Our good mate Conno has fled to the UK to save lives on the not so warm beaches of  ‘some dank joint’… The weather has taken its toll on the poor prick…

These cunts rule… There is a pile of masterminds behind their site Bogdump… Hooks is one of ‘em, Battle is another… 2 fine characters who I have travelled, worked, shot and boozed with over the hazey years…

What they have goin’ over at the site is downright debauchery… It’s this way because they are what they do, not a pack of corporate hawks swoopin for mullet, they are skaters and their team are their mates… Which is something I dig and its damn right legit’…

Below is the latest installment of Topside… The Full length feature film is in the pipeline… This shit really floats my boat.

TOPSIDE Ep4 from Bog Dump on Vimeo.

One of the boys is turning 30… Ol’ long tooth Watson… Hes the Freckly prick on the right

30′s a big deal… For most its time to settle down, for Ryan Watson the term doesn’t exist… He is pure carnage… At the same time he’s one of my very best mates and just happens to be one of the finest surfers the Sunshine Coast has ever produced… He doned the volcom stone for years as a grom and had Handley boards piled in the garage, but after a run of problems with his nimbly ol’ kneebones his surf career was all but done… Not before he gave the likes of TB, Joel, Fanning, O’Rafferty and so on a good run for their money… But things up here on the Sunny Coast were a lot different back then… The Sunshine Coast was ‘too far north’ and I guess forgotten to the proffessional world of surfing… Fuck! times have changed ay!… Wade, Mitch, Brades, Julian, Lee, Sedz, Campbell and a heap of new lil freaks are bouncing outta the woodwork like termites…

Anyhow way off track… After building a healthy link with Taylor from Chilli surfboards I asked the inevitable ‘How bout a free board mate?’…

Thats when 2 things out of the ordinary took place… 1 for Taylor… 1 for me… Firstly Taylor was just about to mention some contra deals, ie a free craft for RV!… The other strange thing was the board I was hoping to score wasnt for myself but for Ryza’s 30th present…

Bonza!

We were on the same page… It arrived in bublewraped bliss in 2 days… Today she got a solid coat of paint… Im not giving Ryza a free stick without vandalizing the thing with a bit of RV rekko… He gets the thing today… I plan on shootin his reaction, he hasnt had a new board in over 12 years…

Im callin tears… I’ll be off it if not…

Tune in for the next installment of ‘A BOARD FOR THE BATTLERS’

if youre plannin on a new craft click on the lil chilli logo to your right… Theyll spear you in the right direction!… Cheers Chilli

‘Credit where credits due Jimmy’

Ive done my fair share of time working on the Billabong pro in Tahiti… Tropical Punch was the last film I directed/edited from the lil island and for the time we had and conditions we were under it came out pretty neat…

But what Mr Burns has done in a few days is kinda magical I guess… Im a ruthless critic, if I dont like something i’ll say it, especially if its made by some overpaid deadbone… That stuff gets under my skin, but scum will always rise to the top… My point is, on the other side there is guys like Chase Burns… Probably gettin paid enough to just pay the bills, enough to sip on one cold hinano a night… enough to get a ticket home… But ‘enough’ has given him freewill on this finely crafted video of his time and outlook of Tahiti…

Skills can be learnt, Talent like this is something you inherit…

Strange name for a surf film… But strange works and I know fuck all about what went into this film or what vision director Nick Brooks had when he penciled in the name…

Out of a bunch of aspiring Aussie filmmakers I think Brooks is on his game… More importantly he knows talent when he sees it… His latest film features a few of the best juniors goin’ round…

First off…Craig Anderson… For RV, Craig is the most entertaining junior surfer on the planet right now… The guy is rife with style and one of the few kids who shakes shit up in the world of covermount DVD’s… dont get me wrong there is some flare comin’ out of the Aussie junior ranks but Craig is soaring above… He missed the boat on the Young Gun series and lucky for Joycey, Dane and Clay ’cause he would of rattled their cages.

Then there is Chippa Wilson, let it be said and said freely that Chippa is the goods… Australian as a meat pie and fresher than the sauce that goes on it… Fresh from the mould of Airshow royalty Dave Nielson and RV’s own Wade Goodall… Wade mentioned Chippa too me late in the days of the Airshow series… His words were something along the lines of ‘The kid fuckin’ rules’… Now 4 or 5 years later he is somehow still underground in the world of free surfing… Do us a favour… Watch his clip… Then let it be known… Chippa owns it…

The other freak to feature is Dale Richards… Waving the flag and wavin’ it proudly for Indigenous surfers worldwide… The kid’s got class and style and reads Snapper like a book… Once he’s read it he burns it cover to cover…

A host of other junior Aussies fill in the gaps in Brooks’ latest film so you should get yourself down to your local surf shop and demand a copy, help out  Australian freelance filmmakers before we join the Bilby on the endangered species list. Since the introduction of free covermount DVD’s its almost impossible for crew like Nick to get thier film seen, let alone paid for… Without your support the humble surf film may well fade away into freebie hell and the slow to load world of the web…

heres a few examples of the words above

To see more of Nicks work or heckle him for a copy of T.I.Y.L go here Nick Brooks on Vimeo

Kendall spends some serious time behind the lens. In this time he has learnt a few tricks, most on a proffessional level some on a another… His latest is gettin crew to pose for a photo while he shoots footage with the video function of his still shot… I havent had the time to trawl through all of his stuff so here is the first one I found of Vasa ‘steelin’ in Hawaii… More to come

Words by Brady.

Anzac Day was one of the best days I’ve had in a while, all the boys got up early for the dawn service and after that we all went for a surf and the waves were good. Every Anzac day the past few years we’ve had fun waves. After that we were back to mine for a big cook up and then we hit the Tewantin RSL for some two up and a few cold ones. That afternoon Drakie had going away drinks and that turned into a bit of a party. Anyway at the end of the night we thought it would be a good idea to spray paint my garage walls.
I gave Lee some cans and let him go mad. It made for some entertainment while the rest of us sat there having a drink watching Lee let his twisted mind loose, a few of us helped with colouring in and Vardy was on the didgeridoo cracking everyone up. When Lee ran out of spray cans it was around 4am and time to call it a night. The next day we all woke up with a hangover and the whole house smelt of paint. We went downstairs to check out the chaos and it didn’t look to bad, considering the level everyone was on.
He could probably touch it up a little bit with the right colours and another hour but unfortunately Lee was off the following day back to Bali. So until next time.

I dont know either brother from a bar of soap… But like you, I know the basics… They’re entertainers on the land and in the water and they have hit the world wide web with their own Blog, not one their sponsors set up with any corporate bullshit. Just a raw, simple and effective site that will have you kicking back laughin to yourself… Laughing alone is one of the best things you can do in this world… They have got ‘emselves a video camera and along with knowing every pro on the planet makes for some candid entertainment… Most mornings I do the usual rut boringly run on my emails and make sure I still have enough money for lunch that day… Then I scour through the sites that kick off my morning, maybe find some inspiration for the 8 hours of editing or shooting I have ahead of me… The first place to go is the goods life… But there is a heap of others ive sussed out, most can be found in our ‘like minded fools’ tab just to your right… The controversial penslingers at stabmag.com always have something to read, with the likes of Jed Smith happy to write his mind on the pages of the site and you can always scour through the lil weeds section… Which I do out of habit and concern that I could well be singin for my supper with all the lil weeds editing like Walter Murch… Theres a heap of young rigs vying to be the next chick to stir Derek’s cocktail umbrella… and good on em… ‘Give me a stab’… what a concept?… But the list goes on, my good mate Kai Neville is in the process of piecing Modern Collective together with a team that will shake the salt of ya face with electronic, hi fi mayhem… It was only 6 years ago Kai and I were battlin’ it out for the best angles at Hippies carpark… Reminiscing what would life be without huh?… Dion has just re jigged his site and its pretty sweet, unless he is stranded on an island in the middle of an ocean unknown and he cant get online… But when he’s in civilisation the place flows with clips, pics and chicks that make you feel like you missed the boat… Our good mate Sharna from our talked up ‘Not just a pretty face’ section has her strange lil world of design and all things strange at ‘the shy party‘, but she sure knows how to spot a rig… Cheads and Spencer and a heap of other Aussie QSers have the tourlife which again is a site that just rubs salt in the wound that is yours/ours current life, but theyre takin’ a gamble on makin a life out of what they love and fuckin good on ‘em… They know how to have a good time, there’s no doubting that… Then theres this guy ‘smart casual’ who is just a dude with a strange eye and a heap of different camera’s, angles and perspectives on life that I find refreshing in amongst a world of tightly cropped ‘action’ shots, you will get too see photo’s of surfing not just who’s stickers are on what board, along with what he has been up to hangin with mates and artists and all thing’s left of centre…Then last but not least is our good mates at Empire Ave, a site devoted to the collaborations and creative elements of the board industry and like they say ‘its so fresh its delivered by ninjas’

anyhow it’s sites like these that have helped put RV on the internet map and our thanks go out to them for the miles of traffic that have found us through you/them… first, present and past tense eat balls… write it how you talk it …

cheese ya grater…

Are Vee

I just peeled out of bed to an email from Wade.

There was a bit of general how you been? how good is Cali? and so on…

It finished off with a link to a video from a young kid from his home town, Nick McDonald. Nick was in the water when we shot CD episode 2 ‘the Kronks’ and was surfing as recklessly as Wade but just fell short on stomping anything… Thats what made us take note, the kid didn’t give a fuck about nailing a lil spin, it was all or nothing… The Moffat groms were ravin’ about him, telling me stories of the rolls and flips he has landed… ‘but no one got it on camera’… It was obvious this kid had the same blood runnin’ through him that took Joel and Wade from psyched up Caloundra kids to the DVD players of the world.

This short clip was shot by Nick’s old boy and edited by a mate of his (so keep in mind, when your a kid your dad usually misses all your best clips, its part of the parcel)…When your sponsorless this is the only choice you got, you gotta work for it not like the celebrity kids who get picked up when they’re 12 and pampered through their junior days, til they come out the other side with a sticker kit, ego and not one life skill to save ‘emselves… ‘Good luck on the ‘QS mate, now off you go‘

This kid is gonna earn his spot in the surf world… His peers know who he is, its only a matter of time til the rest catch on.

So to any company out there lookin’ for a rad kid to rep your company, Nick could be right up your alley.

Wade doesn’t throw out to many compliments or props unless they are well deserved…

”Nick Mcdonald is 18. He surfs as good as most of the top juniors his age in Australia but doesnt have any major sponsors or backing. He surfs with a lot of flair and power not unlike a young Andy Irons, he looks alot like Andy too. His airs are nuts.
I’ve surfed with this kid for many years now and I have no doubt that with some backing the kid will turn alot of heads in the surfing world.”  WSG.

If he’s not out hunting waves he is probably diggin’ holes or stakin’ bessa’s so if you’re chasing the kid you might have to do a run around the job sites of Caloundra…

A heap of us recently headed west to Eumundi to see one of our best mates play a gig at Joes Waterhole.

Jeffy Curran plays alongside Dalla Frasca, one of the most unique and gruntiest female vocalists Australia has ever produced… If you ever get the chance to see these guys live dont hesitate to strap up your boots and get ready for some stompin’… I think I can collectively say it was one of the best nights we have ever had… If you want the doors blown off your local pub mention these 2 lunatics to the manager… The 2 of them are currently in Montreal, Canada after being selected as the sole Australian act to represent our country in the International Earth day festival… TURN IT UP!

I came across a heap of old sketch books and notepads that I have been hoarding over the last 10 years… Its amusing to look back on your drawings and thoughts, most of these pictures remind me of certain times and memories from growin’ up til now.

This was out of a notebook I had during my time working at Billabong… I remember drawing this in a Tahiti meeting… Must of been killin’ for a durrie, thank god I gave those filthy things up.

This comes from the same time. Not sure who’s responsible but i’d say it was either Jalley or Stirl… ‘dey came from the foocha and they tewk our jewbs’

This is from early 2000′s sometime… I believe its weed inspired.

No idea who did this but i dig it.

This is really old… The southern cross, Australias biggest tattoo epidemic.

punk is mo’hine.

This is one of Lee’s pieces… Straight from the shed.

Sammy Winter drew some rad shit back in the day… shed book ’02

Font.

This is from way back when I listened to I.C.P… I Still love throwing their deranged shit on sometimes…

‘I might be ugly but at least I dont have no damn money’

Lee’s brain is fucked up.

Started designing a tank logo for Brady’s board model… Campi beat me too it.

I hated this when I did it, I like it now.

I have a lot of favourite things…

Right now… Right this second… My favourite thing is the work of Ben Challenor… It’s good to be able to say that about a mate, not ’cause your lookin out for them or talkin’ them up, purely because they are that good at what they do… Photography is a beautiful thing, I love it… BC takes photos that I can stare aimlessly at… They make me think when I look at them…

I like havin’ a neat shot on my desktop, they usually last a week or two, then I get over it and change it. In Tahiti a few years back BC gave me a photo that outlasted the computer itself. At the time I had no idea about photography, still dont… At first I thought it was just a default shot of Chopes from the shore… tower, wave, blue skyline, epic… Then I noticed little specs in the sky?… ‘whats with the sky BC?’…’They’re the stars”… It was taken in the middle of the night, it became my favourite photo and remained the desktop picture ’til the poor old girl died… she had a rough life, but that photo kept her lookin young and sparky…

Check the work of Ben Challenor.

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Few of the boys have bought bikes… All the fun in the world ’til you come off… Jared post collision.

Tommy’s a mate of ours… Originally a mate of a mates brother… But a party here and a party there and we’re mates…

Always chasin’ a good time, always finding it. Tommy digs music… So as expected this post is exactly that.

Tommy, Doony and a few of the boys recently went to Death cab for cutie, had the hell time and snapped a few shots. Here they be… Tommy is… Tommy does… Whatever the fuck that means.

Words & photos by Tommy

With a last minute decision to go without tickets, a pit stop for booze and we were 5 deep in “Babe” ( Liams newly purchased pop top campervan) sitting on 90, sipping whiskey and burning Satan’s sparklers. The drive in Babe was much like a party on your couch at home…. epic.

Seeing a line around the block on arrival, we were skeptical on getting tickets but a quick scope out and we were the scalpers delight. The Tivoli is an amazing music venue, Youth Group greeted us with Forever young…

There was tail everywhere. Being a Death Cab show and not your regular electro pinger fest the girls where cream of the crop. Some of us were lucky enough to get a sample.

Death Cab for Cutie came out and straight nailed a two hour set, string snapping guitar and a bass player that owned the show. They encored with another 4 songs after being cheered forever.

We hit the road in ‘Babe’ with a good night down, 2 numbers closed, a sly pash and everything in between going more than fine. ‘Babe’ had us talking about how far the world has come in so little time and how the fuck did we build this place. We arrived to one of our favourite spots on a rocky headland, right in the heart of our home… We came to the conclusion that the night was ALL TIME!…

So theres a few words and shots from Tommy… The rest of us are halfway to 50 or 60 so its good to have the words of a young punk on our pages.

Cheers Tommy… Its Friday arvo and there’s beers in the fridge… Spot on.

We appreciate shamelessness… People who just rock out how they want, how they feel… Not the people who beg to differ… People who just dont care what the neighbours think.

In our books no-one sums it up better than Sterling Spencer. RV has spent a fair share of time rollin’ with Sterling and he never ceases to amuse…

Below is a few photos from a trip through South Africa.

… Jordy serenading Sterling…

hope all is well Mr Spencer… Any Centaur sightings?