THE WAY TO FREE

Coming out of two years of lockdown here in Australia there’s been a lotta talk about freedom lately… but there’s been plenty of freedom on offer if you’ve known where to look.

Having spent almost two years at home with the pandemic, surfers have fled to the fringes of the continent to escape as the world went mad. They’ve found the way to free.

SW415 talks to surfers who’ve made the most of the corona years and finds while they haven’t been free to travel to Bali, they’ve still been free to surf and explore thousands of kilometres of coastline.

We’ve got long form features with Tahlija Redgard and Mick Campbell. We chat to Beau Cram sitting in the Jakes car park. We talk to Russ Bierke on his way down to the snow. Laurie Towner and his family drive around Australia while Harry Bryant and Noa Deane drive down the road. Meanwhile, Tuncurry has some new locals, Rip Curl has a new boss in Brooke Farris, and Derek Hynd watches on bemused as surfing jumps the shark.

And on the cover is Lachie Rombouts, who’s been roaming the South Coast reefs with his van full of surfboards all north of eight foot. “It’s funny, what people think of my boards. ‘Oh, he’s on a 12-footer’… ‘He’s on a 14-footer.’ It’s hilarious, but for me they’re like my kids so I know them pretty well. That board was a 10’2”… it was a 10’4” but I lost two inches off the nose.”

Surfing World 415 on sale now.