Surfing World Magazine

Surfing World is the oldest, deepest and most respected surfing magazine in the world. Founded in 1962, it's become a cornerstone of surfing culture both in Australia and right around the globe. It's a premium, high concept magazine, showcasing the best surf writing and photography. It's both classic and contemporary, reflecting the kaleidoscopic surfing culture of today.

DJARRUK, WADDAWURRUNG COUNTRY • Djarruk Wadawurrung Dja. Nganyaki-i-beek baa woorongalook wurdi Wadawurrung gerrupa-tjarra-dja Wadawurrung kinkinbil beek wurdi getjawil detetj-gupma-bul mooroop-a.

BIG MOB WEEKEND – the gathering at Djarruk • Long before it was named after the English settler who’d been granted title to the adjacent farmland, Bells Beach was known to the Waddawurrung as Djarruk. They believed the headland resembled an elbow in the coastline, and it held special significance. It still does today.

Surfing World Magazine

Surfing World 418

AKU MASIH DI SINI – I’m still here… and not in Indonesia. • I’m still here. Half of the surfers in Torquay aren’t. They’re all in Indo, some have been gone for months now. First it was the young bulls. A bunch of them jumped aboard boats and were first seen in a traffic jam at Lance’s with 50 guys out. They were the traffic, but like everyone up currently in the islands, they’ve been dreaming of that first Indo wave for two years now. They were always going to be a little spirited. They’ve since disappeared in Bali, burning fuel, piss, libido. They haven’t been past Geelong for two years… I don’t even want to know what they’re doing over there.

CORAL AND THE COLD WATER ULU – a quiet winter in camp • The first phone call goes to the house and is answered by Coral Durant’s little brother. One of them, anyway. There are eight Durant kids in all. The house shares a single landline with the camp shop, which they run. It’s the only landline running out to the Red Bluff camp. No mobile coverage out here, of course. “She’s down the shop,” her brother replies when I ask if I can talk with her. “I’ll hang up and just ring the number again. She’ll pick up.” I haven’t been able to talk with Coral for a couple of days. The swell’s been up, making her even harder to reach. The phone rings. Coral answers.

SURFING WORLD TURNS 60 • SUBSCRIBE and support an Australian legend

BEYOND THE BACK LEDGE — the Julian Wilson interview • In late June, Julian Wilson found himself bobbing around in the South Pacific. He wasn’t quite sure where he was, but he knew where he wasn’t. He wasn’t in Brazil with the rest of the pro tour. After a decade, he’d walked away from that life last year. Instead, he was sitting off the back ledge at Cloudbreak with just two other guys, sitting on an 8’6” on a dead glass sea, waiting for a 15-foot set to appear from the south with his name on it. He’d never surfed Cloudbreak’s mythical back ledge before, but lately he’s been making a thing of walking into the unknown. It’s a long way from the castaway kid with the puka shell necklace, surfing his longboard at Noosa, the marketing department’s dream. He’s long shaken the Golden Child tag to prove himself in serious surf, winning Pipeline and Tahiti. More importantly, he’s shaken the Golden Child curse that’s befallen Australian surfing for generations. JulianWilson sits off the back ledge at Cloudbreak, content. Up the reef, a set rumbles his way.

WINTER AT HOME

MORE SEE YOU THAN YOU SEE THEM

“More see you, than you see them.” – Andrew Quilty’s August in Kabul • What would make a surfer drop everything and travel to a landlocked warzone in Afghanistan? And why would he take a surfboard? These are good questions for celebrated war photographer, Andrew Quilty. Having fallen into both surfing and photography during a road trip around Australia, Quilty started working for the newspapers but spent his spare time...