The Surfer's Journal presents Soundings with Jamie Brisick

Randy Rarick

Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1949, Randy Rarick moved with his family to Hawaii when he was five. He started surfing at age 10, under the tutelage of the Waikiki Beach Boys. He was a Hawaiian state junior champ, and made the semifinals of the 1970 World Championships in Australia. In 1976, at age 26, Randy and 1968 world champion Fred Hemmings founded International Professional Surfing, aka the IPS, which linked together what at the time were fragmented pro events around the world. They established a ratings system and a world tour, which ended with the crowning of a world champion. In 1983, Randy spearheaded the Triple Crown of Surfing, which linked together the three North Shore events, and also crowned a champion. Randy would helm the Triple Crown for the next 30 years. Randy is also a surfboard shaper. He was taught how to shape by Dick Brewer and George Downing, and went on to make boards for Surf Line Hawaii, Dewey Weber, and Lightning Bolt. While Randy might be one of the most widely traveled surfers of all time, having ridden waves in over 70 countries, he's called the North Shore home since 1969, and has lived in the same house at Sunset Beach for more than 50 years. He surfs out front, i.e., his backyard, regularly. In this episode of Soundings, Rarick sits down with Jamie Brisick to talk about about the birth of the IPS and the Triple Crown, learning to shape from the masters, rating systems and standardization, surf purism, the importance of Hawaii, and spending a year traveling up the west coast of Africa. Produced by Jonathan Shifflett. Music by PazKa (Aska Matsumiya & Paz Lenchantin).

Ross Clarke-Jones

Hailing from the central coast of New South Wales, Australia, Ross Clarke-Jones joined the ASP world tour in 1986, at age 19. He was good in the small waves that the tour typically competed in at that time. But when the surf jacked up to 20-plus feet in the 1986 Billabong Pro at Waimea Bay, Clarke-Jones heaved himself over leadges and exited the water as one of the world's great big waves surfers—and has held that position ever since. He's been a major force in nearly every Eddie, winning that coveted event in 2001. He's paddled Jaws, towed Mavericks, Nazare, and Shipstern Bluff, and pioneered several mutant, way-out-to-sea slabs. He was the subject of the 2006 documentary titled The Sixth Element: The Ross Clarke Jones Story, narrated by the late Dennis Hopper. He and Tom Carroll starred in Storm Riders, a big-wave surfing reality show on the Discovery Channel, which led to Storm Riders 3D, a feature-length documentary. In this episode of Soundings, Clarke-Jones sits down with Jamie Brisick to talk about glory and catastrophe at Waimea Bay, manifestation, his lifelong relationship with Hawaii, racing sports cars, overcoming injury, maintaining motivation, dealing with fear, and the joys of small waves. Produced by Jonathan Shifflett. Music by PazKa (Aska Matsumiya & Paz Lenchantin).

Bob Hurley

Surfwear tycoon Bob Hurley spent his early days around Huntington Beach, California, shaping for labels like Hot Stuff, Infinity, Wave Tools, and Lightning Bolt. After spearheading Billabong USA from 1983 to 1998, Hurley transitioned to the creation of his namesake brand, centered around an ethos of innovation that he observed in the youthful counterculture of Southern California at the time. While he stepped down as Hurley's CEO in 2015, he remains deeply involved in surfing, still sculpting foam, as well as working with John John Florence on the latter's own namesake company. In this episode of Soundings, Hurley and Jamie Brisick sit down at the executive's ocean-front home in Newport Beach to talk about the key ingredients for his entrepreneurial success, Southern California's surf scene through the decades, the highs and lows of the industry, sponsoring Occy, learning to shape, and legacy. Produced by Jonathan Shifflett. Music by PazKa (Aska Matsumiya & Paz Lenchantin).

Pauline Menczer

Born in 1970, raised in Bondi Beach, Australia, Pauline Menczer found her way to the surfboard at age 14. Actually, it was half a surfboard—a snapped hand-me-down from her brother. Four years later she won the 1988 World Amateur Champs, hopped on the ASP world tour, and finished the year ranked fifth overall. Her surfing was loose, springy, full of hurled tail. She won lots of events, and, in 1993, the world title. Menzcer has appeared in many surf videos, including 1998's Blue Crush (the surf video, not the feature film), 2001's Peaches: The Core of Women's Surfing, and 2004's Surfabout: Down Under. She's the unofficial star of the 2021 documentary Girls Can't Surf. She released her memoir, Surf Like a Woman, in 2024. She was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame in 2018. In this episode of Soundings, Menczer talks with Jamie Brisick about grommethood hazing in Bondi Beach, winning a world title, overcoming adversity, battling stereotypes, adjusting to life after pro surfing, and writing her memoir. Produced by Jonathan Shifflett. Music by PazKa (Aska Matsumiya & Paz Lenchantin).

Chris Burkard

Born in 1986, Chris Burkard grew up on California's Central Coast and knew from a young age that he had to get out. Photography became the avenue. Primarily self-taught, Burkard won the Follow the Light Foundation grant in 2006, and away he went, working as a senior staff photographer for Surfline, Water magazine, and Surfer magazine, as well as freelancing for The New Yorker, National Geographic, and ESPN.com. In 2009, he was contracted by Patagonia to be a projects photographer. Burkard's photo books include The California Surf Project, Come Hell or High Water: The Plight of the Torpedo People, Distant Shores, High Tide, and The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth. Along with still photographs, he makes films, including Russia: The Outpost Volume 1, Faroes: The Outpost Volume 2, The Cradle of Storms, and Under an Arctic Sky. You might glean from those titles that Burkard has a penchant for the colder locales. On that note, he started photographing Iceland about two decades ago—and fell so in love with the place that, a couple years ago, he up and moved there with his wife and two sons. Along with photography, Burkard is also an avid adventurer, recently completing a 90-mile fat-tire bike ride across Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier. In this episode of Soundings, Burkard talks to host Jamie Brisick about traveling, Ansel Adams, the allure of cooler climates, finding purpose, moving to Iceland, the state of surf photography, and the challenges and rewards of environmentalism. Produced by Jonathan Shifflett. Music by PazKa (Aska Matsumiya & Paz Lenchantin).