A surfer from Noosa's sun drenched shores obsessed with the dark world of gothic horror, Jai Lee's personal struggles and addiction to noseriding have twisted his creativity. Words: Chris Preston Photos: Thomas Robinson (pp 1&3), Andy Staley (pp4)and Dane Peterson

Flitting between awesome waves at Aileens and Nelscott Reef is all in a week's work for Ireland's big-wave master Al Mennie. Words: Al Mennie Photos: Al Mennie, Gary McCall, Larry Jansky, Richard Hallman

As the Campbell brothers wrap up a European shaping tour, Mark Sankey discovers Bournemouth's hidden Californian connection, and why old designs aren't necessarily retro. Photos and design by Alexa Poppe

Mark Leary's latest work deviates sharply from the usual surf photography portfolio, celebrating as it does the commonplace, everyday aspects of surfing instead of monster swells and awesome barrels. Chris Preston chats to him about moments captured.

Mark Sankey and Alexa Poppe discover Autumn's aquatic gifts in a late September road trip spanning France and Spain. Words: Mark Sankey. Photos and Design: Alexa Poppe

This isn't a shameless plug. This is an encounter with a British company doing something special with surfboards. While the industry is focused on the multi-buck movers and shakers parading their eco-wares, let's not forget our homegrown talent. Words: Howard Swanwick Photos: John Morgan and Jamie Bott


Sweeping up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

June 11, 2009 | Words By: Rhiannon

Most of us have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a great lump of plastic floating in the central North Pacific Ocean.plastic-rubbish-pacific-gyreCurrents sweep debris from the coastal waters off North America and Japan into a ‘dustpan’ twice the size of Texas called the convergence zone. Wind-driven surface currents squish the plastic toward the center of the lump.

It sounds quite impressive, but can be fatal to local wildlife. Jellyfish mistakenly think the floating particles of plastic are zooplankton and consume them. The long-lasting plastics work their way up the food chain and end up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals. Before being eaten the plastics absorb pollutants from sea water, so they contain dangerously high levels of toxic chemicals such as PCDs and DDT which cause hormone disruption.

The plastic fragments, include bottles, ropes, lighters and Styrofoam which have degraded into tiny, sludgy pieces making the cleanup difficult. Some ocean scientists think it will be impossible to clean up this mess.

plastic-beach-wasteEnter Richard Owen, a scuba diver and building contractor. In 2008 he formed the ECC (Environmental Cleanup Coalition) to sweep up the mess in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. His plan is nothing if not stylish, in fact if he can get funding it will be the largest marine pollution cleanup and restoration project in the world, ever. He is going to modify a fleet of 20-30 ships to create a giant laboratory called Gyre Island, specially designed to cut right to the center of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and trawl out the trash for recycling. As if that wasn’t enough, he is planning on using the Gyre Island fleet to house a tasty sea vegetable production farm, growing seaweed, kelp and algae as a food crop. He is even going to throw in a marine fish hatchery and release 10,000 tuna into the Pacific Ocean. What a man.

The ECC is planning on spending the rest of this year fundraising to get this massive project ready for launch in 2010. To do your bit go to www.gyrecleanup.org


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