Looking Sideways Action Sports Podcast

“Give people a personal relationship with nature and they’re not going to commodify it. There is something more sacred out there, and that is nature. But we’re killing it because we don’t have a relationship with it.”Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.This week’s guest is Nick Hayes, an illustrator, graphic novelist, political cartoonist, and author of The Book of Trespass. He’s also an activist who uses art and creativity as a tool to try and change the world.There’s a grand tradition of this in English art, and I think you can draw a direct link between Nick’s work and those other peculiarly English artists who combine art and protest to reclaim the way we see our history, ask us to reconsider how we use our land, and above all ask an increasingly important question: who is this place for?Historically, I’m thinking of people like Hogarth, Cobbett, Hazlitt, Blake and (a tad obviously perhaps) Orwell. These days, I would include people such as Ben Wheatley, Ben Myers and Mark Jenkin; as well as Nick’s great hero Roger Deakin, all of whom explore these themes through their work; and in different ways nod to the occasionally unsettling strain of anarchical, magick-with-a-K weirdness that is a recurring motif in this lineage.In the homogenised monoculture live in today, such a take can be jarring and discomfiting. But if you ask me, we need these perspectives more than ever. Because these are fundamental questions, particularly when it comes to land use, ownership, and the dark history that led us to this point, themes which are the main preoccupations of Nick’s work.Through campaigns such as the Right to Roam and Esme Boggart, Nick is challenging the monolithic conventions that shape our lives, and inviting us to ask these wider questions for ourselves.He is also, as I suspected he might be, a brilliant conversationalist, with a wide palette of cultural and historical touchpoint, and an ability to communicate his ideas with wit and clarity.Looking forward to hearing what everybody thought of my conversation with Nick and the wider right to roam conversation - leave me a comment, or if you’re a paid subscriber who has any feedback or questions about this week’s episode hit me up directly in the chat thread. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Looking Sideways is proudly ad-free and reader and listener supported. Massive thanks to all my paid subscribers, who help keep the podcast and newsletter free for everybody. To consider supporting what I do with a free or paid subscription, click belowEpisode 199! How on earth did that happen?I’ve had a couple of admin and R&R focussed weeks since I released the Festive Special, but now I’m back and raring to go with a lovely, timely chat with photographer, musician and snowboarder Nathan Gallagher.Nath’s a very old friend I first met in the mid-90s, when we were young snowboarding idiots looking for a way into the industry. We’ve been friends ever since and I’ve watched with real pride and interest over the intervening years as he’s created a really unique and commercially successful creative career for himself.And, as you’ll hear, Nathan has a lot of really original and interesting things to say about art, creativity, the voices in our heads that dictate the paths we follow, and our wider search for validation.I must be honest: this conversation came at a good time for me personally. Firstly, there was the chat itself, an intensely pleasureble exchange that reminded me that, for me, the conversation has always been the ultimate reward when it comes to Looking Sideways.But I also needed to hear Nathan’s canny, empathetic message about the importance of remembering why we do creative work, and how, in today’s digital landscape judging anything on the numbers (especially your self-esteem) is a modern fool’s errand. Like anybody, I’m not immune to falling prey to such corrosive reflections, so I found Nath’s expert, passionate analysis of the dynamics at play here very fascinating and, personally, much needed.I hope you get as much our of our conversation as I did. If so - tell me in the comments, or if you’re a paid subscriber who has any feedback or questions about this week’s episode hit me up directly in the chat thread: www.lookingsideways.substack.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

A special Housekeeping Corner bonus episode about why I am shifting the entire podcast and newsletter over to Substack and introducing a partial paywall. Find out more: www.lookingsideways.substack.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

How does it feel to go into space? What does it make you feel about the future of our planet, and your own place in the universe? What are the moral implications of space travel? And just how do you take a picture of Pipeline from the International Space Station as it flies overhead at 17,000 mph?All questions that I discussed with this week’s guest Christina Koch, a surfer and – yes – astronaut who spent 328 days in space aboard the International Space Station, setting a new record for the longest spaceflight completed by a woman in the process. She also spent her downtime photographing the planet’s best surf locations, posting them on her hugely popular Instagram feed and outing herself as a serial surf geek in the process.Christina’s story is as inspirational and fascinating as any I’ve featured on the Looking Sideways podcast. It’s a lesson in focus and determination, and a tale of a life embellished with profound experiences that have seen her spend seasons at the South Pole and literally live among the stars.This breadth of experience has also given Christina a unique perspective on the biggest philosophical questions of all, whether it’s our place in the universe, the huge challenges we face on earth right now or the best way of handling individual experiences of stress and adversity.All topics, as you’ll know if you’re a regular listener, that are right up my boulevard, and the resulting exchange is one of my favourite ever Looking Sideways conversations, which is why I am resharing it today. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Festive Special!Mince pies. Carols. Mistletoe. The John Lewis ad. Festive tunes on endless repeat. Yep, Christmas is a time of tradition. And in Looking Sideways land, that means it’s time for the annual Tim and Gendle Christmas Special, our very own addition to the Christmas canon.Although…this year, we approached things a little differently. Of course, we sat down and chatted for a couple of hours, discussed how 2022 was for us, our hopes for 2023, and answered the many listener questions we received on Instagram. Gendle even did a special quiz, which worked out a treat.But this year I’ve also got some specially-recorded guest appearances from a few truly notable friends of the pod, including Ed Leigh, Selema, Ben Powell, Chas Smith, Demi Taylor, Lesley McKenna, Christian Stevenson, Owen Tozer and even real live astronaut Christina Koch.So for now, wherever you’re listening to this - I imagine it’s either in the car on the way to someone’s gaff, or while peeling the sprouts - I urge you to don a silly Santa hat, grab an eggnog and kickback while us three absolute idiots wax festively for the next couple of hours.It’s been another great Looking Sideways year, and this episode was the perfect way to cap it off. Hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed recording it. Merry Christmas! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

This week’s episode is a double header with my friends Lewis Arnold and Chris Nelson, two absolute stalwarts of the UK surf community who for the last three years have been working hard on their investigative film The Big Sea.And it really is an extraordinary piece of work - an investigation into surfing’s ‘dirty little secret’, as they put it: the industry’s relationship with neoprene. Neoprene is the market name for chloroprene. Chloroprene is produced by a company called Denka in a factory in St.John, Louisiana, which emits levels of chloroprene that the EPA has found to be carcinogenic, and so deadly to the local community that the area has become known as ‘Cancer Alley’.The Big Sea is many things: a shocking environmental documentary; a cold-eyed juxtaposition of surfing’s public image with this shabby truth; an investigation into the socio-economic factors that have led to this situation; and an exploration of the hidden hypocrisies that prop up our lives in the west, with surfing’s relationship with neoprene one metaphor for this wider unspoken reality.Know somebody who would enjoy this post?And it is also an exploration of activism in its many forms, from the dogged fight for justice headed up by local St John Parish campaigners such as protagonist Robert Taylor, to Chris and Lewis’s own independent efforts to bring this story to light over many years in the face of industry indifference and suspicion. As such The Big Sea has the power to reframe the conversation about surfing environmentalism and drive real tangible change in a way that will benefit real people in real communities. No wonder Surfers Against Sewage co-founder Chris Hines calls it ‘probably the most focused 50 minutes of environmental and social campaigning by surfers ever.’As you can tell, I was blown away by the film, and especially the way Lewis and Chris have marshalled these disparate threads into an elegant, impactful 50 minute film. As soon as I saw it I decided to chat to them for this episode of Type 2. We talked about the entire thing - how they heard of the story, the three-year mission to bring it to life, what the entire saga says about surfing and our relationship to environmental issues, and what change they hope to inspire. You can also find out how you can help the duo finish the film, and bring it to the wider audience is so richly deserves. Hope you enjoy this episode.New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.Enjoyed this episode? Got a view on the issues raised? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

“Death isn't scary to me. Dying isn’t scary to me. I’ve seen it, and I’ve been close to it.”When my friend at Whitelines magazine asked me to chat to snowboarder Kimmy Fasani about her cancer diagnosis for this year’s annual, we decided to join forces on a print/audio double-header. The print version of our conversation was released last week, followed by the full audio version of our conversation on the podcast. The result was a hugely affecting conversation that moved me greatly. As I wrote in my introduction to the Whitelines story:“Death, serious illness, grief. These milestones are or will be a part of all of our lives.Yet as a society, we are strangely reluctant to deal with them or even consider them until they’re in our immediate future.So when we see somebody we care about confront these hidden commonplaces, and address these taboos openly, it has real impact. And when that person has a high profile in their field, and chooses to share their experiences in a vulnerable, confrontational, yet generous way, it can change the way we all think about and see them”.“How else to explain the awe-inspiring power of the way Kimmy Fasani has chosen to tell her story through the prism of snowboarding?As a rider, Kimmy has always been held in great affection by the snowboarding community. She is also somebody that has long been aware of how her profile gives her the ability to ‘shift the needle and change the conversation’, as she puts it.Following the birth of her first son Koa, she did just that by challenging the perception of what it means to be a mother and a professional snowboarder.Now, thanks to the wisdom and grace she has shown in sharing her experience of being diagnosed with and treated for stage 3 breast cancer, she is doing so again - by openly exploring the biggest, scariest themes of all.Over the last decade, Kimmy and her family have dealt with a series of escalating crises that culminated in her diagnosis with stage 3 breast cancer at the end of 2021.By choosing to share their experiences with her trademark combination of grace, beauty and great generosity of spirit, Kimmy is once again changing the collective snowboarding conversation in the most powerful way of all”.Know somebody who would enjoy this episode? I’m so grateful to Kimmy for the generosity and trust she showed during our conversation. Big thanks to Owen for the Zoom portraits, too. Enjoyed this episode? Have thoughts on the issues raised? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Lifer alert!It’s been a while since I had a good, honest lifer chat on the show, and this episode with my pal James Joiner is a rambling comfort blanket of a conversation in the classic Looking Sideways fashion.James is a journalist, photographer, podcaster and all-round creative doer who I first met when I was a guest on his own 1% For The Planet podcast a few years back. We hit it off real well and have since stayed in touch. And James has become a huge supporter of Looking Sideways, writing a couple of stories about the book and podcast for sites like Monster Children, and generally being the type of positively-affirming cheerleader that any creative type like me needs.James also has a really great story himself: the type of classic, by-the-bootstraps tale that long-term listeners to the show will be familiar with. He tells his tale with real candour and humour, and the resulting chat was a rambling stemwinder of the lifer genre which I enjoyed hugely.Enjoying what I do? Help me spread the word!Expect discussions on different creative approaches and the importance of recognising key life choices; as well as digressions on the peculiarly British habit of trainspotting, the classically Gen-X tendency to self-mythologise (guilty as charged), the term ‘flyover country’ and plenty more.Thanks for doing the show, James. Looking forward to catching up in person when we make it over for round two next year.Enjoyed this episode? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to interview people who’ve had a real influence on my life. But Chris Moran, this week’s guest, has probably had more of an influence on my life than any guest I’ve yet had the pleasure of chatting to.Thanks for checking out this episode! Subscribe for free so you don’t miss an episode or newsletterLet’s get the snowboarding out of the way first. Chris is certainly one of the most influential figures in early British snowboarding history. He came up on the legendary early 90s Rossendale dryslope scene and quickly made a name for himself on the embryonic British scene thanks to a beautiful, elegant and much-imitated style; and the warmth and generosity that he’s always been famed for.Soon after, along with peers like Justin Allison, Steve Bailey, Lesley McKenna and Stu Brass, Chris became one of the first Brit riders to really make a proper living from snowboarding. This was at the point that snowboarding really began to take off, and marketers and brands began to pay attention. Chris and Stu, in particular, really grasped this opportunity, and in doing so set the foundations for the professional British scene that still exists today.But if you ask me, Chris’s influence goes way beyond that, thanks to his ability to relish the wonder of life while dragging people along with him. I was lucky enough to meet Chris when I was 13, and he immediately opened my eyes to the opportunities that would eventually define my life, and that there was much more to the world than the grey Mancunian streets we grew up on.Listeners and readers sharing posts really helps get the word out. Click below to pass this one onIt was the beginning of a 30 year friendship which is still going strong today, and I’ve spent a large part of the past three decades riding, travelling and working with Chris: firstly as part of the brilliant Whitelines editorial team we were lucky to be part of for a decade; and then latterly through All Conditions Media, the company we set up together in 2005, and which I still run today.Sometimes, if you’re lucky, individuals come along who change the way you see the world at just the right time, and have a huge, important impact on your life. Chris is one of this people for me, which is why I cherish our friendship, and why I wanted to chat to him for this episode. Hope you enjoy it.Enjoyed this episode? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe

Twenty four years after snowboarding made its Olympic bow, the often fractious relationship between action sports and the Olympics feels poised to enter a new phase.For an entire generation, surfing, skating and snowboarding being Olympic sports is completely normal. And yet, the dichotomy at the heart of the our relationship to this most performance-based of sporting behemoths remains: just how do you place a progression-based culture in such a white-hot competitive environment without eroding the very factors that made that culture unique in the first place? Especially when you throw funding and medals into the mix? And what does impact does it have on the grassroots of the scene?All questions that every culturally unique discipline entering the Olympic family has to face, and which British surfing is grappling with now, halfway through the cycle that leads to Paris 2024. And all reasons why I was so keen to chat to Joel Gray, GB Surfing’s newly-appointed Performance Pathway Director, for this episode of the podcast.Joel is a true British surfing lifer who has dedicated his life to the culture. He came up as part of the north east scene, and has spent years tirelessly giving back to the community through his Surf Solutions coaching venture. Over the months, he’s also one of the few public figures in UK surfing to have stuck his head above the parapet and ask a few searching questions about the way administrative bodies such as UK Sport and GB Surfing intend to steward the culture of surfing during this critical new phase.Now, by taking this role, Joel has followed the approach of peers such as Lucy Adams and Lesley McKenna, who also made the decision to try and effect change from inside the tent, rather than simply throw stones from the outside. Naturally, given my longstanding interest in this conversation goes back over two decades, I was really keen to find out Joel’s plans for both this role, and for his views on the long-term future of British competitive surfing and its attendant grassroots culture.Listeners will know I have some fairly strong views about all this. So instead of my using this conversation to expound my own views, I decided to take to Instagram to ask listeners to send in questions for Joel about this new role, his views on the Olympics generally, how he intends to tackle the issues of access and diversity that continue to affect participation, and whatever else people wanted to find out. The response was amazing, and the resulting conversation was a really insightful look into the future direction of travel for British surfing; from a committed, passionate surfer who’s in it for the long haul, and is determined to try and strike a balance between the two opposing poles of the Olympic board sports conversation.Big up Joel for taking the time to do this, Owen for the pics, and Watergate Bay for hosting our chat. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wearelookingsideways.com/subscribe