The Surfer’s Journal presents Soundings with Jamie Brisick

The Surfer’s Journal

In-depth conversations with the most compelling people in surfing.

Sports Society & Culture

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5 of 59

Leah Dawson
Leah Dawson grew up in Florida, and moved to Oahu to attend University of Hawaii, where she earned a BA in Creative Media in 2008. Soon after, she started work as a production assistant for the Vans Triple Crown, launching her into a career behind the camera. As a surfer, Dawson’s approach is grounded in freedom of expression and dance, on all manner of crafts, with nods to the surfers who have informed her wave-riding odyssey—Rell Sunn, Margo Oberg, Jericho Poppler, and Lynne Boyer, to name but a few. She is the cofounder of Salty Sensations, in which she and her partners, Kassia Meador and Makala Smith, host surf retreats at select spots worldwide. She’s also a co-founder of Changing Tides Foundation, a women-led organization that celebrates diversity and inclusivity. In this episode of Soundings, Dawson talks with Jamie Brisick about the importance of believing in something, attaining longevity as a surfer, the Blue Crush generation, the freedom of the glide, lineup dynamics, the power of uplifting others, and the most memorable moments she’s captured through the viewfinder.
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1:08:21
Matt Warshaw
Matt Warshaw grew up surfing in Los Angeles at a time when surf and skate culture were beginning to meet in Venice Beach and Santa Monica. After a stint as a pro surfer in the 1980s, Warshaw became the editor of Surfer magazine. In 1990, he left his editor’s post at Surfer to attend UC Berkeley, where he got his BA in History in 1993. He remained in the Bay Area, parking himself in an apartment in the Sunset District and in countless Ocean Beach barrels. As if personally expanded by all those tubes, Warshaw’s writing expanded into lengthy essays, profiles, and books—many books—among them Maverick’s: The Story of Big-Wave Surfing, Above The Roar: 50 Surfer Interviews, Photo/Stoner, Surfriders: In Search of the Perfect Wave, Surf Movie Tonite! Surf Movie Poster Art, 1957-2005, and more. His Encyclopedia of Surfing, first released in 2003, is the most comprehensive tome of surf culture in existence, and he followed it up with 2010’s The History of Surfing, a beast of a book that makes music of Warshaw’s encyclopedic knowledge. His most recent venture is the EOS dot surf, which is an invaluable online resource for surf obsessives, and features the “Sunday Joint,” a reflective op-ed style email that Matt shoots out to subscribers every Sunday. In this episode of Soundings, Warshaw talks with Jamie Brisick about the golden days of Los Angeles, establishing a career as a historian, the value of exploring someone else’s world, the importance of preserving history, the challenge of creating a database, his first Jeff Ho board, the Encyclopedia of Surfing, and the art of writing economically.
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58:32
Torren Martyn
Born in 1990 in Bangalow, Australia, not far from Byron Bay, Torren Martyn is hailed as one of the great stylists of our time, riding all manner of surfcraft, and with a special penchant for twin-fins. He’s also one of surfing’s great explorers. In 2016, he and his filmmaker pal Ishka Folkwell spent three months circumnavigating Australia in a Land Rover, riding A-grade waves and documenting their trip in the first installment of the film series Lost Track. In 2018, the duo did a similar trip around New Zealand, this time on motorcycles. In 2019, they bought a Ford Transit and drove it from Europe down to the west coast of Africa on a surf hunt. In 2022, Martyn and his partner, Aiyana Powell, bought a sailboat in Thailand and spent an entire year exploring surf breaks in and around Indonesia, culminating in the film Calypte. In this episode of Soundings, Martyn and Jamie Brisick talk about surfing in the middle of nowhere, forging a free-surfer’s path, finding clarity and direction, cultivating a cartographic mindset, gaining confidence as a sailor, his quiver, and the logistics, preparation, and knowledge that went into planning for a year at sea.
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53:12
Carolyn Murphy
Carolyn Murphy is a supermodel, actress, and environmental advocate. Her Vogue shoot with Steven Meisel in the late 1990s launched her into a fruitful, three-decade long career. In 1998 she was named VH1/Vogue’s Model of the Year. She played Dubbie in the 1999 feature film Liberty Heights, directed by Barry Levinson. She was also one of the “Modern Muses” on the November 1999 millennium cover of American Vogue. She’s also a surfer, and moved from NYC in the late 1990s to be closer to the waves in LA. Today, Murphy is an ambassador for Surfrider, The Wellness Foundation, Animal Haven, Edible Schoolyard NY, Ocean Unite, and No More Plastic. Along with being a mom, activism is a key component in her life. In this episode, Murphy talks with Jamie Brisick about the shock of New York as a young model, the shoots that changed her career, splitting time between Costa Rica and New York, the fashion industry, performativity, the challenges of introversion, surfing, and going against the grain.
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1:00:37
Darrick Doerner
Darrick Doerner is a big-wave surfer, tow-surfing pioneer, Hollywood stuntman, and former North Shore lifeguard. He grew up surfing in the LA area in the 1960s and ’70s, moved to Hawaii his senior year of high school, and discovered himself joyous and at peace in heavy water. Hungry for waves too big to catch manually, Doerner and his pals Laird Hamilton and Buzzy Kerbox started experimenting with personal watercraft assists in the early 1990s. Not long after, they began towing into Peahi, aka Jaws. In Hollywood, Doerner stunt-doubled for Bodhi, Patrick Swayze’s character, in 1991’s Point Break, and appeared as a stunt surfer in the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day. In this episode of Soundings, Doerner and Jamie Brisick talk about the allure of Sunset Beach, his memorable ride at Waimea on Super Bowl Sunday in 1988, friendship, the importance of being attuned to your environment, drawing lines on giant waves, and working with Eddie Aikau.
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1:07:02