HAZFAT

At the beginning of the year we traveled to Portugal with high hopes to bag some footy for the Former surf film. Gabe Morvil is one talented dude that you may have seen surf before with a Veeco sticker on his nose. He recently tore that off and slapped a Former crux on there, joining Dane and Jake and friends. We had a great trip, aside from Dane breaking his foot, we got clips. Supertubos is a sick ass beach break but the hungry crowd of Europeans made it really hard to get exactly what we wanted. Maybe it’s because we aren’t as aggressive in the water, maybe it’s because our dongs aren’t big enough… who knows. On Jake’s two best lefts of the trip he got blatantly burned, so badly that it’s actually still a good clip, but then you look back at what could have been and you still feel the “why god,” feeling. Hopefully we visit Europe again soon and next time around we score! Call it a win, call it a loss, at the end of the day, everything looks better on video anyways.  

Welcome to 2025! We tried to kick the year off right with a surf trip first week of January. On paper it looked great. Offshore for a week straight and loads of swell. Portuguese tubes await. Day 1 was absolutely pumping. We surfed, shoulder to shoulder with people from all over the globe that had the exact same idea as us for 6 hours then we put our head in the sand in shame without having much luck. It was impossible to tell where the deepest entry point was and every set someone would go – seemingly 30 ft too deep – but who am i to judge and shut em down? Getting our bearings straight lots of surf to come.

At dinner Hunter proposed the question – “How would Mick Fanning have gone out in that crowd today?” I thought about it for a second “He would have dominated”

Day 2 the beach break isn’t working so we drove around… looking bad. There’s a reef an hour away that should get fun when the tide fills in. We’ll get there early to avoid the crowd. As we’re checking it people gather on the bluff around us getting excited about the session to come. Wetsuits are getting turned inside out boards are getting waxed… Suddenly there’s 20 people on the peak even though its still a little low tide.

Hunter proposes the question again – “What would Mick Fanning do? Would he sit around and let those groms get their fill?” I thought about it for a second “He’d go out and dominate”

So i suited up, fired up to dominate these groms.

The sets are kinda soft off the reef and the insiders gurgle on this little boil. I can’t tell what the best way to dominate these kids is – soft outside ones? or inside boilers… Well they’re doing laps around me. Not that guy again. Jesus. This is fucked. I’m getting dominated. Goddamn it. Getting kinda frantic. A little one just slips inside the outside section. It’s all mine. Kid on the shoulder is challenging me. He thinks i’m bluffing. I’m all in on this 2 footer. He pulls back. Suddenly I’m airborn. Not making this. I collide with rock. Foot wedged awkardly under my butt. I go to paddle back out but my boards demoed. Nose and tail smashed to bits.

Climbing up the rocks i realize my butts shredded up and hanging out of my suit. Foot feels pretty jacked. Goddamn it. There’s a big crowd watching. So embarrassing. Cam Richards walks up “Dunno why you guys paddled out it looks so bad.”

Yup. Trust your intuition. Don’t listen to Hunter.

Although it’s worked before. He gave us a pep talk that worked at the end of ‘Glad you Scored.’ You just never know.

Smashed my face on the reef in Indonesia this summer – also on a 2 ft wave. Takeaway – don’t surf 2 ft waves?

I limped up the stairs taking selfies and telling people it’s not too bad but it was starting to swell. Got some ice. Hoped it would just be a bruise that i could surf through but wasn’t looking good. Gabe Morvil was flying out… I just put him on Former and flew him out to surf with us. Not a good start.

After getting scammed by European telehealth dr. and walking in a bunch of clinics with no luck of getting an X Ray i flew home to assess my foot… broken bone. Almost healed now.

IMG_2681

Hunters take – Jake and Gabe got the job done and enjoyed some quality time in Europe. Some tubes, some turns and some serious, serious burns. Jake Kelley now has some third degree burns from surfing Supertubos. You’ll see what we mean when the film comes out.

The new Former store/CH11 Headquarters at 83 S Palm Street Ventura Ca 93001 is up and running! We’re open 11am-5pm Tuesday through Sunday so come on by if you’re local or just driving through. Ditty and Sarah hold it down most of the time and on occasion you might run into Clarity and the world’s best shop dog, Cadet.

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The Rincon classic was last weekend. It’s pretty crazy seeing such a crowded wave with only 4 people out, it’s gives you a perspective to what California point breaks might have been like in the past. We drank some Luke warm CI Lagers on the beach with friends and family, the Saturday of the contest was pumping, Sunday was small but still a great time and Eithan/Micky/Dimitri and Jabe all ended up in the final. Check out this vid we released on Dimitri below. He’s been surfing so good lately, you can’t not notice.

Dimitri-1  / Jabe-2 / Micky-3  / Eithan-4

 

Within the Ch11 crew: Matt has been a true family man. He’s been taking care of two little sprouts and his wife… arms full and busy with lobster work. Mickys been snowboarding in Mammoth with friends watching sporting events at home/ Topa Tops Brewing Company. Eithan is Eithan, after his Skinny Meat Head release, he’s been traveling. He was in Hawaii filming for Snapt 5, then we went to Portugal to try and surf the cave, then back home for a bit. Unfortunately the waves have been sucking at home so there’s not much productive stuff happening in these waters. Next for Aton is Japan, he’s going to test the pool out with Harry before the comp goes on again in May. Danes busted. Healing as fast as possible, he even went to Mexico to get a needle jabbed in his foot… it’s called stem cell research. Only world famous professional athletes can get that procedure done. Jakes been trying his best to surf around home but our morale keeps getting crushed.

We’re trying to revamp CH11 this year. Make a game plan for more commercial work and quality surf videos, aside from some Daily Export videos, we are reorganizing things. New store, new year, clean slate…

Don’t forget: Jake and his dumb lil Prius below

Ferrari Boyz: Jake Kelley

 

 

 

 

Eithan, Dane and Jake were/are over in Indonesia in search of a thrill ride. Eithan was specifically filming for his profile film surfing alongside Kael Walsh and Ian Crane and he first week he spent over there, we got a text saying how much pain he was in… He had been rummaging through an Indonesian forrest and plowed through a bush called Gympie Gympie (the most poisonous plant in the world). We looked it up and it sounds awful. Sleepless for a few nights and a rash all over his body. Poor skinny meat head.

He somehow managed to bag clips through the pain. Whatever Aton does, surfing, pleasure or pain, it’s always full throttle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrocnide_moroides

Toxicity

D. moroides is notorious for its extremely painful sting which may leave victims suffering for weeks or even months. It is reputed to be the most venomous plant in Australia, if not the world.^[10][16][17] After contact with the plant the victim will feel an immediate severe burning and stinging at the site of contact, which then intensifies further over the next 20 to 30 minutes and will last from hours to several days before subsiding.^[3][17][20] During this time the victim may get little sleep because of the intensity of the pain.^[3] In severe cases, it may cause urticaria (hives), and the lymph glands under the arms may swell and become painful,^[3][17][20] and there have been rare cases of hospitalization.

Dane and Jake are currently aboard a boat sipping Bingtangs with Craig and Shaun Manners for a Former trip. Jakes first Former trip, but so far they’re struggling from the sounds of it. First day they couldn’t make the paddle out at a 10+ beach break (after 2 days of travel and a 3 hour taxi ride. Shaun was the only one who made it out the back and apparently caught an insider and came straight in. Said it was torched.

The forecast looks solid and we’re sure they luck into some thick pits based on intel we have on where exactly they’re at. Not everyone can do it like Torryen Marten does, but we try. We told them to stay positive in our group chat though because all things aside, they’re on an into trip, in trunks making things happen. Things could be worse.

Micky is also over with Shane Sykes in South Africa actually scoring. A random East swell hit Balito and it looked pretty damn fun. All we got from Mig was one clip filmed off a computer and no much info to follow. Stoked for Mig, he seems to be scoring the hardest with his South African brus.

Lastly,

Ventura surf has been dog. Absolute DOG SHIT. The waves are waist-ish high and its gloomy, but that’s given Matt a lot of time to hang with his kids and work on getting “The Black Cloud,” in the water.

The Cloud is our saving grace for summer fun, but our timing is a little off, it seems that’s the case for everything. Video output, clothing, graphics, a new store location, surf trips… what’s new. The White Sea bass are everywhere at the islands too and there’s a lingering bet to be settled between Matt and Hunter regarding that elusive breed. Keep up the charity work Matt!

Soon to come to your computer screen – Shit Waves 5, a Dane heavy CH11 episode, editorial on Dimitri Poulos and STAB HIGH JAPAN!

 

Carp Park Clips

Guys being Dudes, Dudes being Guys

This week in Ventura: Fun but packed Emma wood is coming back to life, Jake and Hunter mounted their first mirror on a wall #struction, Miggy busted himself up during a kickball game, Sport Fishing Expo at the fairgrounds, nice doormat painting…etc

As a part of our new health program, we’ve been skating Carpenteria Skatepark in the morning like true old skate dogs, mellow crowd, no judgement, great workout, health.

And on Taylor Currans 30th birthday party we played Beersby, lots it under Curren’s shed and it somehow took 10 dudes to get it unstuck…. breaking panels, power tools and all.

There’s always next week.

 

 

We’ve been scouring the global forecasts for fun surf to start filming for upcoming surf vids, but every option we looked at seemed risky – expensive flights, onshore winds (not always a bad thing, but c’mon we need at least some clean mornings to commit), mediocre sandbar reports, tides not lining up… i only had a 2 week window, Jakes got work coming up, Matts got a newborn… Every day Hunter would pressurize me to commit to something because spring in Ventura is pretty bleak for getting footage and surfing in general. Cold brown water, daily onshores, sandbars still blown out from the winter, hoping for a piddly south or windswell to grovel.

Matt suggested Costa Rica – we went a few years ago and got kinda skunked but in hindsight it was a blast (6:35 in System is Yours) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f-QDo77MZU&t=3s

If we keep expectations low and add it up to just getting out of town and getting some time on a board we’ll have fun. Jake is unsure. Flights are cheap. Airbnb is affordable. ‘Bottom Line, we’re gonna get waves.’ A slogan that has become repeated every time we book a trip since Vir’s coined the term when convincing me Nicaragua was going to be pumping back in the day (It wasn’t)  We commit… mostly Matt and I’s call but now i’m blaming Hunter for pressurizing the situation. So far we’re getting skunked.

Hunter and I have been on a health kick at home – a little bit, nothing crazy… Hunter does a bunch of planks and push ups all day and i’ve been limiting beer to weekends and eating like 10 grapefruits a day… didn’t see much results but anyways we land and instantly blow out the work we’ve been putting in. There’s landmines everywhere. I get sick and still haven’t come around and now Matts sitting at dinner in a hoodie asking if anyone else feels the cool breeze ‘No Matt it’s like 95 degrees out.’ He’s going down too forshure which makes me laugh.

 

‘Why is the swell not getting in here?’  -‘It doesn’t like this angle’ ‘Goddamn it!!’ standard… Next one looks fun we’ll come around. Downday activities while we wait – Matt’s first idea – fishing for a crocodile. He says he did it here when he was a kid and the crocodile jumped out from under a bridge and ate his bait. After driving around looking for said bridge from his memory bank he realizes that happened in Mexico not here.

 

Next up on Matt’s vacation is golfing. Hunter says he’ll do a ‘Bubbler’ – an Australian party trick (look it up) if i beat him. He comes from a golfing family and losing a game to me would apparently be more embarrassing than peeing in his own mouth. We start off good. After 3 holes we are tied. 4th hole comes awry. Matt wants me to cheat. Matt loves other peoples misery and would love it very much if Hunter did a Bubbler. I fall too far behind to make a comeback. Even cheating wouldn’t help. I’m too bad at this sport. What a bitch of a game! So hard to hit that dumb little ball straight. Matt has a great game and gloats in our pathetic defeat. My wife would not be happy that i’m in Costa Rica golfing.

We’ve  come to the realization that if you had a month to hang out here and not really worry whether your getting great waves every day you would ultimately stumble into the right time and place and have a great session but it’s proven to be a difficult place to just show up and expect all the elements align. I think that smoking weed would help you score here. I wish weed didn’t make me feel like i’m dying. Makes me jealous seeing bong smoke billowing out of cars then dudes getting out smiling happy throwing shakas and paddling out perfectly content.

‘Bottom Line, We’re gonna get waves.’ – and it’s true, we are getting waves, just not what we were hoping for… yet! Still got hope.

Dane

 

SHIT WAVES 4…. not yet finished but it’s next in the video vault.

Been a minute since we made a shit waves and over the past few months we’ve had a majority of them…. shit days…

Also, we’re going on a trip (finally) so the store will be closed!

I’ve been filming Dane ride the DD2 since June of last year and I honestly haven’t seen a better board for head high California waves. Other than the neckbeard, it’s seems to be his go to for every average day around town….  After working on “Out of the Rafters,” I saw this white spine tech model pop up in sessions and eventually into the new model. Danes surfing on it makes me want my own, but being a filmer, I don’t even surf enough and should probably just stick to my chonky sperm whale.

If you haven’t seen the commercial we did about the small wave group meeting, check it out. It kinda goes into a crazy fight scene out of nowhere but it was super fun to shoot and get everyone together in one place. Lots of laughs. It inclines me to make more random commercials and skits within the surf industry, by no means is anyone a true actor nor did we have a big production crew but it was a great time and I’m glad we got the opportunity from CI to create it. I’ll try to throw some links below to Dane surfing the DD2 at harbor and the CI skit. Thanks for reading…

Hunter