reckon if Curren rode short wide boards instead of long skinny guns he would have ripped better than Medina...but Medina surfs better....
Posted by justin J on the 20/02/2012 09:54
Medina's clip is more entertaining, but from this footage, Curren charges harder and get's better tubes. I vote the youngster.
Posted by Jamii on the 20/02/2012 10:06
You can't compare these great surfers, it like Appletizer Vs Vintage Merlot......
Posted by Matt Pallet on the 20/02/2012 11:41
Its hard to compare because its two different types of surfing, on one side you could say medina wins because his surfing was more technical but compared to airs people can do these days his clip was not actually impressive. On the other side, tom was surfing( wave RIDING) and he was doing that better than most people can, like the lines and bottom turns and stuff...... so Tom gets my vote
Posted by Preenie on the 20/02/2012 12:52
Curren for sure,classic to think that,he use to hang with franki for some inspiration.Plus fotage is of cranking waves
Posted by Chris on the 20/02/2012 13:36
Curren ... I cant believe you are actually asking this question!!!
Madina got some good chop hops and a fair off the top. But that's like comparing a good bottle of wine ... sure Madina might mature and become good ...maybe great. Curren in that clip is great Madina could only wish to surf like that .... and that's not considering style.
P>S good point, "Appletizer Vs Vintage Merlot......"
Posted by John McC on the 20/02/2012 14:57
For me this is more a question about the direction that surfing is taking. 20 years ago when the Curren clip was shot Curren wasn't even on the tour. Yet he was still the most exciting thing in surfing. He'd won his world titles and was off searching for cooking, cranking empty waves with Frankie. At the time we all thought it was the most epic thing ever, some of us still do. Medina's blitzkrieg last year was exciting for surfing but it's leading in a different direction. Personally I could watch Curren's bottom turn forever.
Posted by francois on the 21/02/2012 21:12
How can you even compare the two.Tom is a legend over and over.Gabriel is a littlle snotkop that rips.Both athletes deserve respect in their own right but I choose Tom hands down.
Posted by Sonya on the 22/02/2012 08:55
I've been rneaidg a few posts and really and enjoy your writing. I'm just setting up my own blog and only hope that I can write as well and provide the reader so much insight.
Posted by warren l on the 22/02/2012 13:06
Tommy is just so fluid, but Gabriel tears it to pieces. Tough call. I do prefer Tommys barrel skills though.
Posted by Grant P on the 22/02/2012 15:13
Are you serious??? Curren is to surfing what the Pixies were to todays rock musicians. Gabriel who? Never heard of him and looking at his surfing, he looks pretty much like anybody else on the tour at the moment... Flip, flap, wiggle and pop! Curren is a surfing genius. Always has been, always will be.
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Back to the future in 1984
19/02/2012
I found this SURFER Cover image recently looking for something else on Google Images. At first I missed the amazing futurism of what it represents as it looked, well so like so many contemporary shots we see today. Then I thought hang on, that was 1984, the year that Tom Carroll won the World Title and Prince released ‘Purple Rain’. Jordy Smith hadn’t been born yet and the internet hadn’t been invented.
I can’t ID the surfer. I don’t think it is Dane Kealoha the legendary Hawaiian charger but who ever he is he was certainly providing a glimpse of things to come. There are two things that strike me about this image. Firstly the aerial. There were not many airs been boosted around the place in 1984. In fact to benchmark how futuristic this was in its day consider that the floater was thought to be pretty cutting edge around then. Secondly the 4 fin setup, showing that high performance quads have been around long before Dane Reynolds was born or Kelly Slater brought them back into vogue.
The first guy to positively ID this futuristic ripper scores a limited edition BOMBsurf T. If we can, we’ll try track him down and ask him about it and what it was like surfing and being on the cover of SURFER back in 1984.
Got something to say? Then leave a comment!
Posted by Warren Howard on the 19/02/2012 20:03
The surfer is Buttons Kealulani(not sure on spelling).
Posted by John McCarthy on the 19/02/2012 20:49
Hey Warren are you sure? We're actually talking to Buttons about something else right now (see the next issue of theBOMBsurf) but it would be easy to check with him. Any other takers?
Posted by Richard von Wildemann on the 19/02/2012 21:10
Larry "Rubberman" Bertlemann
Posted by Warren Howard on the 20/02/2012 06:24
It's Dane Keakulani
Posted by mark snowball on the 20/02/2012 08:37
Yeah,Buttons Kaluiokalani,but not riding a Ben Aipa T+C by the looks of things.Think LB had already faded by this time.Could also be Louie Ferreira.Tough one with no light on his face!?
Posted by chris on the 20/02/2012 08:49
Dane Keoloha
Posted by Patrick on the 20/02/2012 09:01
The surfer is Larry Bertlemann - http://www.surfwarez.com/ProductDetails.aspx?PID=788&c=0
Posted by Gabriel Kroes on the 20/02/2012 09:09
Montgomery Earnest Thomas Kaluhiokalani aka Buttons...
Posted by Gary Lightfoot on the 20/02/2012 09:10
Its Larry Bertelman
Posted by byron on the 20/02/2012 09:14
its Larry o's
Posted by Jamii on the 20/02/2012 09:25
Larry Bertlemann busting an air at Velzyland.
See link to the Astro deck team in Hawaii 83/84
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-71uGoVclV2s/TzAcS5qcOAI/AAAAAAAAGoM/CjlYa5-6s8o/s1600/thrust5.jpg
Posted by Richard Myburgh on the 20/02/2012 10:06
The original rubberman Larry Bertleman!
Posted by Hugh Thompson on the 20/02/2012 10:28
Certainly looks like Buttons to me, but I don't remember him wearing that big-ass watch when he surfed. Buttons was so into the single fin stinger type boards with Mark Liddel and crew. Aerials were not uncommon during that period, just go back and see what Christian Fletcher was doing, as well as our own futuristic surfers, Martin Potter and Snake Park's Mark Wright, who could get air whenever he cared to. Unfortunately at the time it meant nothing and went over everyone's heads. Early 4fins were very popular with the Twinzer dominating for a while back then.
Posted by Hylton Lockitch on the 20/02/2012 10:50
Martin Potter
Posted by mix on the 20/02/2012 10:53
definitely Larry Bertlemann, got the issue in my collection, Was his last cover on Surfer ( he was at one stage holding the most covers ever)
He was so ahead of his time, with surfing style,riding twinnies and stingers.Plus his flamboyant self promotion and sponsorships outside of the surf industry set the bar for pro surfing today.
Also could surf big Sunset and Waimea if need be.
Him and Kevin Reed from Santa Cruz were the aerial pioneers. Massive contribution to surfing.
Posted by mix on the 20/02/2012 10:55
PS/ Check the QUAD !
Posted by Millerslocal on the 20/02/2012 11:04
Larry Bertelmann as shot by good mate Craig Fineman, who was also a famous skate photag at the time.
Posted by Barry Campbell on the 20/02/2012 12:16
That was right in my era. I would put my money on Larry Bertleman, saw him doing like that stuff in Hawaii, even before Mart the Dart was doing it! The other big hair charger of the time was Buttons, doing similar stuff, but he was a bigger guy than LB. My money’s on LB.
Posted by Jesse Langemann on the 20/02/2012 13:11
"used to do "Berts" on the asphalt banks in the school yards!" lol
Posted by John McCarthy on the 20/02/2012 14:45
Hey Guys thanks for all the input! Yea this surfing is inspiring to say the least especially considering it comes from 1984. The consensus seems to be going with LB. We're gonna try track Larry down to see if it is in fact him and see if he'll update us on what he's been up to for the last couple of decades. Richard von Wildemann you are looking good for a limited edition BOMBsurf T, can you mail me your postal and T size to john@thebombsurf.com?
Posted by Anton on the 20/02/2012 15:21
definitely larry, richard takes the t-shirt.
art brewer took the pic. block of wax for getting that right?
Posted by Henk on the 20/02/2012 16:22
This is Martin Potter
Posted by neville on the 20/02/2012 17:24
Martin Potter
Posted by Ryan McMeeking on the 20/02/2012 17:57
I think Warren's got it (Montgomery "Buttons" Kaluhiokalani) - my first choice would have been Potz, but I think he was riding Safari twinnies or T&C's at the time - with that haircut its gotta be Buttons!
Posted by Ashley Legg on the 20/02/2012 21:17
It's Larry Bertlemann
Posted by Bandit on the 21/02/2012 05:17
Larry Bertleman
Posted by ham on the 21/02/2012 08:55
chris osborn from the bluff was doing that in std6 .
He matriculated in 86
Posted by ham on the 21/02/2012 08:56
Dane Kealoha
Posted by bikoumou patrick on the 21/02/2012 17:29
Dane kehaloa
Posted by Rowan Whitfield on the 21/02/2012 18:08
Well, that looks very much like Dane? Larry Bertleman or Buttons is a good bet? also Michael Ho comes to mind. I tink it's Larry Bertleman, Michasl was'nt as big as that? Button's was a lancky kid?
Posted by Mouse Billson on the 21/02/2012 20:02
Dane Kiolao ( speeling surname not good)
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A promise of great things to come...
15/02/2012
I dislike getting packages. I really do. It means I have to take my ID go all the way to the post office in Overport Centre (which is a shit hole), stand in the queue (which seems to get longer every time I go) and redeem my flimsy piece of paper usually for a returned BOMBsurf mag because someone has filled out their address details incorrectly.
This Saturday was different though. I’d been avoiding the chore all week when finally it could be put off no longer. With my game face on I braved the pleasures of Overport City and the post office.
My weary resignation gave way to surprise then timid hope as I saw the package I was collecting. The Ucapah Selamat Indonesian marked postal stamps plastered down the one side of the package promised something different.
These days with fast file sharing services like drop box, yousendit and we transfer contributors don’t bother to send discs anymore, it is all handled online. It is by and large a much more efficient process actually. However every now and then you get surprised.
My first though was ‘who is it from?’. Like a little child at Christmas I flipped the manila envelope over. This package was travelling one way only as there was no return to sender on the back, instead a one line email address lanceslabbert@gmail.com.
I smiled to myself and rushed home to see what was on the disc. Though I haven’t see much of him in recent years Lance and I go back quite a bit. At a time when I was wandering around the world penniless looking for the next wave to surf, Lance was one of the powerhouses of global surf photography. In fact between him and Chris Van Lennup they pretty much dominated the scene in the 90’s. I’m not just talking about locally in SA. These guys were amongst the best in the world, if not THE best. They shot for SURFER and Surfing and a bunch of other international titles. Both of them were formidable swimmers, but they were very different people with very different approaches. Chris was an endurance machine, he would swim all day at Pipe just to get the shot done. Lance was a creative genus who constantly found ways to present a new take on things. They were both incredibly brave. In fact Lance was the first photographer I ever saw swimming at Waimea Bay on a day so big that The Bay closed out. I know that because I was right next to him when we both got caught inside…
I digress. Unplanned and uncoordinated I had this uncanny knack of bumping into Lance all over the world. I’d be walking down the street in London waiting for my connection back to SA and bang I’d bump into Lance. Or as mentioned previously I’d paddle out at Waimea to find him out there shooting. This happened with such regularity at one point we both joked about where we’d see each other next.
So now having not spoken to him in ages this package arrives at my door bringing all the thoughts and memories with it.
Most often when you get a body of work by a photographer you’ll get one or two great pics and quite a few average ones.
These days what happens is that the photogs will send low res viewing copies via email. If you then select the image you request the high res and they’ll send it using an FTP service. Call him old school, but Lance hadn’t f@#ked around. He’d sent the high res Tiff’s, 45 images at 50 odd Megs an image. Talk about the motherload!
As I scrolled through image after image mesmerised by what I was looking at I had only one thought. This body of work should be displayed in an art gallery in New York, not sitting on some hack publisher’s broken down Mac in hot humid Durban SA, the arse end of the world.
I contemplate the humble presentation of this work and wonder at its real value in terms of changing the way we think about and choose to interpret the ocean’s lineage and our relationship with it.
I have no idea what prompted him to send these to me after all this time, but what I can say is that you are in for a real treat when we share some of these images with you in our June Issue.
John
Got something to say? Then leave a comment!
Posted by Lance on the 16/02/2012 05:42
Hi John
You forgot the Maldives!?
Thanks for the kind words.
Cheers
Lance
Posted by Millerslocal on the 16/02/2012 07:43
I grew up seeing Lance's images in Surfer & Surfing, back in the days when SA was still isolated from the rest of the world, and it was a big deal when Saffa's were making it on the global scale. Can't wait to see these shots! Know they're going to be AAA grade!
Posted by Emma-joan McPherson on the 16/02/2012 11:49
I'm fortunate enough to know Lance also and he really is, The Dude himself. Old school and amazing in every sense of the world. I'm lucky to have met him and even luckier to still have some contact with him. Very much looking forward to seeing the pictures.
Best
Emma-joan
Posted by mark on the 16/02/2012 12:45
Cannot wait, I remember both the surfer mag cover and the Sunset pic on the zag...
I have never met Lance, but a story I have of Chris Van Lennep was one day (in the 90s) at Cave Rock, surf was a nice 4 foot with some bigger sets, but the tide was super low and as I pushed under one wave i looked into the barrel, saw Chris standing knee deep on the gnarly rock ledge taking pics of some guy deep in the barrel further down....That image is imprinted on my mind and just showed the guys dedication
Posted by Lance on the 16/02/2012 19:37
Chris is without a doubt the man! Respect!
Posted by rene on the 20/02/2012 09:35
do we have to wait so long could we not have a small sneek preview.
Posted by glennintune on the 20/02/2012 14:36
Saw you pounding the pavement yesterday! and I thought it was due to the howling on-shore, meanwhile you were just tripping after checking out some awesome pics - all amped up! go-on just post a few low res? please?
Posted by Jack on the 20/02/2012 15:19
Yeah! It's about time that you exposed some of your fresh creative work Slab, you're a humble man with genius talent - can't wait to check it out!!!
Posted by John McC on the 20/02/2012 16:09
Sorry guys, no sneak peeks. There is a conceptual side to this feature that is really interesting. If we let the cat out of the bag we'll ruin the surprise. Keep an eye out for the Winter Issue of TBS where we'll run it as a complete feature.
Posted by Douglas on the 22/02/2012 01:01
Yea!
Sir Lance, thanks for all the good times and advice over the years. Looking forward to these further innerviews from your perspective of this fragmented world of ours which is blessed with warping walls of H2O and keeps us sane in what ever form we experience it.
Freundlichen Grüße aus Braunschweig
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RIP Eric Robinson - Reckless
13/02/2012
Eric worked for Safari in the shop front and factory and was a Safari team rider. He was a hardcore surfer and charged with everybody. Graham Hynes said he was a true gentleman and a pleasure to have around. In his youth Eric spent hundreds of hours surfing at Umbogintwini beach developing his unique natural foot style and qualified with distinction to represent Southern Natal at SA Champs on numerous occasions. Eric was incredibly brave not fearing huge waves and at one Southern Natal surf contest at St Michaels, which was cancelled due to the massive storm surf conditions and the attending danger, Eric jumped off the rocks and paddled out to join springbok surfer Anthony Brodovitch for a session. It was wild with +10’ sets. Everyone else could only watch in awe and with the greatest respect for our 15-year old buddy.
Eric’s incredible braveness and selflessness would later be acknowledged with being awarded a bravery medal for having assisted his surfing friend Bruce Aldridge back to the safety of the beach after Bruce was attacked by a shark while they were surfing together off Umbogintwini beach.
Got something to say? Then leave a comment!
Posted by Shayne McGee on the 20/02/2012 10:37
Many fond memories of the early Twini days and the late evening sessions with you. Thanks for all the tips as a grom and lifts home from the beach. You were always an inspiration to us.
Posted by Marcel Hofmann on the 20/02/2012 10:43
Met Eric in the Maldives 2011 after he hiked and paddle across 2 islands, one of them jails, just to get in at least one good surf! .
He surfed with his slops tucked into his baggies until dark!
We were lucky enough to give him a lift home and meet an awesome charger! RIP!
Posted by Ryan McMeeking on the 20/02/2012 18:09
I met Eric when I was a lightie surfing St Mikes - my memory of him was during one of the South Coast contests in the 80's - he hit the lip so hard his knee came back and hit him in the mouth, and sent his front teeth through his bottom lip - nothing to him he was all smiles (can't remember how he did in the heat). He was a great role model to us local groms. RIP
Posted by Gareth Davies on the 21/02/2012 08:16
Surfed with Eric on many occasions at Toti and Greenies. Sorry to hear of his passing. RIP Eric.
Posted by Brad Manthe on the 21/02/2012 10:52
I wish you well dear friend - memories of "Hotel Command" army days and your special quirky humour will forever be remembered. I am proud to have known and surfed with you ... Brad Manthe, East London
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Some waves are just not meant to be ridden.
12/02/2012
A dose of small wave wipeouts to make you feel better about yourself this Monday morning.
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