Skate filmmaker Patrik Wallner released this incredible 10 minute short film that documents his travels through Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh, entitled Holy Cow. The scenery and interactions between the local people and Wallner's crew as they skate is especially inspiring.

One amazing thing about traveling somewhere so foreign is that people don't see a group of skateboarders, and the social assumptions that often go along with that. They are merely in awe of the sport as an incredible athletic display.

For more of Patrik's work and travels, click over here.



Visualtraveling - 'Holy Cow' from Patrik Wallner on Vimeo.

If you frequent Dane Reynolds's website, Marinelayerproductions, then you've no doubt viewed his four latest video installments, all filmed during a solid run of winter swells from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day, and featuring some of his most mind-blowing footage to date.

From the right-hand points in Santa Barbara to the beachbreaks and funky harbor waves around Ventura, Mr. Reynolds absolutely tears the bag out of every wave.

As a consolation prize for his tour absence, Dane compiled those chapters into a free mini-movie entitled Excerpt, which can be downloaded from Marine Layer. Muchas gracias.

Download here.

Now that Dane Reynolds is officially off tour, and our secret fantasies of him winning the Quik Pro with his wildcard spot have been extinguished, all we have to soak up the tears are web-clips and photos.

The Nike Lowers Pro, which Dane entered last year, begins on April 30, and if he opts out of that, it could be until the US Open in August or Quik Pro France in October that Dane puts on a contest jersey.

In the meantime, here's a new Quiksilver edit of Dane Reynolds looking a lot like Burt Reynolds as he travels through Central America, Australia, and a few other locations.

With the recent influx of user-submitted video-contests taking hold in the surfing world, a Jeremy Lin-esque rise to surf stardom seemed inevitable. But as it turns out, setting up rules and building a level playing field was harder than it sounded. Now, thanks to a couple of free-thinking publications in Australia, we could see a new generation of self-made superstars after all.

Taylor Steele made the first leap into this realm with Innersection, a user-based contest that decided which handful of surfers would make his latest blockbuster surf film. While this opened the door to any surfer/filmer on earth, the criteria, prize money, and subsequent level of competition basically ruled out amateurs altogether. Several elite surfers including Kelly Slater and Joel Parkinson had sections submitted, which were backed by sponsor dollars. This effectively defeated the purpose of the 'user-submission' aspect and lead to some backlash among the amateur hopefuls. Just listen to the audio for Nick Rosza's submission.

Much like Stab Magazine's Little Weeds contest, which launched the careers of surfer Chippa Wilson and filmmaker Riley Blakeway, Waves Mag has introduced a more grassroots take on the 'clip-contest' trend with Haystack.

Here's the concept: No sponsors. Surfers who already ride for any type of company are ineligible. And the winner will receive a year contract for sponsorship from Mambo, Electric, Etnies, FCS, and Peak Wetsuits. Each clip cannot be longer than 60 seconds, which is still a daunting task for someone who doesn't have a personal filmer and large travel budget.

Here are a couple of the better submission so far. The cutoff for submissions is March 16.





Liam Carter Hay Stack Clip from Mike Riley on Vimeo.

Australian aerialist and hair-farmer Craig 'Ando' Anderson, along with the rest of the ASP circus, is currently occupying Australia's Gold Coast. And for a guy like Ando, there's not much to be chapped about.

As you can tell from this collage by Surfer Mag, Ando definitely approves of the OZ leg of the surf/party tour.

Here's another thing Ando approves of: He's been working with shaper Hayden Cox on signature sled for some time (called the Ando). And they've just released this clip of of him doing some research and development around Byron Bay. According to Hayden, they plan to release a video series entitled What's Ando On? So consider this episode one.



The Ando, by Craig Anderson from hayden cox on Vimeo.