THE ISSUE OF PASSION #119



We are only great when we act with great passion. Especially when it can overcome a very wet monsoon season. These past few months have demanded a passion from all of us. A passion for waves, a passion for the environment, a passion for each other. Only a few windows of opportunity presented themselves. You had to be on or miss it. You could see it in the surfing, led by a re-energized Garut Widarta, who has been surfing better than he ever has. Surftime sat with him recently and asked what it was that had fueled his new passion. He replied simply, “Fatherhood”. We are also proud to feature on our cover the great Made Winada Adi Putra. Although on the verge of being a tribal elder in his mid-thirties, he is still making cover worthy moves with no signs of slowing down.The kids are actually having a hard time keeping up. You will see it all in our lead feature called “Monsoon Dreams”. Veterans and rookies alike, ripping our waves apart with passion. Because passion is the oxygen of the soul. In another feature we have local Ben Benson going head to head with Jordy Smith at Keramas.

With Ben chasing his passion as if it were the last bus out of town. Doing his best to match Jordy air for air. Representing the young talent pool of Bali with his own firepower. Proving that one person with passion is worth more than an army without. And from the other side of the world we witness a passion unimaginable. Trevor Murphy has presented us a snowbound portfolio from New England in the United States. Hoary images of a frigid surfing experience that would take more than passion to challenge. It would take a nuclear explosion of desire. And yes, those Jersey boys have got it in spades. And for another aspect of passion, we look within. Within the passionate art and photography of Gene Kreyd. Combining atmospheric drone work with spaced-out interpretations of landscapes, humans and waves, he gives us enough pause to think of the grandeur within ourselves. Within our own feelings. Sparking flights of imagination and perspective that perhaps the Gods themselves intended. Fully grounded, we move on next to Texas, where photographer Jimmy Metyko meditates on what it is really like to be poolside at our current chlorinated revolution. And finally, Ryan Robson explains his love/love relationship between Western Australia and Indonesia. And that is what the contents of this issue is all about. The passion to make great things happen. To feel great things. To do great things. Because passionate souls burn with a fire that very few can handle. And yet none can resist. - Editor -

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CAUGHT INSIDE # 128

Image
Sea Dreams. We all have them. And we are bringing some more to you in this new issue of Surftime Magazine. Consider the photo on the right. Can you see it? Really see it? The dreams that are scrawled on that dream machine? A child’s sea dreams for all the world to see. A homegrown machine hewn out of the scraps of a snapped board washed up on the beach. The homegrown logos, scrawled with such passion, misspellings and reversals and all. A physical manifestation of passion and desire. The passion for surfing and the desire to belong to the tribe. If this surfer couldn’t get his hands on a real dream board, then let the surf Gods be damned, he would make it himself. The real stuff of sea dreams in a single image. We have a lot of other images of dreams for you too. Take the cover with Tai Graham, once again in the center of perfection at some remote secret spot of his. As always making his sea dreams come true. And even more so as we let him pick the color scheme for the cover itself
Read more

CAUGHT INSIDE # 130

Image
The question is can we keep it up? The answer is yes, as long as, like a satellite in outer space, we can keep our orbit from decaying. Our orbit being the entire biomass system of tourists and waves that keep the island of Bali’s heart beating. Right now the best we can do is deal with it. But dealing with something means having it in hand. Which we barely do. What happens when we lose our grip? One need only look at the shortcut in Canggu to see what kind of inhuman chaos ensues. The answer? For everyone on earth to be thoughtful. Which millions of years on earth has proven impossible. It’s just not in our survival mode. So what’s next? Circle the wagons, I guess. Take our surfing world, observe our orbit’s momentum and health and keep it in hand. And we have such a wonderful orbit happening. But now, with the steamrolling effect of greed tourism and irresponsible development sounding like a death knell, it’s time to look at Bali’s surfing healthspan rather than its lifespan. Th
Read more

MEDEWI: Life by the side of the skeleton road

Image
It is late afternoon. That time of day on any west coast where the color of the sea and the land contract into vivid hues and shadows begin to crawl east like living things and a golden path rises from the sea and leads to the sun. You are at the surf break of Medewi Point on the island of Bali, far from the tourist madness to the south and you can see alpha local Muklis Anwar and his covey of wet, shiny, local kids crabbing their way toward shore over the slippery boulders on the inside of the surf break. A misstep here and any one of them will receive a spray of urchin spines deep into the front pads of their feet and nothing more than a sewing machine needle to dig them out with. Muklis has been teaching the village kids how to surf and the kids hold under their arms all manner of relic surfboards. Chunked, split and repaired, cast away like dolls without heads by the western visitors of this place over the decades. Yet these boards are gold to the humble, to be smelted and re-
Read more