Earth's preeminent surf pub has done it yet again. SLIDE Magazine is hitting you right where it counts with this all-timer: 160 pages, 11 features, hundreds of glossy photos to make your jaw drop and cheeks drool, plus substantial, iconic tales to give you the mental calisthenics your brain desires, issue #22 kicks one more hole in the door all other cookie-cutter surf mags are trying to keep closed. Don't be fooled by inferior copycats, there is only one SLIDE. Our 10-year ride in this game is unmatched, and we are still punching tickets and looking ahead to a genuine journey. "All aboard!" —Ryan Smith, editor
Welcome to Meatland
SLIDE's newest contributing photographer, Billy Watts, teams up with seasoned scribe and our own associate editor, Michael Kew, on a tropical trip to some of Tonga's empty, hard-to-reach reefs. Starring surfers Ryan Burch, Daniel Jones, and Pat Millin, crew tackles warm-water lefthanders on asymmetrical shorties, thrusters, and on their bare bellies.
Mike Purpus: A Day and A Life
In an interview no other surf magazine has ever dared run, legendary champion surfer Mike Purpus lets it fly during a six-hour conversation with Shawn Tracht. With archival photos by Steve Wilkings, Lance Trout, and Peter Townend, plus Purpus' candid tales of his transitional era heyday, this is definitely a feature to sit back and enjoy.
Joel Tudor Talks
The Vans Joel Tudor Duct Tape Invitational contests recently put a new face on modern longboard competitions, focusing on style, skills, and traditional flare. SLIDE Editor-in-Chief Ryan A. Smith sits down with Joel, the mastermind behind this new series, and gets the full scoop on the origin of the events, the surfers involved, how it all went down, and where it's headed next.
My Brain Stopped Hurting
Sharp-eyed shooter Chris Burkard takes Dan Malloy, Kim Diggs, Trevor Gordon, and Chadd Konig down Central America way for an exercise in flawless beachbreak tuberiding and fresh photographic angles. Story by Dan Hamlin.
AnaLog Diaries
The traveling journalist team of Angie and Kuni Takanami investigates a cast of Australian surfers and artists who have created unique, lo-fi, surf-centric lifestyles in this mad mad world. Subjects include Josh and Zac Gunthorpe, Parrish Watts, Lachlan Leckie, Matthew Pitts, Matt Chojnacki, David Rastovich, Robin Wren, Jane Collins, Karlee Mackie, Sage Joske, John Witzig, Albe Falzon, Nathan Grey, Sean Finnelley, and Wayne Lynch.
Martinizing
Ventura lensman Jim Martin shares some of his favorite images with SLIDE for his first-ever photo portfolio. Whether shooting from land or water, in daylight or at night, frozen or speed-blurred, Martin is mastering the craft.
Freedom of Expression
Ex-pro turned Aussie free-surfer Johnny Abegg offers us his extraordinary story of life on a professional tour, growing up between Tasmania and Oz, and the movies he's made that changed his surfing outlook. Written by Tommy Leitch.
Shippies Sojourn
New Zealand writer Chris Millett hops on a new form of rugged Kiwi surf travel to revisit the waters of the far North Coast pointbreak dream that is Shipwreck Bay.
The Money Shot
SLIDE gallery #21 circumnavigates the globe in search of the year's finest surf action frames, showcasing those money-shot moments when rider and photographer put it all together.
Serendib Reverie
Sri Lanka recently hosted the world's best high-performance longboarders for a world tour event, and photog Andrew Caruthers was there to document an array of free-surf sessions that went down along the country's peeling righthanders.
S.E.W.N.
SLIDE design maestro Matt King slips out from behind the keyboard to interview French moviemaker Nicolas Brikke about his new New Zealand-focused video (S.E.W.N), his homemade camera mounts, and the people and sea life that made it all happen.