PACIFIC LONGBOARDER MAGAZINE #126

Photo Magazine

Pacific Longboarder Magazine from Australia is the ONLY magazine worldwide dedicated to long boarding. For 25 years they’ve aimed to be all things to all longboarders: female, male, youth to boomers, world beaters or weekend warriors, hip or not particularly.

What does issue 126 have to report from the wide world of Longboarding?

SO FAR SO GOOD
From Gen Z to Boomers, we’ve got it all this issue. In the Department of Youth are 10-pages on 18-year-old South Bay L.A. local Cormac O’Brien, with a mix of photos and some 4,000 words from his talented mate Stuart Wieten. That’s really a lot of words but it’s an enlightening chat and a fresh take on logging big waves and small, shooting vids and their value, respecting “low-key big dogs”, and on the broader Californian scene these days - like, who knew that “cross-step cutbacks are some lame shit”?

RIDING THE CANCER WAVE
From L.A. we head to the chilly waters above San Francisco for the story of Danielle Cass, an award-winning journalist and an AI safety leader at Microsoft. Says Danielle in her intro, “Surfing through a Northern California winter with my girlfriends kept me sane and healthy as I underwent three disfiguring surgeries, then three months of chemotherapy.” Photojournalist and registered nurse Matt Berridge chronicled her journey throughout with some soulful photos, and while Danielle doesn’t sugarcoat it, ultimately it’s an inspiring story of salvation, “one paddle-out at a time”. The blog: substack.com/@daniellecass

TRAMORE
Ireland’s West Coast with its slabs and big-wave set-ups has gotten plenty of online attention over the past decade and every corner has been mapped and every swell is predicted, photographed and filmed, and posted globally. The South Coast though is way more low key, the windows are shorter, the swells smaller, the angles more particular, the line-ups are harder to read, and the locals love it that way. With some beautifully lit photos and a poetic yarn, local teacher and logger Kai Willmott treats us to some down-home insights into the longboarding scene at the seaside town of Tramore. 

THE AFTERLIFE OF AN ICON
The Endless Summer, the greatest surf film ever made? It’s a yes from me, and it’s certainly a yes from renowned surf collector Marcus Rebeschini, an expat Aussie living and working in Japan. And here, 60 years after the film was released, Marcus brings us quite the detective story centred around the original artwork and poster, with direct input from the great artist himself John Van Hamersveld, his wife Alida, and R. Paul Allen – the man who’d overseen the film’s original promotions. R. Paul recently found 15 of the first-run large format posters that were silk-screened in a garage in Costa Mesa in 1964, and Marcus weaves a story around these and the characters involved, while R. Paul generously supplied some rarely seen photos. Marcus bought one of these Holy Grail posters btw, along with one of two unused ticket stubs from the movie’s premiere in Hollywood. He’s staying mum on that spend of course.

FIJI TEMPO
Tiny peeling waves in crystal-clear water over thriving reefs, a cruisy resort sitting atop a sand island surrounded by a lagoon . . . geez, these eight pages are a tonic just to look at. Surfer/writer Belinda Baggs and surfer/photographer Jarrah Lynch and their kids take a family holiday on Nomotu, and they document it beautifully. “Bula. Not just a greeting you collect at the arrivals gate in Fiji. Bula is a softening. A recalibration. A remembering. It means life. It means I see you – exactly as you are, sandy feet and all.”

MALONE & SAN SEBASTIAN
Jumping to the north of Spain and San Sebastian, legend photographer Lance partners with writer Inés Alcántara to bring us six pages featuring local longboarder Gabi Malone ripping his home breaks. Going by first name only, Lance’s body of work features painting and collage along with his diverse photography, and he and Gabi run the art gallery “Lance and Malone” in San Sebastián’s Old Town. For all that though, Lance remains a surf photographer at the heart of it and this is a fine visit to the Spanish Basque Country with some solid waves thrown in to top it off. Salud!

NOOSA FEST 2026
At the other end of the age spectrum, there was an Over 75s Division at the Noosa Fest this year and we asked the venerable Phil Jarratt, himself an over 70s competitor, to bring us the news on what went down. Phil pretty much invented the festival concept back in the ’90s and then ran it for decades, so he brings a unique insight to it all. A bunch of different photographers delivered some gems – with the youngest surfer being in the Under 12 Micro Groms, and the oldest being in the Over 75s. Bring on the Over 80s!

LENS FLAIR
We say it every issue - how can it be better than the last? But it always is. Another array of extraordinary photos from around the world.

THE BUZZ
Party time in Brookvale, Bennett Surf turns 70 and we get the full wrap from writer Simon Phin. A Rare Bird – Bowie Pollard takes us for a trip upon his bizarre scoop-tailed 1966 Holmsey “Sidewinder” noserider, and noseride it surely does. “LOVESICK” was the theme for the Single Fin Mingle 2026 in Sumner on New Zealand’s South Island, and along with some sweet waves there was plenty of LOVE in the air this year – Mingle founder Ambrose McNeill writes it up, Rambo Estrada took the shots.

UPFRONT
Cool Runnings. The amazing Pierce Ludvigsen, a dedicated logger from sub tropical Queensland who somehow competed for Australia in the Luge Junior World Championships in St Moritz in Switzerland. He rips a longboard too btw.

+ THE 111th BOARD GIVEAWAY
Winner’s choice from Carabine Surfboards. You decide: A Shakey, their most popular modern log model, or design your own custom! Wow!