What's happened to the state of the surf magazine?

[SouthjettyBill]

Surfer Magazine was incredible when Steve Hawk was editor... circa 96 or so. He had guest editors once or twice a year. Once it was Curren (wish I still had that issue), another time Sunny Garcia. He still writes for them occasionally and it's always the best piece in the mag. When Hawk was in charge it truly was the bible of the sport and I frothed over every issue. Now... I can take the surfing mags, or I can leave them. Mostly leave them.

Yeah Hawk was good.

[SouthjettyBill]

didn't you boys get the memo... it's not about surfing...it's about selling Copy! Some of these bozo's have never been close to a beach, let along been out in the ocean... it's all about selling advertisements & the almighty $$$$$.
quik, billabong, patagonia... sell! sell! sell! it ain't about what you like or enjoy...it's about the company's bottom line.

Yes, I reckon I just have a difficult time accepting that this is what it has come to.

[Beast Master]

Way too many Advertisements anymore

[Kahuna Kai]

Surfer isn't that bad. I have had a subscription for a few years now and have read it for years longer than that. They had Donovan Frankenreiter and Joel Tudor as guest editors this year and have had some other special editions like the top 100 surfers of all time, the top 100 waves in the world, all of which were pretty good.

In addition to those, there was the interview issue that included interviews with Dane Reynolds, Bobby Martinez, Kelly (of course), Mick Fanning, and a bunch of others I can't think of at the moment. The photo annual is pretty awesome. The borrowed boards article that Surfer ran for a while was pretty cool and creative too.

I don't claim to be a super intellectual or anything like that, but I am a lawyer and Surfer is good enough for me. My only beef with Surfer is that sometimes it is too thin. One or two trips to the can and I have read the whole issue. I don't care for TWS or Surfing magazines. They seem to be geared for the teen aged surfers in my opinion, which is fine. Kids need stuff to read too. Surfer's Journal is great. Just haven't managed to get my grubby paws on an issue in awhile.

I have to disagree with Bill's comment that the mags don't cover travel to cool places these days. I have read about surf travel in Surfer to India, China, Nigeria, Alaska, Tahiti, Mexico, Costa Rica, Indo, Australia, Antarctica, Chile, Ireland, France, Spain, Israel, Japan, Iceland, Denmark, and the good old U.S. of A. I think those are all pretty cool places, many of which I will probably never get the chance to visit.

Pick up an issue of Surfer or subscribe for $15 a year. For a little more than a buck an issue, I am satisfied with this mag. My only beef is that some issues are way to skinny. Thanks for a thought provoking post SouthJettyBill.

[SouthjettyBill]

Surfer isn't that bad. I have had a subscription for a few years now and have read it for years longer than that. They had Donovan Frankenreiter and Joel Tudor as guest editors this year and have had some other special editions like the top 100 surfers of all time, the top 100 waves in the world, all of which were pretty good.

In addition to those, there was the interview issue that included interviews with Dane Reynolds, Bobby Martinez, Kelly (of course), Mick Fanning, and a bunch of others I can't think of at the moment. The photo annual is pretty awesome. The borrowed boards article that Surfer ran for a while was pretty cool and creative too.

I don't claim to be a super intellectual or anything like that, but I am a lawyer and Surfer is good enough for me. My only beef with Surfer is that sometimes it is too thin. One or two trips to the can and I have read the whole issue. I don't care for TWS or Surfing magazines. They seem to be geared for the teen aged surfers in my opinion, which is fine. Kids need stuff to read too. Surfer's Journal is great. Just haven't managed to get my grubby paws on an issue in awhile.

I have to disagree with Bill's comment that the mags don't cover travel to cool places these days. I have read about surf travel in Surfer to India, China, Nigeria, Alaska, Tahiti, Mexico, Costa Rica, Indo, Australia, Antarctica, Chile, Ireland, France, Spain, Israel, Japan, Iceland, Denmark, and the good old U.S. of A. I think those are all pretty cool places, many of which I will probably never get the chance to visit.

Pick up an issue of Surfer or subscribe for $15 a year. For a little more than a buck an issue, I am satisfied with this mag. My only beef is that some issues are way to skinny. Thanks for a thought provoking post SouthJettyBill.

Thanks for your thoughts Kahuna. Yeah Surfer was always my fave but nowadays I just haven't picked it up but have subscriptions to the others. They just keep coming. Surf mags are good things no matter who they are geared to or how flimsy the text is. And I do stand by my assesment that the mags used to be way better back in the day. They weren't just targeting 13 years old who just started getting mastubatory.

Kahuna, my beef with travel features aren't that they don't go anywhere cool it's just that the accompanying text doesn't hit the mark. Like one of the mags did a thing on Japan the other month. All the writing was about how cool Dane Reynolds and Yadin Nichol are. Nothing that took the reader on the journey with them. Shoot I know people way more interesting than Dane and they drink too. Side note, within ten years Dane Reynolds will be a washed-out problem drinker. I don't wish it on him, but every time he is in some mag feature he's always with the booze....always the booze. Ahhh I used to drink

[SouthjettyBill]

back to the mags...yes,they used to be awesome and now they are garbage.even the much-heralded surfer's journal is getting progressively worse in recent years.

Beachbreak, you know what I'm talking about. Thanks for your thoughts and time.

[SouthjettyBill]

bill, part of it is the fact that you are CHOOSING to read the 2 surf mags out there w/ the lowest IQ & the lowest number of actual words per issue! of the "big 3", 'er is probably my favorite, followed by 'ing & tws in third. my favorite is, without question, the journal. another that's right up there is the surfer's path. it's a euro mag, but we can find here in the states from time to time at borders or a few surf shops.
as for the "cookie cutter pros", i think it's already been nailed on the head: surfing has become much more mainstream & much more serious business. it's also less socially acceptable, even in surfing, to be a falling down, puking idiot. (look at my word choice there...unconsciously i reflected the social stigma.) surfer's are ROLE MODELS now! no one wants there kid looking up to someone who gets stoned or trips out before going to "work". & the sponsors don't want their riders doing that b/c that sort of behavior will reflect poorly on the company.

i also think there's a certain amount of misguided nostalgia in your post, bill. i've seen some old surf mags, & yea...they were cool. but the writing wasn't all that great...lots of slang, just like today's mags. lots of pseudo-transcendental "experiences"...not so like today's mags, but not as much as you might think. it's just gone about in a different way.
so have the mainstream surf mags gone downhill since their inception? most likely. but not as much as you'd like to think. keep in mind that surf marketing caters to the youth demographic: 12-25 year olds, mostly males. isn't it possible that you're just out of step w/ that age group? i know that i sure am. that process began as soon as i surpassed a 7th grade reading level. there's still great surf journalism happening out there. it's just a little harder to find.

Oh Njsurfer42, I forgot to mention this. Please accept my aplology for bothering you for a second time. I'm sorry. Yeah, the sponsors don't want their darling boys shown in a bad light. But there are plenty of them tripping, getting stoned, vomiting-drunk, sniffing and banging. A good portion of them. Lets see, from Occy and Curren, Flea and Peter Mel to Andy Irons and Chris Ward.........the pro surfing world is chock full of substance abusers....I just wish the mags would not be beholden to the surf industry. Then there are surfers who make money based on their druggy image.

And Surfing and Surfer(especially) back in the mid 80's -mid 90's were very in tune with the older reader. They had a quite adult sense of humor(anyone remember Walt Novak), wrote excellent travel articles, captured the moods and feelings that surfing brings and even their pro interviews has some substance to them.

[wave1rider65]

didn't you boys get the memo... it's not about surfing...it's about selling Copy! Some of these bozo's have never been close to a beach, let along been out in the ocean... it's all about selling advertisements & the almighty $$$$$.
quik, billabong, patagonia... sell! sell! sell! it ain't about what you like or enjoy...it's about the company's bottom line.

Exactly..........

[Jai-Guru]

Cookie cutter surfing is as boring as the magazine. It's impressive but lacks the soul and vibe of the past. Out of touch, probably...but I'm not the only one. I rather watch a good longboarder than the bust an air and fall off wan-a-be's you see every day...IMO of coarse.

[tropic surfer]

didn't you boys get the memo... it's not about surfing...it's about selling Copy! Some of these bozo's have never been close to a beach, let along been out in the ocean... it's all about selling advertisements & the almighty $$$$$.
quik, billabong, patagonia... sell! sell! sell! it ain't about what you like or enjoy...it's about the company's bottom line.

Kind of makes the point. IIRC, both surfer and surfing declared BK in the 90's. Losing money and going banko has an effect on the magazine's corporate owners.
Lewis Samuels had a great travel series in Surfer, recently concluded, about borrowing boards around the world, and it was good. And before that it was the guy sailing the south Pacific on his sailboat.
But those were the exceptions. Corporate masters control the expense accounts, so, for the magazines, there's less money for the real adventures.
Ever see or count how many pages of ads there are in both of those mags before you get to the content?
They've become trade magazines for the pro industry.