Music: Ty Segall- “The Slider”

Kohl Christensen @ Cloudbreak by Brent Bielmann

CRY FREEDOM!

Free. Gratos. Gratuit. The best things in life are free, said Janet Jackson. Tubes are free, love is free (hmmm), birdsong is free, the honeysuckle aroma carried on an offshore evening zephyr, is free, as are dolphins. Well they should be.
This August, we recommend doing as much free stuff as possible.

1. Get tubed. The highest state of human consciousness is achieved in the tube. This is the place where a surfer maybe achieve enough pleasure to last at least until next week… maybe longer. All you need to do is plan this act about a second or two in advance (no more), by pulling in, perhaps stalling and pulling in. That’s it.

2. Forage. There is no better time to get free lunch than August. (Well, actually, September ain’t bad…) You can eat a whole manner of nutritious plants that grow all around us. Stinging nettle, clover, dandelion, wild garlic, mugwort, hogweed, goosegrass are all ripe and ready, right now. Like saltier free food? Try seaweeds like brown leafweed, bladderwrack, carragheen and sea lettuce are but a few that grow around Europe’s Atlantic coasts. Yum!

3. Watch men in coloured lycras. Contest are free. Yep, you might have been silly enough to spunk a ton on watching the archery at the London Olympics, but your fave surf event is 100% free admission (except Bells, but seriously). This month, you are spoiled with the awesomeness of WQS’s in Newquay! Lacanau! Zarautz! What a choice that is. If you hitch hike there, and sleep under the scaffold too, well that’s seriously low budget sports entertainment fun… (p.s. autographs are also free).

4. Free water. Drink water from drinking fountains is free. Seriously, are you really gonna fork out a euro something for a plastic bottle of water bottled at a so called source somewhere, and then driven in by truck? In 2012?!? Plastic bottles are evil, we know it now. And truck drivers are at best, suspect. Cut these middle men out by going to the fountain. When the oil has all run out, wars will instead be about water. Fill up now and beat the death rush!

5. Be nice. Being nice is free, as well. Being friendly in the surf is free, but you wouldn’t think so. Being angry is expensive, in terms platelets sticking to your blood vessels and giving you high blood pressure, premature death and thus reduced earnings. This is summer, and the surf is crowded. It won’t cost you anything to be thoroughly nice chap in the surf, but the rewards are rich, vast and plentiful. You’ll bask in an all day glow of the ‘I get it’ vibe. You’ll be more stoked. And wasn’t that the whole point?

(p.s. If you don’t want to eat stinging nettles for obvious reasons, are bored to tears by the WQS, don’t fancy Legionaires’ Disease, and have no intention of paddling around like a Buddhist, giving up your waves to turkeys, stick to free activity no.1.)

Kelly calls John John’s wave.

Hawaiian Pipe specialist Kalani Chapman offers you a view from the inside.

Only a few days to go now before the official waiting period commences for the highly-anticipated Volcom Fiji Pro. Current ratings front-runner Joel Parkinson had this to say on who he thought might go good out there:

“I reckon the Hobgood brothers (C.J. and Damien) are amazing out there, they read the place better than probably anyone, and of course Kelly (Slater) has been surfing the place since he was a kid so he’s got it pretty dialed too,” Parkinson said. “But it’ll be interesting because it’s been five years since the last Fiji contest, so there are a bunch of guys on tour now who haven’t surfed the place and one of those guys might surprise us.”

Parko who finished equal 5th in 2008 (when the contest ran last) has returned to the islands every year since, so as far as familiarity goes he should be one of the more comfortable out in the lineup.

However, after John John’s win in Brazil, all eyes will once again be on the new class of trophey-contending rookies, including Volcom team rider Mitch Coleborn who has been chosen as one of two wildcards. The powerful Sunshine coast goofy footer will no doubt be a talent to be reckoned with on his forehand ou there.

“Tavarua is one of my favorite places in the world,” says Mitch. “To compete at a world-class wave makes for a really even playing field. Everyone will get sick waves, from the vets to the rookies; it comes down to your surfing and keeps match-ups real fair. I can’t wait.”

The remaining wildcard will go to a local surfer who is deemed the overall champion of three separate trial events run by the Fiji Surfing Association (FSA).

Swell charts are showing all kinds of red in the South Pacific heading directly for Fiji… this thing can go down straight out the gates. Tune in on June 3rd at www.volcom.com/fijipro.

VOLCOM FIJI PRO ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Brett Simpson (USA), Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS), C.J. Hobgood (USA), Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS), Damien Hobgood (USA), Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Bede Durbidge (AUS), Willian Cardoso (BRA)
Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA), Kai Otton (AUS), Mitch Coleborn (AUS)
Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Raoni Monteiro (BRA), Isei Tokovu (FIJ)
Heat 7: Owen Wright (AUS), Tiago Pires (PRT), Yadin Nicol (AUS)
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 9: John John Florence (HAW), Miguel Pupo (BRA), Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 10: Julian Wilson (AUS), Heitor Alves (BRA), Kolohe Andino (USA)
Heat 11: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Gabriel Medina (BRA), Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 12: Michel Bourez (PYF), Alejo Muniz (BRA), Adam Melling (AUS)