Six Highly Recommended Surf Podcast Episodes

Luke Gartside

4 years ago

After a long, wind and rain battered winter, spring finally seems to have sprung here in Blighty.

Sure, we can’t do a lot of the things we’d like to do to celebrate, like have a barbecue down the beach or swig a beer in the pub garden, but thankfully we can still sit on our lawns, balconies or window seats with the sun on our face and take in all that reading and audio material we usually never have time to enjoy.

To aid with the former, we’ve thrown together a stay at home subscription bundle, complete with our latest print edition (containing 144 pages of uninterrupted surf storytelling), 2 bags of Origin X Wavelength coffee and a £100 travel voucher so you can escape the minute this is all over, all for just £20. Get yours here!

And for the latter, we’ve compiled this list featuring some of our favourite surf podcast episodes, spanning all manner of interesting subjects and characters, perfect for popping on next time you find yourself out for a walk or at a loose end at home. Tell us your favourites in the comments!

Surf Splendor 013: Debate: Surf Media, Chas VS. Ashton

First up, a now-infamous surf media showdown between Beachgrit co-creator Chas Smith and Stab editor Ashton Goggins. Probably the only ever surf pod to culminate in a physical altercation, this highly entertaining ep lifts the curtain on the surf industry to reveal a squalid little corner overflowing with dirty laundry. This encounter between the pair was just the start of a long-running saga, which climaxed last year with Ashton open-palming Chas at Surf Expo! (video here). Since then the pair have stopped publicly slinging mud at each other, retreating to their own corners of the internet to continue unperturbed with their unique styles of surf reportage.

Surf Simply 023: Barbarian Days: The William Finnegan Interview

Heading for higher-browed territory, here’s an excellent interview with surfer, author and New Yorker staff writer William Finnegan. For those unfamiliar, in 2015 Finnegan released Barbarian Days; a memoir of his life spent chasing waves around the globe. As well as being widely heralded as the best-ever work of surf writing, it found acclaim outside of our bubble, topping bestseller lists and picking up a host of accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize. In this episode, Bill recounts a few choice tales from its pages and provides his incisive take on some of the more interesting debates that orbit surf culture.

Ain’t That Swell: Coolangatta Core Lord Edition Feat. Parko, Surfcore2001 and Whacko Jacko Freestone

Here’s a two-hour live extravaganza from undoubtedly the best surf podcasting duo out there, Jed Smith and Vaughan Blakey. It’s one of Ain’t That Swell’s many excellent live roadshow episodes, where the pair bowl into surf towns across Australia, drink loads of beer and chew the fat on stage with surf legends past and present in front of an always raucous crowd. This episode, recorded in Coolangatta, features Insta sensation SurfCore2001 (click that link), Joel Parko and Jack Freestone.

The Stab MIC: Morgan Maassen

In Stab’s MIC podcast series, magazine founder Sam Mcintosh sits down with interesting figures who make a living from something to do with surfing, to talk money, influence and culture. In this episode, he catches up with photographer Morgan Maassen (the photographer behind our Vol 256 cover) to learn about his career journey and drill down into the finer points of what it takes to make it as a surf photographer in the modern-day. The boys discuss the profound shift brought on by Instagram and the way some photographers have managed to adapt before detailing the business models of surf photography’s top five earners.

Surf Splendor 199: Jamie Brisick

In the second Surf Splendor episode on the list, David Lee Scales sits down for a candid conversation with pro surfer turned writer Jamie Brisick. As well as conversation around Brisick’s latest book ‘Becoming Westerly’, the episode features excerpts from his excellent Surfer’s Journal piece ‘The Dazzling Blackness,’ penned a year prior to the conversation, about the loss of his wife. Brisick’s personal and professional journey from tour surfer, through surf journo and mag editor to accomplished author afford him a uniquely interesting perspective within surf culture that’s well worth listening to.

It’s Not The Length: 010 2019 Best Bits!

We couldn’t possibly run you through a list of surf-related pods without throwing out an honorary mention to our own humble offering; It’s Not The Length. Launched in early 2019, hosts Paul Evans and Ben Mondy came to you from all manner of locations over the course of INTL’s first year, including the Canaries, Azores and live on stage at London’s iconic Genesis Cinema. This episode features some of the best bits from the first ten episodes, choked full of amusing anecdotes and searing insights from around the world of surfing.

Cover image: Josie Prendergast, by @morganmaassen – from the pages of Vol 256.