Swell Season Surf Radio

On the Latest Episode we speak with Jungwon Kim, who is the Head of Creative & Editorial at the Rainforest Alliance, an international organization focused on natural climate solutions and sustainable rural livelihoods. She's a native Californian who has lived in Brooklyn for 20+ years, mother of two teenage daughters, and a joyfully mediocre longboarder who started surfing at the tender young age...

What's your Top 5 Surf Movies? Are you into the classics? Or are you more of a modern performance and high cinematopgraphy? Maybe big budget Hollywood surf movies is more your aesthetic? This episode of Swell Season Surf Radio, is like "High Fidelity" but, with surfing. Beachgrit Contributor and famed instagram account, @SurfAds is joining me to geek out on our top 5 surf movies. We talk through S...

On June 6th, The Black Surfing Association of Rockaway organized a memorial paddle out for George Floyd. Hundreds of New York Surfers came out to show support for African American community and fight systemic racism. Swell Season was on hand to cover the paddle out and talk to some of the attendees and organizers. What follows are some of the interviews from the paddle out. In order we talk to Lou...

Prof. Grace Moon is the founding editor of Velvet Park Media, a queer women's arts and culture multiplatform publishing company that produces print and digital media. She's a painter and teaches fine art and design in the CUNY and SUNY college systems and is currently writing and illustrating a history of surfing before the modern era. Co-host Karen Song sat down with Grace to discuss her return t...

Nigel Louis, owner and operator of Station RBNY. Is a lifelong surfer. Resident of Rockaway Beach and is a guy who is always engaging and trying to do something positive for his community. Nigel comes on the show today to talk about his current fundraising efforts for the Rockaway Food Relief Program. Life as a retail owner in the time of Covid. How does one navigate the minefield of opportunities...

It's a doozy of an episode with Legendary author, and surf scribe Jamie Brisick. We discuss the life under lockdown in L.A., how the surf world is reacting to the pandemic and empty Malibu. Then we get an opportunity to talk with the surf worlds provocateur gonzo journalist and author, Chas Smith. We get into a great exchange over herd immunity, police overreach and a plan to bring back MCD. All t...

On the this episode of Swell Season Surf Radio, we talk to two surfers who are on the frontlines and hear it directly from the source. Brandon Balabus grew up shredding Long Beach, has a spot in the lineup at Tres Palmas on the big days and is an Emergency Medicine PA on Long Island and believes this virus is no joke. Dr. J James grew up ripping the east end of LI in the Hampton Bay area, is now a...

On this episode of Swell Season Surf Radio we get a first hand perspective of dealing with the Coronavirus from our former guest, FDNY Capt. Christopher "Dorado" Gaby. He has been on the force for over 20 years and says he hasn't seen anything like this pandemic. We discuss the impacts of the Coronavirus and whether to surf or not surf? On the flip side of the conversation, we FaceTime with Florid...

Notes from the Field: Surfing in the Time of Coronavirus update: On this episode we talk catch up with Drew Blauschild of Kookbox Surfboards. He's been hunkered down in Montauk for the last month and has been an outspoken critic of the irresponsible behavior in the lineup out in Ditch. Drew has been a surfing celibate for over 30 days and counting... Next we chat with Big Wave Specialist and Owner...

During the time of Coronavirus almost all of us are affected to some degree or another. Surfers are more and more facing the question of whether to go surf? This ends up being one of the main topics around this "Notes from the Field" episode. We call around to get a temperature and feel of what surfers from different communities around the NY area are confronting and dealing with. We FaceTime chat...

On our latest episode, Swell Seasons Correspondent and sometimes co-host, Karen Song, caught up with Surfer/Shaper, Mother, Musician and writer Ashley Lloyd of Ashley Lloyd Surfboards. They tackle a range of topics from shaping a more eco friendly surfboard, Opening doors for women shapers, finding oneself in a time of transition and divorce, balancing the daily hustle and writing children’s books...

We're back! Swell Season is back with a new episode. We sat down with Professor Charles Mencel. He is a local NJ surfer and shaper (Mencel Surfboards) from Monmouth County. His surfing is focused on smooth, stylish and powerful carving turns that make him a stand out in any line up in the area. His boards have gained a lot of of attention in recent years with Pro, Pat Schmidt riding is boards. On...

Tara Ruttenberg is a surfeminist writer and PhD candidate specializing in Sustainable Surf Tourism. Tara's work has been featured in books like the Critical Surf Studies Reader, The Routledge Handbook on Latin American Development, and Lessons from the Eco-Laboratory: Environmental Governance and Economic Development in Costa Rica. Swell Season's contributor at large, Karen Song sat down with Tara...

NY State has a goal to source 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. In order to reach that goal, harnessing energy from offshore wind will play a major role in making that possible. New York will not be the first to develop and offshore wind farm, that honor goes to Rhode Island - a few years ago a company called Deepwater Wind built a 5 turbine farm off the coast of Block Island....

In 2009, Saturdays NYC founders Colin Tunstall, Morgan Collett, and Josh Rosen combined their mutual love of surf culture with their interests in design, music, and coffee. The result? A Smart and fresh take on surf fashion and the surf shop experience. Now, they are a global lifestyle brand and became GQ’s Best New Menswear Designers among a host of other accolades with store locations in Soho, T...

In 2013, Co-host Tyler Breuer interviewed Legendary Surfer, Former World Champion, and author, Shaun Tomson in front of a live audience as a fundraiser for the Surfrider Foundation. In this episode, we dig into our archives. Our distinguished guest amassed 19 Professional Wins, 1977 World Champion. He was the cutting edge tube rider in an era where Tube riding was the pinnacle of surfing, the Free...

We met TJ after wrapping up shooting behind the scenes at the Vans Duct Tape Invitational for Ryan Cannon's Log Rap. TJ specializes in capturing the longboard leash-less scene in Rhode Island. He shares what it's like to cover such a niche scene in the small but wave rich Ocean State. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/swell-season-surf-radio--3483504/support .

Alex Knost, Kassia Meador, Karina Rozunko, Justine Mauvin, Ainara Aymat sit down on a rug in a small hut in Rockaway at the Vans Duct Tape Invitational to discuss authenticity in the industry and the pressures and traps of the 'gram. Alex Valich host of Bodega Boarder Podcast joins our chat with these two generations of iconoclasts and surf stylists. Music credit: Audio Binger "Random Thoughts" Be...

Journalist Jon Coen writes about his native Long Beach Island, NJ passionately and shares his Garden State insight through his stories for Surfer Magazine, Surfline and other print media. We sat down with Jon at the Vans Duct Tape Invitational in Rockaway to do a deep dive on his career and the little known post-Sandy stories, like that one time all the surf heavies from Cape May to Sandy Hook sat...

From small skate shop owner to head of Action Sports North America for Vans, Justin Villano has knows his skate shops and surf lots. Born in Brooklyn, he helped bring the 2019 Duct Tape Invitational to Rockaway, Queens. We talk about the tour, battling in retail and how a legacy brand stays authentic. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/swell-season-surf-radio--348...

Filmmaker Justin Purser has known the Hobgood twins since the very beginning. When it was time to make a documentary about their lives, Justin was ready to go. We talk to him about the challenges of telling the story of two compelling protagonists at once and working with them to find gold in being vulnerable in front of the camera. Justin also explains the value of working with an unreliable narr...

The 2001 World Champ talks about getting real in "And if Two by Sea", the new Hobgoodementary that he stars in with his twin Damian. CJ shares with us that the honesty and vulnerability required to make the film also ended up drawing him closer to his family. We bribed CJ with Paulie Gee pizza and he also gave us the behind the scenes of his famous charge at Teahupoo. Music credit: Jimmy Eats Worl...

Rockaway shaper Paul Schmidt of Paul Surf brings his crew, filmmaker Thomas LaGrega and Chase Lokin to the studio to talk about getting their hand shaped creations into recent hurricane swell, filmed and into their IG feed. Paul talks about his path from poet to wave trimmer and how he balances his Quaker non-violence while navigating crowded local breaks. Paul Surf is hosting the Board builders B...

Legends Jamie Brisick and Natas Kaupas sit down with Chris Gentile of Pilgrim Surf+Supply in front of a live audience to recount their journeys from young global pros in surf and skate to meaningful careers in writing and art direction, respectively. We discover details from their early years in the Valley and Santa Monica when getting to the break required taking the bus and a spin on top of a fi...

On the latest episode of Swell Season Surf Radio, we sat down with WSL Longboard competitor and Director of Planning and Biz Development for True Ames Fins, Troy Mothershead. We discussed the changes to the WSL Longboard Tour, deciding to choose a desk chair over a life as a pro long boarder, the changing business of surf and much more… Troy was a fomer 2015 Duct Tape Invitational winner and compe...