Sagas of Shred
Indoek Gallery in Ventura is currently running an exhibit titled “County Lines”, curated by Matt Wessen. The show is running through March 3, so Part of the exhibit features the groundbreaking work of Peter Schroff, who, love him or hate him, certainly knows how to stand out. Matt Titone from Indoek asked if…
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Tom Curren’s orange and yellow Rip Curl short john from the 1987 / 1988 Hawaiian winter is on the short list of memorable wetsuits. (My personal favorite? Kelly’s all white number, which he rode at J Bay and in France in 2005, if memory serves correctly.) I recently posted a Vince Cavataio photo…
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Here’s a Local Motion ad circa 1987. See below for all the names in the ad, so you don’t have to go through the hassle of pinching and zooming. Back Row (Left to Right): Steve Wilson, Alex Cox, Charlie Smith, Ron Roush, Pat Rawson, Steve Massfeller, Kolohe Bloomfield, Ron Coteen, Clyde Aikau, Glen…
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Here’s an old Rip Curl ad featuring none other than Derek Hynd. If you look closely you’ll see the photograph was actually taken in Japan, which is a cool touch. I found the ad on Davis Ballard’s incredible Dusty Ads site, which has long been one of my go to sources for Sagas…
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Do we talk enough about Slater and Al Merrick’s longtime partnership? Slater obviously has strong opinions about his equipment, and I would love to hear a more in-depth account of how he and Merrick collaborated over the years, during Kelly’s utterly dominant run in the 90s. I think a lot of us remember…
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As an anonymous internet commenter once said about Arnold Schwarzenegger, “he’s not a great actor, but he’s an amazing movie star.” Strider Wasilewski is not my favorite sports commentator, but as far as surfing personalities go, few are more compelling than the Dogtown raised Pipe charger turned WSL fixture. Strider grew up in…
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My favorite part of this 1998 Volcom ad is the reprinted fax from Surfer Magazine hounding the Volcom team for some overdue collateral. Rebelliousness definitely was a successful marketing strategy for Volcom, but I get the sense that there was a definite pirate vibe from the clothing label’s formative years. At first, I…
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For the years I’ve been writing Sagas of Shred, I don’t think I’ve ever posted a single ad for Surfer Mag. It’s ironic considering the vast majority of the vintage surf ads I feature here originally ran in Surfer. This time around let’s shine the spotlight on Surfer itself, which for my money…
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If it involves Da Rubberman, I’m in. Here’s an ad from the June 1980 issue of Surfer Magazine (Vol 21, No 6) featuring Bertlemann laying down an insane bottom turn. The part of this photo I keep returning to is that glassy bit of wake off the tail, which helps give an idea…
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Sagas of Shred tends to focus on vintage surf ads, mostly out of necessity. I can’t remember the last time I saw a memorable ad for a surf brand. It’s too bad. Even when brands weren’t doing much more than slapping a logo on a sick shot of the team rider du jour,…
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