Visual surf stimuli from the game’s best photographers.
Luke Saranah, a high-speed arrow through a Western Australian apple, with his fletching providing every bit of necessary lift, stability, and control. Photograph by Tom Pearsall. Ephemeral topography of a better-not-named outer Australian island. “I shot this on the flight out,” says photographer Andrew Shield. “The pilot obliged us with a lap of the reef that, by sheer luck, coincided with a set.”
(Gallery) Various points of intrigue in hollow pursuits. Jordy Smith leans in while headed out, Durban, South Africa. Photograph by Luke Patterson.
Unidentified experiences the worst definition of skipping, Pipeline. Photograph Joshua Tabone.
Gray Richards playing no-leash roulette, Pascuales, Mexico. Photograph by Justin Smith.
Mitch Thompson, plotting in the trench at a yet-to-be-named slab, South Australia. Photograph by Tom Pearsall.
Keahi de Aboitiz bounces through the bubble, Teahupo‘o, Tahiti. Photograph by Ryan Craig.
Ollie Henry gets straight bucked, Western Australia. Photograph by Kim Feast.
Dave Rastovich, with plenty of room to stand on the first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, New South Wales, Australia. Photograph by Nathan Oldfield.
Derrick Disney chooses a clean and quiet line in southern Chile, as is the regional convention. Photograph by Kenny Hurtado.
(Gallery) Studies in texture and hues: Kalohe Danbara, piercing a wrinkled surface, Huntington Beach. Photograph by Brian Bott.
An outside scratch in the glass, Black’s Beach, California. Photograph by Don Balch.
Bryce Young adds silhouetted motion to double-overhead impressionism, Europe. Photograph by Corban Campbell.
(Gallery) Monochromatic moments from the lens of photographer Julien Roubinet. Aaron Eerin, illustrating the rewards of bottom contour properly engaged, Rincon.
Costa Mesa–based surfer-shaper Troy Elmore, traditional in the water and with a planer, traditional portraiture.
Distinct LA landmarks: Trace Marshall and his Anderson 14-footer, backdropped by the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Andy Nieblas, under cover, Malibu.
Travers Adler, laying it all out, Honolua Bay.
“Teahupo‘o during an offseason swell in December,” says photographer Ryan Craig. “Tahitian Kevin Bourez, who pretty much gets his choice in set waves out there, paddled out late in the evening on a single-fin with no safety gear and immediately slid into the wave of the day.”Can’t rain on this parade: Black clouds be damned, the mechanical-like lefts at Chicama, Peru, march unspoiled and onward. Photograph by Jair Bortoleto.
