Classified as "Critically Endangered" by UNESCO, the native Hawaiian language has approximately 2,000 speakers. Here's what makes it so special. Hawaii is a unique archipelago with an ancient Polynesian culture. It's also home to an exclusive endemic ecosystem, where 90 percent of its fauna exist nowhere else in the world. While the Hawaiian Islands have existed for over 3.4 million years, the earliest documented record of the oral language ('Ōlelo Hawai'i) dates back to 1778, when Captain James Cook set foot on the island of Kauai. It is estimated that, at the time, between 400,000-800,000 ..read more

The news that Zigzag's print edition would end in December 2023 was short-lived as this iconic South African surfing magazine will be back on shelves in July 2024. Rebel Media Group, a European media and marketing conglomerate and dedicated youth culture specialist, recently acquired the magazine, which has been in print since 1976. Christian Herles from Rebel Media Group says Zigzag has been the flagship voice of South African surf culture for 48 years, and now is the time to embrace more of the African continental surf movement. "The plan is to produce content across our various touchpoint ..read more

"Back to the Future" is a timeless masterpiece. Interestingly, the franchise features several famous skateboard-related appearances. There are not many movies like "Back to the Future." The 1985 film, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, debuted a new dimension of time perception, imagination, and dreams about time traveling. Will we ever be able to go back in time and visit our ancestors? Is it possible to travel to the future and witness the impact of our actions? The intertwined concepts of past, present, and future couldn't be put more simply in ..read more

Nothing fuels more controversy in and outside the water than awarding scores for waves ridden in competitive surfing. Whether a surfer wins or loses their heat by a narrow margin, there's always someone unhappy with the judging. It could be the athletes themselves, the fans, the beach spectators, online viewers, the sponsors, the coaches, or the surfers' families. The ultimate goal of professional surfing judges is to be objective in a subjective sports performance. It's a paradox - trying to be rational and analytical in an activity that is, by nature, non-mathematical and led by non-linear ..read more

Wind is a fascinating weather phenomenon. It is a variable constantly trying to find a perfect balance on a planetary scale. Wind only exists because there are differences in air pressure between two or more points. It's like a balloon - if you squeeze it, the air moves or circulates from high to low pressure. If Earth were perfectly flat and smooth, wind would be nearly nonexistent. The sun would heat up the planet almost uniformly, and the global temperature differences would be residual. However, due to the presence of multiple surfaces (water and land), elevations (mountains, buildings ..read more

Oaxaca is one of Mexico's surfing treasure states. The south-facing territory receives privileged swells from the Pacific with a rugged coastline that produces all types of waves. It's hard to believe that just 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of Puerto Escondido's Playa Zicatela, the Mexican Pipeline, there's such wonder of Nature like Punta Conejo. We're talking about a longboarder's dream point break that can take surfers on a meditative and life-changing 300-500-meter ride. Unlike its thunderous beach break sister, Punta Conejo is an elegant, smooth, and perfectly peeling right-hander tha ..read more

The small fishing town of Bathsheba in Barbados is home to one of the most surprising right-hand reef breaks on the planet. Here's what makes Soup Bowl such an incredible wave. The east coast of Barbados gets a lot of Atlantic winter swells and wind, too. However, if there's one surf spot that truly welcomes onshore breeze it's Soup Bowl. The most easterly Caribbean island nation is cherished by the British Commonwealth and famous for its holiday resorts, clear blue water, and white sand beaches. Interestingly, it owes its name to the Portuguese ocean explorers who claimed the island between ..read more

Kelly Slater and Kalani Miller announced they are expecting a baby. The 11-time world surfing champion and California-born swimwear entrepreneur Kalani Miller are going to be parents. The couple broke the news in a collaborated black-and-white Instagram Reel posted on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, to Ben Harper's "The Three of Us." Interestingly, March 19 is Father's Day in many countries. The baby's gender has not been unveiled, though. Slater, 52, and Miller, 36, will have their first child together. The soon-to-be mother will give birth to her first child in 2024. The American surfer has a daug ..read more

Surfing is all about working the unbroken wave face and maximizing riding time. But how can you optimize and balance these two goals that cancel each other out? Many things separate a beginner surfer from a pro surfer. However, there is one that stands out immediately after each one takes off on a wave - the way they draw a line or trim it. Unlike a snowy mountain, a wave is in constant mutation. As a result, surfers have to adapt their riding to the shape and breaking of each wave differently, whether they're going left or right. Drawing a line on a wave is choosing the ideal path or traject ..read more

On March 7, 2024, Cloudbreak delivered one of the most epic swells in Fiji's big wave surfing history. The use of superlatives has become commonplace in journalism and writing in general, and sometimes, we need time to let the dust settle and process the information. However, you can't ignore the facts and the footage as they, in this particular event, could easily replace the role of words. Unexpectedly, for this time of the year, or maybe not, the famous small island of Tavarua was the center stage of a massive big-wave riding showdown. The first signs of this anomaly issued an XXL Code Pur ..read more