Surfing
The US Surf Magazine Power Rankings
Who's breaking news? Who's breaking ground? Anyone?
Dane Reynolds, Backhand Hail Mary
© [unknown]
Paper magazines? Who needs 'em? They inhale massive resources, are expensive to buy and the reportage is so slow it isn't entirely dissimilar to the fabled pony express of the 19th century.
So why do we buy magazines in the paper form? Portability.
You're on a boat charter, a road trip? How easy it is to swoop on a magazine on a coffee table or in a neat lil rack.
And what about the joy of not staring into a portable electronic device? Just ink on paper, in fonts other than some default Web font?
The reality is, of course, that magazines are propped up entirely by the house of cards called … advertising. It ain't sales that keep the money-meter ticking, the profit and loss statements in the black. Why do you think "Transworld Surf" got shut down?
When advertising goes, and it will, so do the mags.
Enjoy it while you can! In the meantime, here's who's who in the U.S. market …
1." What Youth"
Status: Independent
A sweet bunch of tough-talkers (and such drinkers!) who fled the corpo bosom of Source Interlink's "Surfing" magazine, and joined with the world's best surf filmmaker, Kai Neville, to start a magazine that is unlike anything before or since. "What Youth" aimed to create, and then shape, a surf culture in their own likeness. Skateboard riding, Kerouac reading, cigarette smoking, Francophile, fin-throwing adventurers chasing their own version of liberty. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. But it has a vision.
2." Surfing"
Status: Owned by Source Interlink Companies Inc.
This ol' gal has had so many makeovers it's hard for the observer to discern what it actually is. It vies with "What Youth" for regularly shifting the surf photography paradigm — and all so beautifully presented and treated by its iconic photo editor Peter Taras — but peer into its belly, read the words, try to decipher its raison d'être (wait, who's the Francophile?) and you find a rather empty vessel. For children or those who demand very little from their magazine.
3. " Surfer"
Status: Owned by Source Interlink Companies Inc.
If "What Youth" and "Surfing" bring photographic excellence to the game, "Surfer" brings a cool design, evident on paper and online. This is a legacy, one would think, of its brilliant onetime editor Steve Hawk's (yes, Tony's bro) decision to hire David Carson to redesign the mag back in the early '90s. "Surfer" is a bridge for the reader between "Surfing" and "The Surfer's Journal," slightly better words, slightly better package, but hardly a challenge. For precocious children or those who don't have the damn time to wade through a 3,000-word "TSJ" profile.
4. " The Surfer's Journal"
Status: Independent
The second-youngest magazine in this gang (founded 1992 by Steve and Debbie Pezman) , but the one that is a natural fit for the ancients of the sport. "The Surfer's Journal" exists, in our mind, as the chronicler of surf history. Writers will spend six months on a story for the "Journal" just because the magazine matters. Because those words will count long after the magazine is off the stands. Its Aiden Shaw-look-alike editor, Scott Hulet, wraps up these lofty words with a sharpness unmatched in the game.
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