson’s style and grace on his log saw him take the top step, ahead of Chris Clarke.
Longboard Finals Results:
A big thank you to all event staff & volunteers for making this happen, and to the surfers for consistently pushing the envelope of what’s possible.
Keep your eyes on the SSF website for a full event write up and event video in the days to come.
Inspired by the surfing lifestyle, IKEA launches the KÅSEBERGA collection. In 2019, IKEA and the World Surf League announced a collaboration to better understand the everyday life of people with a mobile and active way of living in close rhythm with the ocean. The result is a collection of practical and beautifully designed products for the home and life on the go. The KÅSEBERGA collection will launch globally in May 2022.
By teaming up with WSL, IKEA wanted to learn more about the needs and demands of surfers. The surfing lifestyle has provided many important insights about being constantly on the go, such as organising, mobility needs and handling humidity.
“These needs are relevant for many more people than surfers and inspired us to create products that enrich everybody’s lives with similar demands. With this collection, we hope to spread the joy of the surfing lifestyle in the home and everyday life of many people”, says Wiebke Braasch, Designer at IKEA of Sweden.
The range of KÅSEBERGA includes more than 25 products intended for the home or wherever life takes them. Among those are a hand plane for body surfing, a beach chair, a portable grill, a coffee table and a bag uniquely designed to function well for beach clean-ups.
Together with the World Surf League and the reputable surfers Kassia Meador and Rob Machado, the design process has revolved around including functionality, more recycled materials and promoting a more circular lifestyle. As a result, a big part of the products in the KÅSEBERGA collection are made of recycled polyester, while others are made of renewables, such as bamboo and cork.
“It has been an honour and a pleasure to team up with Rob Machado, the WSL and IKEA to create KÅSEBERGA. A collection of ocean-inspired home goods and on-the-go surf essentials in the most functional high vibe low impact way. For the ever-growing global community of earth-conscious surfers and beach lovers”, says Kassia Meador, surfer and business owner.
“Watching the IKEA KÅSEBERGA collaboration come to life and working with their designers on developing these sustainable products has been a truly rewarding experience for us at WSL,” says Cherie Cohen, WSL Chief Revenue Officer. “IKEA’s sustainability initiatives align closely with those of the WSL and our fans. We are confident that these products made using recycled and renewable materials will be hugely popular with surfers, ocean lovers, and design enthusiasts.”
KÅSEBERGA, named after a small city in Sweden with one of the most southern surf breaks in the country, will launch globally in May 2022. Availability may differ depending on the region. For more information, contact your local IKEA.
Thousands of people are expected to take part in the first National Day of Action on Water Quality on Saturday 23 April, a mass protest calling on water companies to end the sewage scandal polluting UK waterways.
Ocean conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has joined forces with clean water campaign groups to organise 11 simultaneous protests against water companies from Scotland to Cornwall.
The action follows the public outcry over the sewage scandal in late 2021, which saw campaigners forcing the government to make changes to its flagship Environment Act.
The UK’s rivers and seas are in a critical state. Only 14% of UK rivers are currently rated as having ‘good’ ecological status, with none passing chemical tests. UK bathing water quality is the worst in Europe and Surfers Against Sewage found 75% of rivers tested posed a serious continuous risk to human health. In 2020 alone, sewage was released into the environment over 400,000 times, equating to 3.1 million hours of discharge. In 2021, sewage discharge notification issued for Bathing Waters increased by 80% on the previous year.
Hugo Tagholm, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, said: “We’ve called on government to address the sewage scandal. We’ve reported the health risks this pollution puts on all water users. We’ve exposed the regulators and testing regime for ignoring the truth. Now we need to take our message to End Sewage Pollution straight to the doors of water company HQs.
“On 23 April water lovers across the UK will come together to show water companies and the government that we are a unified movement that will not stand for this environmental destruction any longer.”
Surfers Against Sewage is collaborating with regional campaign groups including Welsh Rivers Union, Friends of Warleigh Weir and SOS Whitstable to maintain pressure on water companies who have dodged the issue for decades. Together, they are calling for an end to sewage pollution into UK bathing waters by 2030 – specifically:
1. Stronger and bolder targets to end untreated sewage discharge.
2. An enhanced testing regime which shows a true picture of the UK’s water quality in real time.
3. Nature restoration to reduce pressure and minimise impacts on sewage infrastructure.
4. Increased investment from industry in infrastructure to prevent destructive practices.
To find your local protest and register to take part, visit sas.org.uk/EndSewagePollutionProtests and join the conversation on social media by searching #EndSewagePollution.
If the name Franklin Serpa isn’t on your radar it will be after you’ve seen him rotate over the lip in his latest edit, DEJA-VÚ. Radical, innovative, going full send, is there anything more you could want in an edit? Hit play and watch the Brazilian turn it up to eleven.
Filmed & edited by @brunozanin_
Additional footage by Pietro Franca, Nino Franco & William Zimmermann
