LeBoogie Issue #3 - Sex Sells!
Wood and sex can be synonymous in certain circles of reference and as far as LeBoogie’s “sexy new design” goes, they certainly interpose with depth and style. Novy riding under a sweet green lip on one of JG’s heart ‘n’ soul Paulownia boards is just a taste of what we are about to unfold in these pages of eyeball wetness.
Choosing to fresh up the design of an already cutting edge mag is a master stroke of LB Maestro Phil Gallagher. We were already happy, already fulfilled by issues 1 & 2, yet, like one tuned to what we need, evolvement takes place which we couldn’t even envisage and takes us to new heights of visual, mental and emotional ecstasy.
Where I end up reading LeBoogie changes each time. On the LeBoogie site if you go to the links section and have a look at the list of “sites we like”, you’ll see Emerald Surf City. The bloke running the show there is a dedicated booger going by the tag of Dessie. It’s Dessie’s housewarming and as I walk in the door, Des passes me the freshest copy of LB mag, the scent of booger sex stil seeping from its pages even though this issue has lost it s virginity. The house is crowded with dedicated booger crew, the lads we share reefrash with over and over again. Looks are exchanged, the fresh mag is seen in my hands, so we know it will be a few quick greetings only so as not to interrupt my dive into the nearest deep, soft leather chair to disappear into another world – an extension of the world we all wish to live in as much as we can. This is the only situation I can imagine where this is not only not seen as anti-social or odd in any way. In fact it is expected. It would be strange to pretend to want to pump my fellow’s flesh over slipping into the pages laid before me. To not do this you wouldn’t belong, you wouldn’t be here in the first place in fact.
My eyes fall straight to the index, order has befallen LB. There are page numbers, sections, titles. Like a frenzied teenager with his first love, I don’t know where to start. I go for the rare and hard to find first – Chad Barba, flicking slowly as I head there, letting the sumptuous images seep into my skin. Even the story of the mysterious Yeti cannot distract me from my chosen rendezvous, not just yet. I had followed Phil’s twitter and ‘spoken’ on email while he was heading to and from Baja in what seems an eternity ago. “Baja” “Barba” verbal foreplay for a man of the sponge. Cruelly beyond a tease.
Chad Barba has always been outstanding as a wild man. Ride with Barba and it’s going to be rough, how rough you’re going to get it is the only question. I peel back the pages and get ready to go an adventure, a wild adventure. Living the outrageousness vicariously through Phil’s eyes it just gets better and better. Drugs, cops with guns drawn, terminal cancer, stranded, synchronicity, the bizarre. Read and breathe every word, shit like this doesn’t happen every day.
“Unzipped” with BP p.19 - it Has to be about the judging criteria on the world tour. Flick back to the front, wanting it to be – yes it is. “…It stemmed from my frustration towards the judging criteria and its failure to evolve with the sport”. Frig – finally this is being voiced loudly. Whether you’re a fan of competitive riding or not, we all follow the tour to some degree, most of us just the big wave events where we want the riders to excel in the heaviest situations on offer, but we also want the limits pushed and this pushing to be recognised, not stagnated. The rush of satisfaction is massive. Years of complacency may finally change after all. LeBoogie is striving for evolvement in its raw infancy even, can judging take a leaf out of its sensual pages and strive for the same??
Wood by JG p.79 the Paulownia collection is the epitome of evolvement back to our roots. The original surfcraft were spotted by Cook In Hawaii, it was not specified how much they stood up and how much they lay down. Jarrod has made the ancient new and added refinement to make these craft both beautiful and functional. Out with the lads on a south coast reef recently, our man of the cover Novy took one of these crafted beasts for a carve. I wanted to know how these sleek beasts rode, so fine did the lines in the barrel look, and asked him to drop me a line about the ride. The following love-note was soon saucing up my inbox:
“Yeah these new crafts are amazing fun! the shaped just like your average board but these things fly and draw some cool lines when carving! It feels weird at first because of the fact they don't have the flotation a normal board does(making it super easy to duck dive), then also the fact they are a fraction of the thickness in your hands! Once riding a wave, these things really take off even through draw out turns! They feel a lot different to normal boards so there exciting to get on especially in punchy clean waves!”
Luke shadbolt’s Photographic narrative makes you want to slide your fingers over the page to feel the grain. The perfect way to depict the product of a decade of dedication from Jarrod Gibson.
p.53 “America Fuk Yeah” The yeti reveals in a new way, better than any previous photographic expositions I’ve seen. Novy, Hughes and Corpse hit the west coast for some mega fresh imagery.
“Now Sea Here” p.71 – be sure not to rush by this point of erotic delight. Get turned on by one of the sickest Zone wipeout sequences you’ll be blessed to see – and be glad your skin is still firmly attached to your body, which may no longer be the case for James Moore.
With the photography of Andrew Bass p.35 Gallagher reveals fresh eye fodder and steps the reader into the most ancient of the seductive arts – poetry. Smooth sweet and oh so seductive, get ready for your eyes to glaze. Be sure to follow the cadence, allow it to take your senses to another level. Savour, sensate, be seduced.
Love air moves, p.111 is the next stop. Ten pages of the sickest aerial shit around town.
The natural roll-on is to Fever Cream, oops, premature, I mean Fever Dream. Koots is a mad bastard by any standard and the way the Zion lads are promoting him is the antithesis of what Mike McKiernan is talking about the bodyboarder beauty fad. Time to glide over to “Skin Deep”. P.21 gives a roasting view of the ‘scene’ of the BB scene. The cutting line:
“The pressure to look beautiful is encouraging many into dieting, eating disorders and in earlier severe cases plastic surgery.” The Roast lads as always offer some challenging views worth chewing the cud over. Read it to find your own.
Intense, I reverse flip to immerse, again vicariously, with Jose Marquina in a cavernous Zone barrel, his multiple stitches from there last year a distant memory. How can something so intense be so relaxing to view? After the intensity of fraying though the folds, I find a place to rest, recuperate, recharge, be further inspired.
I want more of this so I go to p.43 and find “It’s a Small World” and trip around the world in appreciation of how global BB really is. Food for the international soul. More images please. P.83 10 images, ten stories. The personal and intimate side of this experience comes out – the pillowtalk of BB photography. Always time for a change in position at this point, mixing it up with “Mixtape” is in the flow p.93
Dammit, all this romping around has made me feel like a drink, pulling into p.103 sees some D&M bartender moments with the ever intelligent Ewan Donnachie “Confessions of a Bartender”. Ewan slakes my thirst.
The mood for a threesome happens to rool-up after the alcohol stimulus and luckily adam Leuhman provides the experience on p.105 “Been There, Done That”.
I’m nearly spent from the sensual venture called “LeBoogie Issue 3”. Perhaps time to get down and dirty and eat something not on the normal menu. “Man Vs Wild” p.23 , could this feed me up raw’n’hard Bear Grylls style? Sundaran Gillespie. Riding unnamed slabs in Canada – bring this shit on, feed it to me bear style!
One final rush, sometimes it is good to save something awesome for last. A final venture into a cave – the Carnage Cave. Pumping sensuality, the kinky underbelly of the bodyboarding world where we delight in the pain of others. Inappropriate for here, names for such things circulate in darker circles in the seediest places. If you know them, you have been there and can appreciate. Troy Hannam provides us with this deviate rush as a huge monster has his way with him. Thankyou Troy.
The outro leaves a taste in our mouth, savouring the future june issue. In the meantime it is time to savour all we have been through in this experience, perhaps visiting some of the experiences again.
One thing is to be mentioned. As we sit here delighting in the quality and style presented before us, it must be remembered that Phil lost his Dad during the production of this fine work. Emotional pain and suffering sometimes brings out the best in a man. The introductory message about change being “… others, a sad ending which you cannot explain” is an opening of Phil’s heart to us, quietly describing a massive impact. As we’ve lived the fire of work and delighted in the shared intensity and beauty, so do we feel your pain Phil. The suffering of one of our brothers is our pain to share in the inseparable world of bodyboarding. You always take the time to thank those who have contributed to anything you do, you always have and always will, it is your beautiful nature. But now on behalf of “us” we thank you Toinzy, for bringing the best, raising the bar and continuing the spirit of adventure your Dad instilled in your very being. Everything lives on in some way, the morph of change just shifts how we perceive it.
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