Photographer Chris Burkard Talks About His Next Surf Film and the Art of Using Fear for Fuel
Release Date: 02/29/2020
Surfer Brianna Cope Talks Reality Television and Training With Navy Seals
The Inertia Podcast
Brianna Cope’s surfing journey has been as unique as any. Following a solid junior career, the Kauaian nearly qualified for the Championship Tour in 2014 and 2015. She'd still love to surf at the highest level, but her competitive focus now is on select events that she loves, like the Pipe Masters. Not to mention her other pursuits, including television. Brianna is certainly a shining light in the surfing world with her positive outlook, and I spoke to her about her new focus on other projects: like the differences between starring in the television shows Ultimate Surfer, and Surf Girl...
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Audio Reads: A Place in the Crowd
The Inertia Podcast
Ask a surfer to describe the conditions at any surf spot, on any particular day, anywhere in the world and it's almost guaranteed they'll tell you about the crowd. Which begs the question: Where, exactly, do we fit in the lineup? Should we change our mindset when it comes to crowded surf? It might not be the worst idea.
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Audio Reads: Surfing Progression – The Top 10 List
The Inertia Podcast
How do maneuvers successfully pulled off in competition over a quarter century ago, let alone today’s less dramatic, almost perfunctory whitewater reverses, qualify as “progressive?” This question really got me to thinking about what advancements in surfing performance can be considered truly progressive. So here’s my Top 10 list of the most progressive advancements in surfing's history.
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Emi Erickson on What It Means to Be a Big Wave Surfer
The Inertia Podcast
Emi Erickson occupies two separate realms of the wave-riding universe. but an old soul, perhaps. She told me she often dreams of the old days when one merely needed a wetsuit, a board, and good swell to ride big surf. Simple times when lineups weren't overcrowded and catching larger than normal waves was just part of your daily routine near her home on Oahu. But Emi lives in the modern big wave world where those who ride big surf often compete, when competitions survive and have longevity. But most surfers really just ride big waves for the love of it. We spoke with Emi about this...
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Duke Aipa Talks About Growing Up in a Legendary Family and Finding His Own Way as a Shaper
The Inertia Podcast
Duke Aipa took the roundabout way to follow his legacy. Which makes his story so much cooler. After growing up in Hawaii, Duke followed his passions for hockey, and heavy metal music, and other pursuits, which took him all over the United States. But the surfing world is glad he came home. Duke is now carrying on that family legacy as the head of Aipa Surfboards. I talked with Duke about the weight of being Ben’s son, the famous Stinger design, his own journey, and Aipa Surfboards' reputation as a pioneering brand of performance surfing.
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Freeskier Cody Townsend Discusses Finishing The Fifty Project and Balancing Risk as a New Father
The Inertia Podcast
Looking for the definition of a modern explorer, only with an emphasis on high-performance? Then Cody Townsend is an adventurer for the ages. And what a cool human to boot. If you hadn’t heard, Cody is in the middle of an epic project, , where he’s attempting to climb, and then ride, all of the lines in the book, The 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America. Now, classic to some means straight up gnarly to others. It's all in one's perspective. But Cody is tackling them all, regardless. The longtime freeskier who’s starred in hugely influential movies like Days of My Youth, started a...
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Audio Reads: 'Down With Surf Contests!' Criticizing Competition Is Anything But New
The Inertia Podcast
Feel like criticizing surf competition? Then get in line. It's nothing new and has literally been happening for centuries. Here's a look at the history of vitriol spat at competitive surfing.
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Death to Secret Spots: Readers Respond
The Inertia Podcast
Secret surf spots mean different things to different people. Sam George is tired of the media and industry exposing spots without naming them. His first piece, "Death to Secret Spots," riled up The Inertia fan base. Here, Sam revisits the subject and looks at some of our readers' responses.
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Audio Reads: Death to Secret Spots
The Inertia Podcast
For years, magazines, surf brands, and now, social media users, have promoted surf spots without telling us where they are. I've never been a fan of that. This is my examination of the death of secret spots. And I want your feedback. Find this feature on TheInertia.com and leave me a comment.
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Audio Reads: "WE vs VALS: The Paradox of Making Surfing 1975 Again"
The Inertia Podcast
VAL: Vulnerable Adult Learner. Coined by a longtime Australian surf journalist no doubt thrilled by its growing usage, this snobbishly derisive term harkens back to the slur used by early 1960s Malibu surfers to describe those who lived in the San Fernando Valley, some 10 miles inland. The sixties Vals were to be condemned by their area codes, just as today’s VALs are being condemned by their age and, through reference, the actual year they “took up” surfing. Where does the resentment come from?
info_outlineChris Burkard is a surf photographer. The sea has basically spawned his entire career and he takes pride in his ocean roots. But his image-making has become much more than surf photography. Thanks to a background in landscape, which we talk about, his photos capture the real feel of a place, not just the surf, and makes people want to be where he’s been. Even if it means five millimeter wetsuits and snow covered beaches.
As we talk Chris reveals a new film he’s working on right now, based in Iceland, that encompasses the hopes and dreams and fears of one Icelandic family. We also discussed Chris’s fears, and how he’s used those to grow as a human