Carve Magazine Carve 201 Back Issue

It's only a new flipping decade innit? One with a proper name and everything. Couldn't ever really get on with the noughties or the teenies or whatever the last bit was called. Now the 'twenties' has a nice ring to it. Surf's been roaring in as well; you knew that was inevitable. What will a new decade bring? Where is surfing right now? On the surface, surfing is booming. You're never short of friends in the lineup. Crew on all kinds of craft, of all sorts of levels, are enjoying the slide. Any coast of the UK with a rideable wave gets sessioned and with the wave pools surging even the inland folk will find it easier to go for a wiggle. (Not that you're ever really that inland, seeing as you can only ever be 70 miles from the salt in the mainland UK). Buoyant as surfing for the everyday punter seems it's not so rosy at the high end. You'll have read about Nike selling Hurley and the resulting booting of, arguably, the strongest surf team ever assembled. John John Florence, Machado, Riss, Bourez and many more are now hunting for a new sticker for their beaks. Surf companies always rise and fall. Ocean Pacific and Town & Country were massive when I was a grom. Don't see them anymore. The cream will still rise, and there was a bloat where a lot of folks got sponsored for not doing much at all. It's all change and the people that surf good, make good gear, boards and suits will carry on doing so. The happenings of the WSL and the pro world's paychecks don't have much resonance when you're struggling into a nearly frozen 6mm in February to go for a quick surf in two-foot brown closeouts after all. Which leads neatly, in conclusion, to where we are at as a magazine; since we're now entering our 26th year of publishing. The 25th season celebratory bunting has been taken down. Normal service resumes. As ever we'll be pushing the British and Irish crew that are blowing up and chatting to anyone and everyone we find interesting in the world of salty fun.