What started a few years ago as a cool way for team riders and friends of Nixon to get together for a few beers, some fun surfs on weird boards and just a general hang out at the beach has developed into one of the most original underground surf events we’ve seen in a long time. Check out the video for PTII of the Nixon Weird also featured in issue 184 of Carve out now.
This is the day that followed the huge opening day at Mullaghmore. Just regular sized waves with a flask of coffee.
“This is Tomas” will, hopefully, show you in a funny, yet real perspective, the genuine Tomás Valente, another excellent surfer from Portugal. Tomás, aka “Denti”, is not the kind of person that will act one way with you and some other way with other people or in the raving social media. So, no matter where his career was as a professional surfer was, he was always true to himself. And if you get to know him one day, you’ll find that all this means… weird pelvic movements. Awkward right? So, watch “This is Tomás”, produced by White Flag Productions, so you know what we mean by this and in the end you will not need to know Tomás in person to see how he truly is around people.
British pals Sebastien Smart and James Parry alongside Adrien Toyon flew into Cape Town on a mission to conquer South Africa’s best spots. Their local guide? None other than South African hot newcomer Mikey February. The crew is joined by local heroes and South African Vans “Brus” Shane Sykes & Vanilla the Gorilla aka Josh Redman forming one of the most eclectic casts of shredders you could ask for.
“It's always amazing to explore your home country with people for their first time. With a mix of some rad, creative and surf syked individuals you can't go wrong in South Africa. We surfed the east coast and the west coast, crashed cars, shared some beers, ate biltong and had an epic time with some epic vibes,” says Mikey February, Vans Surf Team.
“The Vans trip to SA was really fun..like all vans trips the focus is all on smiles rather than pressure and stress. Not gonna lie though, we had a couple of serious to extreme experiences, some life threatening one could say, but other than that, fun waves, fun times, fun people,” says Seb Smart, Vans Surf Team.
Well our trip was a blast full of emotions, sharing, taking care of each other, from day one until the end of it.. starting with our big session at Dungeons, with the addition of fun little tubes up the coast ending up at J-bay. We were waiting for that swell to come, luckily enough J-bay woke up a bit and we got some until the last day. After all when I think about it, to share some of these moments with good friends is definitely worth it, I want more in the future,” says Adrien Toyon, Vans Surf Team.
Filmed on location in South Africa.
Find out more details on all things Vans surf here.
On their annual pilgrimage through Europe, four members of the renowned “Brazilian Storm” – Filipe Toledo, Miguel Pupo, Ian Gouveia and Italo Ferreira – dropped past Wavegarden’s R&D center for a day of surfing, training and fun. Filipe, Miguel and Ian were accompanied by their partners and young babies. Accustomed to watching their husbands surf all day, the girls were happy to get amongst the action and catch a few waves as well.
“We got the families here, the whole crew. It’s actually a big party right now”, said Filipe Toledo. “And, after we catch about 55,000 waves, the wives are going to go out there and shred it”.
The guy’s session was phenomenal to watch with all the surfers unleashing their biggest manoeuvres. “Filipe was going to air. It’s really good for throwing the tail and even doing air reverses”, said Miguel Pupo, who was consistently executing 5 backhand turns on each wave.
After several hours of testing the different types of waves on offer, the size was dialled down to slow moving white water waves to allow the girls to hit the water. “I don’t surf, I don’t even know how to surf. I tried once (in the sea) and couldn’t even stand up. And, in the pool, I surfed so good”, chuckled Bruna Pupo, elated after her surf session.
“It’s a good spot to learn, similar to Waikiki (in Hawaii)”, confirmed Ananda Toledo. “Even if you don’t know how to surf, you are going to have so much fun. Even with a baby, it’s not dangerous”.
As the afternoon sun started to descend over the Basque mountains, Filipe Toledo, tired after an intense day of surfing, expressed what the experience meant to him. “Such a fun day, a really special day with friends and family too. Even the wives had a lot of fun, they didn’t want to leave”.
Holiday-makers and crowded beaches, surf schools and bathing areas, sand castles and speedos, tiny waves and huge sunburns. Summer is great, all of us loves it, but at one point we really like when it stops. When the calm comes back, when the beaches are empty, when coastal villages become villages again, when the light is softer, and when waves arrive.
