| What might appear an unlikely biographical pairing is in fact the study of an audacious mentor and his equally audacious pupil. Bound by friendship, philosophy, and choice of equipment, 22-year-old Joel Tudor and 50-something Nat Young have become spokesmen for the surfing tribe and frequent travel-mates. While Nat was key in bringing about the shortboard revolution in the 60s, he remains one of longboard surfing's purest exponents. Joel Tudor represents the other side of the coin. Residing at the top of longboarding's late 20th century revival, Joel also became a talented shortboarder at such indicator breaks as Pipeline and Cloudbreak. So here is Nat Young, brilliant, outspoken, an Australian national hero who could likely descibe himself as the greatest surfer ever and be not far wrong. Then there's the Tudor paradox, a prodigy's passion for surfing's past as applied to the now. Although separated in age by three decades, these two share a common drive to push the boundaries of modern surfing. |
