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COMING NOVEMBER 28: USUAL HIGHWAY A WHAT YOUTH ORIGINAL SHORT FILM STARRING OWEN WRIGHT
Thu
22
Nov
The California highway is a good conversationalist. It has a way of completely rearranging your brain and putting it back together. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes not. But it listens. It consoles, confides, advises and usually scares the shit out of you.

We spent a week on a California highway looking for waves with Owen Wright and made a film about it. Coming to WhatYouth.com November 28th.
NEW WHAT YOUTH T-SHIRT ON SALE NOW IT'S BLUE AND REALLY SOFT
Wed
21
Nov

The What Youth store has been injected with a new shirt today, and it's just in time for the holidays, Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Haleiwa, your birthday, Jesus's birthday or whatever upcoming event makes you want to own a rad new shirt.

Want one? Click here and it's yours.

COLLECTED THOUGHTS 030 DANE AND GABRIEL IN HAWAII
Tue
20
Nov

PHOTO: Chenoweth

I’m trying to keep calm. I’m trying to carry on. But after doing some responsible drinking, I’m going to chime in. Since Friday, two maneuvers were pulled off that were crazy. One by Dane in competition — a turn that perfectly demonstrates his disregard for things like waves, surfboards and competitive strategy. The turn was a big fuck you to no one in particular — they just bring that kind of intensity. [...]

  • Photo: Arto Saari
  • Photo: Arto Saari
WHAT YOUTH x LANCE MOUNTAIN SKATEBOARD COLLABORATION A CONVERSATION WITH THE ARTIST
Mon
19
Nov

If you have Issue Two of What Youth Quarterly then you’ve already read about our skateboard collab with Lance Mountain. If you don’t have Issue Two, you’re reading about the collab now. (Also, damn, check yourself.)

Lance designed the graphic above — inspired by an Arto Saari portrait, second slide, from Issue Two — for this collection of hand-painted skateboard decks. They go on sale this Friday exclusively in the What Youth shop. There are three numbered boards available — three, as in fewer than five or four. Click fast on Black Friday to make one of them yours. Special thanks to Create X Destroy for making this project happen.

We spoke with Lance about skateboard graphics through the years and about his own art, beginning [...]

  • Dane told us a bit about these sessions, and since writing captions is kooky, we'll let him help. But before we get to that, how good is this?
  • This is exactly what you would have done too, right? Fuck, see! Kooky. Dane can take it from here.
  • Dane: “The face has a weird contour and the place has lots of backwash and it kind of crunches when it closes out so airs were pretty difficult. But that is part of the fun of surfing. It’d be boring if every wave broke the same.”
  • “This beachbreak is like paradise. The swells come in and push mostly left but the rights kinda bowl up backward."
  • "The best part is the clear warm water. The waves are almost see through.”
  • “Getting fun little barrels and stuff was cool, but to actually get up in the lip and do something was sort of challenging.”
  • “I associate trunks with good waves — and bad waves seem not so bad when it's warm and the water's clear, so yeah, perhaps life is better in boardshorts.”
  • Slob. See it play out tomorrow.
  • Dane on surfing in t-shirts: “I always wear a shirt because shirtless action photos are gross. Even if you’re ripped and tan, they still look gross.”
  • The elusive Busted Wing Layback returns.
  • “Your shirt has to fit slightly tighter than a shirt you would normally wear. And if a shirt does not fit this criteria, it will ruin your session. The most common problem with wearing a shirt is that it doubles in size when you get it wet, so when you go to stand up its over your knees and pushing water and shit.”
  • “When I think of surfing in trunks I think of rash, sunburn, jellyfish, and sea lice, but I would never complain about any of those things because that would be pathetic.”
  • “If you’re filming with three other surfers and everyone has white shirts on it is a little embarrassing. You gotta have a back up surf shirt in an alternate color.”
BLACK, WHITE AND TROPICAL PHOTOS FROM THE NEW WHAT YOUTH SHORT FILM: IN CURSIVE, STARRING DANE REYNOLDS
Wed
14
Nov
We love looking at photos and then watching them come to life. We also love Dane. And that's exactly what's happening here. Above is a gallery of sessions with Dane that you'll see come to life tomorrow here at What Youth.

Click through the gallery for Dane's commentary on important things like these crunchy little beachbreak peaks, sea lice, trunks and why you won't see many shots of him glistening shirtless.

All photos by Nate Lawrence


  • There was a lot of gas and steam billowing from the ground after Sandy hit. This bit of steam seemed fairly harmless compared to the pungent, mustard colored gas coming coming from a sewer cap that smelled like death.
  • After surfing we got lunch and came back to check it again that afternoon. Standing behind a building to block the howling wind, an elderly lady and her caretaker came passing by. I think they were curious about the large surf and we got to talking with them. The caretaker confessed it was the elderly woman's birthday which led us to sing her happy birthday. She was really taken by this. Who knows what the city's plans are for rebuilding the boardwalk.
  • After the storm subsided, I walked around my neighborhood to assess the damage. Walking along the river, I noticed how ominous the sky looked over Manhattan.
  • This cat found a new home in the carnage.
  • These bungalows dotted the shoreline in Rockaway, dating back to when my grandmother was a young girl. Today a few stand where surfers occupy them as convenient post-surf shelters. Uninhabitable now since the water pushed all in its way into them.
  • The boardwalk, light poles and benches that lined the beach have now been pushed inland against the housing projects where they remain, smashed into cars and the landscape of Rockaway.
  • A public service announcement written in graffiti on a handball court in response to the quality of life experienced by those affected by Sandy.
  • At night the devastation would often take an even uglier twist. Most area businesses have been looted along with private residences. Gunfights between looters and police were pretty common at times, though this rarely made the news.
  • Down in Rockaway, for the time being, Fort Tilden, a former US Army barracks, is the site for all the garbage collected by the city from Sandy. The pile grows daily as possessions and trash are thrown to the curb, unsalvageable.
There was a lot of gas and steam billowing from the ground after Sandy hit. This bit of steam seemed fairly harmless compared to the pungent, mustard colored gas coming coming from a sewer cap that smelled like death.
NEW YORK AFTER SANDY: PART 2 ANOTHER ANGLE OF THE AFTERMATH
Wed
14
Nov

New York-based photographer and surfer Johnny Knapp took one more tour of the destruction from Hurricane Sandy and filed these photos. As you can see, things still aren't well and won't be for a while. But it's another reminder that there's work to be done and not to forget our friends in the east. Below is a link to the good dudes at Waves For Water who have been supplying hands-on help since day one of the storm.

Thanks to Johnny Knapp for the photos and commentary, and thanks to all of you who have stepped up and helped out wherever possible.

To donate, please visit Waves For Water.

And check out more of Johnny's photography here.

COMING FRIDAY: IN CURSIVE A WHAT YOUTH ORIGINAL SHORT FILM STARRING DANE REYNOLDS
Tue
13
Nov
On Friday we'll premiere an original short film starring Dane Reynolds. He'll be surfing in trunks and a T-shirt at a beachbreak that must be one of the most pleasant places there is to go surfing. Dane isn't as fond of trunks as you'd think though.

"When I think of surfing in trunks I think of rash, sunburn, jellyfish and sea lice. But I would never complain about any of those things because that would be pathetic."

Stay tuned all [...]
COLLECTED THOUGHTS 029 CRAIG ANDERSON, CHANGED TICKET
Mon
12
Nov

PHOTO: Neville

When we spoke to Craig he was just home from Europe before coming to California, then New York and New England.

Europe didn't end well. Craig is a kind soul and to move against him is an awful sin, and a Frenchman had sinned. It happens everywhere.

 

CRAIG ANDERSON: I’ve been home since last Friday, so almost a week.

WHAT YOUTH: Coming from France?

I was in France, yeah. I was going to [...]

RAINY DAY SCHEDULE KOLOHE ANDINO, JULIAN WILSON, JORDY SMITH AND OWEN WRIGHT IN SANTA CRUZ
Fri
09
Nov
Steamer Lane is kelp, rocks, odd sections and cold water blended together. Factor in a cliff of hecklers, very high placement on the food chain, persistent rain and clouds, an aggressive crowd and you'll see why it can be a very interesting place to watch. Here we feature a few of our favorite approaches to this craggy bit of coastline before it got all sunny and jersey-filled.

Filmed and Edited by Victor Pakpour

Need more help adjusting back into that [...]
COLLECTED THOUGHTS 028 DAY ONE IN FRANCE WITH DION
Fri
09
Nov

PHOTO: Neville

Little did they know that this would be one of the only successful surfs of the trip. Kai and Dion were to meet up with Craig and Dane but had one free day while those two took the opportunity to rip Wave Garden, the fake European wave in Spain.

Walking up this day, Dion and Kai — who left his camera behind, only bringing along a wettie, Neck Beard and his Yashica T4 — found a stretch [...]