Light It Up!

Light It Up!

Go behind the scenes with Rob Machado in Indonesia on the shoot of Chris Benchetler's film, "Fire on the Mountain".  Check out the full edit below.

From the mind of Chris Benchetler comes TGR's latest short film collaboration with Flagship Independent. Improvisation is the silver thread that weaves this crew together. Just as the Grateful Dead did not fit their music into an established category, this short film finds a cast of some of the world’s best athletes on a spontaneous journey of skiing, snowboarding, surfing, and music, complete with a soundtrack comprised of only Grateful Dead music.

Narrated by Hall of Fame basketball player and television sportscaster Bill Walton with music supervision by David Lemieux, audiovisual archivist and legacy manager for the Grateful Dead, Fire On The Mountain features some of action sports’ most legendary athletes: snowboarding’s Jeremy Jones, Danny Davis, Kimmy Fasani, surfing icon Rob Machado, and skiers Michelle Parker and Chris Benchetler. Captured over the course of the winter by cinematographer Tyler Hamlet with the help of Sweetgrass Productions, the visual journey features never seen before visual effects within nature and original artwork by Benchetler and Skye Walker.

Say hello, wave goodbye. All Change at WSL.

Say hello, wave goodbye. All Change at WSL.

WSL's President of Content, Media and Studios Erik Logan Named as WSL CEO, Sophie Goldschmidt Steps Down from Post.

LOS ANGELES, California (Tuesday, January 14, 2020) - The World Surf League (WSL) today announced that Chief Executive Officer Sophie Goldschmidt will be stepping down from her post and that WSL's President of Content, Media and Studios Erik Logan has been named as CEO, effective this week.

"Sophie has had a huge impact on the WSL. She is responsible for transforming both our business capabilities and culture in her tenure as CEO," Dirk Ziff, WSL Owner and Board Member, said. "With the converging trends in sports, media and entertainment, we mutually agreed it was time to make a change. Erik Logan is a proven leader and a world-class media executive with a profound personal connection to the sport of surfing. We are excited about what he will accomplish as CEO. We will always be grateful to Sophie for her contributions to surfing and we look forward to the WSL's next chapter."

Goldschmidt, who took on the CEO role in 2017, led the transformation of the WSL's organisational structure, refocusing the business with an emphasis on the opportunity around the sport and lifestyle of surfing. During her tenure, she led the institution of equal prize money across men's and women's surfing, negotiated a historic 10-year surfer agreement, secured the first-of-its-kind Facebook partnership and unprecedented levels of linear and digital distribution. She also delivered the first-ever competitive events at Surf Ranch (the WSL's wave technology facility), relaunched the organisation's ocean health advocacy program WSL PURE, significantly raised the WSL's profile globally and built a dynamic new leadership team.

"It's been a privilege to collaborate with the caliber of colleagues, athletes, partners and communities around the world that I have during my time at the WSL," Goldschmidt said. "Surfing is unique, captivating and inspiring and leading the WSL has been a professional highlight for me."
"With the WSL now ready to become a more focused content and media company, the Board and I have mutually agreed it is the right time to make a change," Goldschmidt said. "Having worked closely with Erik, he is the right person to lead the WSL into its next era. I am excited about what lies ahead for the organisation."

Following the transition, Goldschmidt will continue to help the company and join its Advisory Board.
Logan, who previously served as President of the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) and Executive Vice President at Harpo Studios, has operated as the WSL's President of Content, Media and Studios since February 2019, revamping the organisation's live broadcasts, leading the development of off-platform content including its first non-scripted TV series, in partnership with ABC, Ultimate Surfer (airing Summer 2020), as well as 24/7: Kelly Slater on HBO. In his role as WSL CEO, Logan will utilise his decades of international business and media experience to continue to transform the WSL into a world-class live events, experiences and media company.

"The World Surf League is the most exciting, inspiring and promising opportunity I have ever encountered," Logan said. "The power of the organisation's platform, the history of championing the world's best surfers, the global fan base and the opportunity to accelerate the WSL as an international sport and media powerhouse is absolutely incredible."
"Surfing is powerful. As someone who came to it later in life, I personally understand the impact surfing can have on individuals, communities and the world at large," Logan continued. "To be able to lead world-class people at the WSL and combine my professional and personal passions is a dream come true."

Logan will oversee all three business units of the World Surf League - Tours, Studios and WaveCo - with an experienced and innovative leadership team at the organisation's headquarters in Santa Monica as well as the WSL regional offices around the world.

The first stop on the 2020 WSL Championship Tour will be the Corona Open Gold Coast from March 26 - April 5, 2020.

Weird Waves Season 2: Time Travel (Nigeria) 

Weird Waves Season 2: Time Travel (Nigeria) 

If you could travel back in time and see surfing in its infant state, what do you think you would see? Ever wonder what surfing was like in the golden ages back before contests and money, just for the pure stoke of surfing? In this episode of Weird Waves Dylan Graves and Dane Gudauskas intend to find out what tomorrow’s yesterday looks like when they land at the very exciting new surf community in Lagos, Nigeria.
RIGHT AS RAIN

RIGHT AS RAIN

Join Russ Bierke and Darcy Piper, as they head out into some isolated Aussie coast in search of some fun slabs. A welcome flashback to last year and better days for the south coast boys, who have had their local area ravaged by fires this summer season. Right as Rain is a welcome respite.

Follow Russ Bierke on Instagram here.

Follow Darcy Piper on Instagram here.

Music by Ulladulla band - RMFC.
Song -Feeder

Having a swell time in space.

Having a swell time in space.

Christina Hammock Koch has a rad job, she’s a NASA Astronaut currently on board the International Space Station. On top of that she has a sideline in taking the ultimate surf line up shots aboard ISS itself.

An international crew of six people live and work while traveling at a speed of five miles per second, orbiting Earth about every 90 minutes. In 24 hours, the space station makes 16 orbits of Earth, traveling through 16 sunrises and sunsets.

She recently caught up with Kelly Slater to talk her love of surfing and other outdoor activities during an in-flight call Jan 10. Koch, who recently broke the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, is in the final month of a planned 328-day mission, the second longest by an American astronaut. Koch is scheduled to return to Earth Feb 6th on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan.

You can follow Christina on Instagram here and the International Space Station here.

Check out some of her line space line up shots below.

Below – What lies beneath.

Below – What lies beneath.

Arnaud is the rising star of freediving. Born in Marseille in 1996, Arnaud grew up by the sea. With the ocean as a playground, he naturally discovered freediving with his dad. As a struggling kid at school with dyslexia, he finds in the ocean the peace and confidence in himself. Basically he started "breathing again" thanks to freediving. He can hold his breath for a really, really long time, on the 20th May 2019, he broke a new World Record in constant weight bi-fins with a dive to -108m. Check out the footage as he free surfs under the beautiful Tahitian waves.

Film by Tim Mckenna