Tracks July - August 2021

The other day I was in a record store flicking through album stacks when one unmistakeable cover brought my idle search to an instant halt. It was a mint copy of the ‘Morning of the Earth’ soundtrack, featuring the iconic image of Steve Cooney and Rusty Miller dipped in a burnt caramel glow, as they stood poised on the edge of the reef at Uluwatu.The price tag of a hundred bucks made me a little twitchy, but it was literally almost as though shards of luminous light were emanating from the album, beckoning me to buy it. After a few moments hesitation, I decided there was no choice – it was an essential piece of surf memorabilia I had to have. Shortly after making the purchase, I was at home dropping…

SURFER: MIKEY WRIGHT PHOTO: CHAD WOOD There are different ways to respond when you are knocked out of a contest.You can run laps of your brain trying to figure out where it all went wrong, you can hit the beers and then confront the reality of your failure through the fog of a hangover, or you can hurl yourself into a heaving funnel just around the corner from the contest site. Mikey Wright obviously chose the latter when he was nudged out in round 32 at the Rip Curl Rottnest Search event in late May. “Mikey wasn’t too bummed about dropping out of the contest,” insists photographer, Chad Woods, who captured Mikey dragging his mullet through this fierce keg at Rottenest Box. While the competitors on the other side of the island…

SURFER: RYAN WATTS PHOTO: TOM PEARSALL Surfing still has its coastal equivalent of the high-plains drifter – the wandering soul intent on leading a life dictated by the direction of the swell and the whim of the wind. They might post-up and familiarise themselves with the variables of a particular region for a while, but once one zone’s pitching delights have been fully devoured they’ll be looking for the next challenge. Ryan Watts fits the brief. The underground Kiwi charger has spent a few years in Ireland chasing emerald-hued slabs and hangin’ with his fiancé, Aisling. More recently Ryan has been roaming South Oz, living in his Ford Transit van, and foraging for swell on the desert fringes. This particular shot was taken further north, after COVID blockades were relaxed and the…

SURFER: ELISE TRIGGER PHOTO: BE RYDER Surfing The Pass at Byron typically requires a particular mindset. With its enchanting surrounds and roping lines, the fabled sand-bottom point has become a kind of hallowed meeting hall for the ‘Ride Everything’ crowd – loggers trim while twin fin devotees seek terminal velocity; asym’ converts play with the heel side and toe side response of their incongruous rails, and those unhinged finless crew might be having the most fun of all. Get too wound up about your own surfing agenda and you’ll implode at The Pass. If you want to have fun out here you have to be patient and enjoy the exploits of your fellow surfers as they whiz by. And then when fate bends a wave your way, swoop like a sea-eagle on…

SURFER: CREED MCTAGGART PHOTO: TOM PEARSALL As Creed McTaggart waxes up with wild-eyed anticipation we get a glimpse at what’s got him so excited. Beyond the mud-splattered whip,The Box is snarling – throwing down the gauntlet to any would-be takers. “He’d just arrived and was super-keen despite the fact it was huge, south and ugly… nearly everything you don’t want,” explains Tom Pearsall, who remembers being resigned to the fact that Creed’s manic enthusiasm meant he would have to swim out and shoot. “Creed persuaded the boys (Beau Cram and Kael Walsh) it was surfable and the session was on. It was by far the gnarliest I’ve swam out there.With such a powerful swell some sets were just mutating, and they had so much water they drained the reef. Huge eddies and…

BEHIND THE COVER: DAYDREAMING BY JEREMY JONES LIGHTFOOT It was on Instagram that Tracks Art Director, Ben Bugden, somewhat serendipitously spotted the work of Jeremy Jones Lightfoot. He reached out and asked if Jeremy would be interested in doing a piece for the magazine, to which Jeremy enthusiastically agreed, telling us that his grandmother was actually a good friend of Captain Goodvibes creator Tony Edwards. Small world! Originally slotted for a double page, we were so stoked with what Jeremy delivered, we had to put it on page one.You can check out his work at @j.jones.lightfoot MAKE A WAVE SURF EVERY DAY FOR SURFAID Perhaps your nickname is ‘gills’ and you have to be in the water no matter what the conditions or maybe you need a little motivation to kick your surf game…