Artistic Expression or Athletic Feat?

By Morgan Bernard Originally Published in TrooRa Magazine. Paris 2024 Surfing, Skating, Climbing, And Other Fringe Action Sports Take Center Stage At The Paris Olympics Once considered more counterculture than sport, surfing, skateboarding, rock climbing, and breakdancing are now Olympic sports, with athletes competing in this year’s Paris Olympics. Surfing, skateboarding, and climbing made their […]

Lords of the Kelp

I’ve spent much of my adult life on far-flung surf trips to places like Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, and Peru. But since moving to Washington a year- and-a-half ago, I’ve become obsessed with solving the unique mysteries of my backyard’s rugged coastline. With chilly water year-round and a plethora of terrifying marine critters, surfing here isn’t a Type-I trip to the beach like many of the classic places I’ve ridden waves.

Surf vlog Icon Jamie O’Brien is switching Directions

Featured in the Inertia The man with a thousand plans. Pat Nolan//Red Bull Content Pool When you see Jamie O’Brien strutting down the beach towards maxing out Pipeline, wearing a self-branded speedo and lugging a soft-top under his arm, you’re probably not thinking, “there goes surfing’s greatest serial entrepreneur.” Jamie, however, is just that. Besides […]

Ever heard of a 7ft wave? A Look at the mysterious world of surf height

Featured in the Inertia Just a hair over six feet? Photo: Carlos Manich//Unsplash One hot summer day, I was sharing stories from a fun session at a remote left in Southeast Asia. The wave breaks into a serene, crescent-shaped cove littered with urchins resting below the surface of the postcard-worthy turquoise water. Midway through my description, […]

Living the dream The often harsh reality of running a surf camp abroad

Featured in the Inertia Early mornings and sleepless nights. Reality at Amaru. Photo: Morgan Bernard We bounced along the dirt road on our way south after a day on the boat exploring northern river mouth waves. The surf was well overhead and the sun unrelenting. We had six people packed in the car, and no one […]

The Rise of the Intermediate Surfer: Observations From a Pandemic-Driven Lineup

Featured in The Inertia The surf remains the same but the surfers, well….there’s a lot more of ’em. Photo: Silas Baisch//Unsplash Two years ago, disease spread around the globe, and much of the population retreated to the confines of homes and humble apartments. For those of us stuck in the concrete trappings of modern cities, the […]

Surfing Europe by Train

Featured in The Inertia Riding by rail? Plan accordingly. Photo: Lusija Ros//Unsplash “What do you mean we can’t get on with the board bag? We’ve been on a dozen trains with it in the last month!” I asked frantically. I was becoming increasingly irate with the station employee. We’d been arguing for ten minutes, switching […]

Traveler or tourist

SURFERS LOVE TO ROAM, BUT HOW DO WE HELP PRESERVE THE CULTURES WE ENCOUNTER ALONG THE WAY? Featured in Tracks Magazine Travel is dying. Not as an industry – although COVID certainly didn’t do it any favours – but as a concept. While it’s never been easier to set off halfway across the world (lockdowns […]

The Clothing Industry Weighs Heavily on the Planet; Here’s How Consumers Can Reduce the Load

Featured on The Inertia If you’re looking for a way to reduce your environmental impact, look no further than your closet. The fashion industry has a waste problem that weighs heavily on the planet because the average consumer throws away 70 pounds of clothes per year while globally we produce 13 million tons of textile waste in […]

The Fake COVID Test Documents Facilitating Surf Travel

A firsthand account of manipulated test results and border crossings in Central America. Featured in Stab Mag As our “new normal” slowly starts to resemble the old normal, travel is no longer a distant memory or a future shrouded in uncertainty. With a negative PCR COVID-19 test as the key, surfers can once again unlock […]