As a professional writer I’ve penned and polished thousands of articles during the past two decades. Through my work as a digital editor-in-chief I’ve assigned, shaped, copyedited and formatted close to 30,000 digital stories on several content management systems. I’m skilled in the content creation of blogs, breaking news, interviews, consumer guides, investigative business features, press releases, SEO ghostwriting, travel guides and in-depth video talks. Other work includes media coordination and writing for WSL events, as well as building and managing social media. Below you will find examples of my work in a variety of forms.
Business Features
The growing popularity of dirty denim in an industry that prides itself on being green
The state of denim in the surf wear industry is at a crossroads. Is it something where we’re willing to share a collective blind spot, like the petroleom needed to make surfboards? Or will it become the modern equivalent of surf wax wrapped in plastic – once ubiquitous but now heavily frowned upon.
Denim is dirty. Our favorite surf labels will produce up-cycled, recycled, sustainable boardshorts, wetsuits, hardgoods and even bottle openers – but few have mapped out a plan for jeans. And as these brands expand their denim offerings each season, they are having a hard time deciding how best to keep their green ethos while moving forward into this profitable category rife with eco-transgressions.
“Kelly said to a reporter before we ever launched a product that we would never make denim,” recalls John Moore, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Outerknown. “That was because we really didn’t think that we would ever be able to make them up to our sustainability standards. So we actually launched Outerknown saying we would never do denim. Denim is such an integral part of our lifestyle, but the truth is that it’s one of the filthiest manufacturing processes that exists in apparel.”
Denim is a huge business. Globally it accounted for more than $100 billion in sales in 2017. In Australia ActionWatch estimates the total surf denim market was $12 million AUD that same year… Read the full denim article here
Technology Features
How the unstoppable momentum of the wave pool industry is going to change the face of surfing
We’ve strived to recreate ocean waves for decades, first by launching Big Surf in Tempe Arizona in 1969, and then building machines that agitated chlorine and concrete setups across the globe. Most developments resembled a small, crappy windblown day at your local beachbreak, including the Allentown Pennsylvania wave pool which hosted a 1985 ASP contest.
The wave-making process was described as an “industrial-sized toilet flush” that produced a tiny dribbler of a wave. Competitors hopped through the chlorine and grabbed the coping to make it through heats. Tom Carroll went on to win the event, and it was the last professional surfing contest in a wave pool until the WSL ran the exhibition event at Kelly’s wave this year.
Post-Allentown, a few wave pools built later actually worked. The second chlorine generation includes Typhoon Lagoon in Florida and the now defunct Ocean Dome in Japan as well as spots in the Canaries and Dubai – the latter of which hosted that internet-famous clip for a Globe promo featuring Dion Agius… Read the full Wave Pool article here
More Technology Stories
5 products to protect you from sharks in the surf
Sydney parking lot tapped as latest wavepool location
Fistful of Fake Waves- Surf parks set to launch globally
Why what’s on the inside of your wetsuit matters most
Interviews
Dan Malloy finds his legs post pro surf career
We’re fascinated with pro careers. I mean, what’s it take to make a living surfing? How much of your personal integrity does one have to compromise? If you’re Kelly Slater you don’t have any issues with what you do. If you’re Rob Machado your career evolves to match your personal growth and sometimes it’s in harmony with your sponsor, so that’s great.
But what if you’re not really sure and you’re still feeling things out? That’s the interesting stuff.
It all started by calling Dan Malloy a soul surfer. There’s a process in the surf industry where pros no longer rely on contests and videos to deliver exposure for their sponsors, and for lack of a better term we tend to call this next phase soul surfer.
Dan says that at age 12 someone handed him a stack of stickers and it was all downhill from there. The following interview is a wonderfully honest trip (thank you Dan) through his career.
So join us for a wonderful, rambling conversation with Dan Malloy as he comes to grips with making a living from surfing… Read the full Dan Malloy interview here
More Interviews
Dion Agius- Terrible with spray paint, great with clips
Ozzie Wright- Bad cars, bad teeth & amazing paintings
Stories- From dry-reef Chopes to stuck in a cave at Pipe
Surfing’s master photog Art Brewer on the brith of soul
The effervescent Maud Le Car wants you to be in the moment
Technical Product Writing
Fine-tuned Mayhem shape gets an (almost) indestructible build
It’s not everyday you can buy a new board, throw it down in the surfshop parking lot and jump on it (bouncing up and down for good measure). And the only time I’ve driven over a surfboard was during an inebriated flat spell in Baja (we kept the boards under the truck so they wouldn’t blow away in the gales). Now for the clumsy, careless and pragmatic, Lib Tech has launched one of the world’s strongest surfboards.
Lib Tech partnered with Lost Surfboards to release the Puddle Jumper in Lib Tech’s ECO ISO construction. It’s a good fit as both companies have prospered using the anti-establishment business model as their, um, established business model. Lost Surfboards has also never shied away from new technology. Creator Matt Biolos is well-known for exploring the use of alternative materials.
“Since I first saw Lib Tech’s ECO ISO construction, I wanted to build a board with it,” said Biolos. “The strength-to-weight ratio, eco-minded materials and techniques, and the fact that this tech was being built in the USA was incredibly interesting to me.”
Lib Tech’s ECO-ISO construction process involves some 30 pieces and steps. To keep it simple we will focus on the basic components of a standard surfboard build: The foam (or core), glass and resin as they pertain to the ECO ISO build… Read the full Lib Tech x Lost review here
More Technical Reviews
9 summer wetsuits, surfed, tested and reviewed
Bryan D Dickerson 