Looking Sideways Action Sports Podcast

When one of the legends drops the guard to show some vulnerability and openness, it has real impact. This is one reason why my episode with Jamie Thomas is still so popular. And why I think this latest conversation with Olympic gold medalist and modern day snowboarding icon Sage Kotsenburg is likely to have a similar effect.After all, it isn’t that often that one of the most high profile snowboarders in the world has the honesty and balls to discuss how, in the aftermath of the biggest triumph of his career, a mixture of stress and anxiety caused him to almost fall out of love with snowboarding. And explain how hard he had to fight to get back the passion that had characterised his rise to the top. 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 mere four years after I had Ross Edgeley on the show, I’ve finally managed to book another swimmer! Yes my guest for this episode is the great Bonnie Tsui, journalist, writer, swimmer, surfer and author of one of my favourite books of recent years - Why We Swim.It wouldn’t be possible to produce Looking Sideways without support from readers and listeners. Subscribe below to support the showAs a total swim geek, I loved this book. But as well as being manna for swimmers, it is also just a really brilliantly marshalled and elegantly-styled treatise on our relationship with nature through the lens of swimming. Like all the best none-fiction crossovers, it has an appeal way beyond its subject matter; and as Bonnie is such a scrupulous journalist and an excellent none-fiction stylist, you know you’re in safe hands from the first page.Know somebody who might find this post interesting? Then please share it and help me spread the word about Looking SidewaysI headed up to London to meet Bonnie in early July 2022, where we sat down to record this conversation about the book, during which I was keen to find out how Bonnie manage to condense such a vast topic into such a compelling, readable tale.As you might expect if you’ve previously heard her on Rich Roll or Finisterre’s Hell or High Water podcast, Bonnie is a great conversationalist, able to switch between topics with ease and calm authority. This one is all about the opportunities and restrictions of creativity, told with great insight and candour from a writer in their imperial phase. Enjoyed my chat with Bonnie? Let me know 👇 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

It wouldn’t be possible to produce Looking Sideways without support from readers and listeners. Subscribe below to support the show. Let’s start with the facts: this week’s guest Stacy Peralta is one of the most influential cultural figures in our corner of the world. If you’ve stood sideways on any craft - hell, even if you’ve listened to my podcast - you’ve been influenced by Stacy, whether you realise it or not. Even my weird little career, on an extremely minor level, is following a template set by Stacy and his peers. He’s a giant, in every sense of the world.Just look at the CV. By his mid teens, he was part of the legendary Z-Boys. At 19, he joined forces with George Powell to form Powell-Peralta. He followed that by establishing the Bones Brigade, then went on to create epoch-defining films such as The Search For Animal Chin and Ban This. A few years later, he parlayed these experiences into his current career as a director and writer, making Dogtown and Z Boys, Riding Giants and Lords of Dogtown, among others. Today, he balances a career as a highly successful commercial director with passion projects such as the Yin and Yang of Gerry Lopez, his latest film and the reason he was in London when I sat down with him.Know somebody who might find this post interesting? Then please share it and help me spread the word. I’m sure you get the point. Stacy’s influence is incalculable. And, as ever with this type of guest, the challenge is how to approach a conversation with such a figure. Especially when you only have an hour, and he’s spent three weeks on the promo trail essentially giving the same interview.If you’ve listened for a while, you’ll know I try not to do the chronology or the straight, on-the-nose career debrief. Sure, I want to cover the highlights, but in a way that’s insightful, revealing and ideally less obvious. (This is, incidentally, is a big part of the How To Podcast And Interview People course I’ve been running for companies recently. Hit me up for more about that).Anyway, I’m really grateful that the conversation we ended up having is just about everything I hoped it would be. Stacy embraced the spirt of the pod wholeheartedly and showed himself to be the curious, creative, humble, vulnerable and yet truly generous person you always hope the legends will be when you get the rare chance to meet them.There’s so much gold in here, from somebody who has defined the board-riding conversation for a solid 40 years. I’m hugely grateful to Stacy for his time and creative insights.If you enjoyed my conversation with Stacy, let me know 👇 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

“My approach to activism is to not be too ‘shouty’. Instead, it’s how can I bring someone along with me? I try in my writing to be even more gentle than I feel, because I want people to be willing to listen to me.”Type 2 is my podcast in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.This week’s guest is surfer, swimmer and academic Rebecca Olive, a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Global, Urban & Social Studies at RMIT University in Melbourne.I first became aware of Rebecca through her work investigating a couple of areas of particular interest to me, and which I’ve explored in some detail on Type 2 and my main podcast Looking SidewaysFirst up is Moving Oceans, her research project about the way recreational sport and leisure activities shape our relationships to nature. Rebecca examines this dynamic through the lens of ocean ‘sports’ like swimming, surfing and even sailing. To quote from her Moving Oceans website, the project is about ‘exploring the everyday individual and community relationships we develop through surfing, swimming and other ocean lifestyle sports. Rebecca’s work is about showing how and why ocean lifestyle sports help us experience such close connections with saltwater plants, animals, geographies and climates’.It wouldn’t be possible to produce Looking Sideways without support from readers and listeners. Subscribe below to support the showThen there’s the other strand to Rebecca’s research, which explores the way women are represented in action sports media, and the impact this can have on how women interact with and are perceived by these communities and cultures.As I say, both topics are of real interest to me, and it was through chatting about this stuff on Instagram that Rebecca and I first met. When I heard that she’d be heading to London for a few weeks this summer, I headed up to London so we could sit down and chat through her work and ideas for an episode of Type 2.This is activism as investigation, about how the exchange of often niche and sometimes challenging ideas has the power to change the way we perceive the everyday activities that embellish our lives. This was a nourishing and at times extremely thought-provoking chat, which I enjoyed very much. Hope you do too!New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks or so through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways on Substack, or through 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 my chat with Rebecca?Know somebody who would find this episode interesting? Then please share and help me spread the word about Looking Sideways. 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

It wouldn’t be possible to produce Looking Sideways without support from readers and listeners. Subscribe below to support the show. Kepa Acero is one of modern surfing’s most intriguing and beloved characters. Why? Because there’s just something irresistible about people who are completely comfortable in their own skin and who take life on their own terms. That’s definitely the case with Kepa, and it comes across in everything he does, which is why I think people genuinely seem to love and admire him so much.Not that it’s been an easy ride for Kepa. Like everybody with a vision and the determination to see it to fruition, he’s taken big risks and make critical decisions to get where he is today.But the second, post-competitive part of his career has seen him evolve into one of THE great surfing travellers. He’s a Peterson/Naughton for the digital age; somebody who is, in his own way, as quietly influential as those two giants.Know someone who would find this post interesting? Then please share it and help me spread the word about Looking Sideways.Myself and Owen were lucky enough to spend a couple of highly enjoyable days in Hossegor with Kepa while we recorded this episode, and I found him to be a lovely, warm and generous individual who has time for people and brings out the best in them.Kepa has a unique take on the experience of surfing, and a brilliant story about how he has adapted his life to accommodate this vision. This is a surfing life in two halves, and a beautiful, compelling tale it so too. Enjoyed my chat with Kepa? Let me know 👇 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

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comEpisode 2 of my Hossegor omnibus in association with Db! And my guest for this instalment is Christa Funk, a swimmer, surfer, coastguard and photographer who has very quickly established herself as one of the most creative and formidable photographers on the North Shore, capturing that none-more-heavy scene with a beguiling blend of dynamism, grace and beauty.She’s also got a hell of a story about how she made this happen. As regular listeners to the show will have learned from listening to my guests over the years, there’s no set route into the industry.Anyone who ‘makes it’ (itself a very flawed concept) has to travel a long way, literally and metaphorically. And Christa’s story about how she ended up here, via an upbringing in Colorado, twin passions for swimming and photography, and a stint in the US Coastguard, is a pretty extraordinary and inspiring tale.And it just underlines a fundamental truth. There are no perfect career paths. Just individuals trying to work it out, and make the best of the hand they’ve been dealt. My chat with Christa is an object lesson in how far you can travel with only your geeky, niche interests and self-determination to guide you.I had such a laugh hanging out with and recording this conversation with Christa. Thanks for being such a good sport Christa! See ya on the North Shore sometime.Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, to Duncan Yeldham for production support, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comMy guest this week is Tim Myers, an award-winning and renowned cameraman, cinematographer, journalist and storyteller who has carved out an extremely interesting career for himself telling human interest stories as a freelance gun for hire for people like the BBC, CNN and the UN. There’s a chance you might unwittingly be familiar with Tim and his work - he achieved some internet notoriety a couple of years ago when he was attacked by riot police live on air while filming the June 2020 Washington riots for Australia network Channel 7. The story of Tim’s route into this world via his upbringing on an Australian ski resort is a fascinating one. I had the pleasure of hanging out with Tim for a few days while we were in Hossegor, and recognised almost immediately there I was dealing with a total legend; somebody with combines a steely sangfroid with a curiosity about the world, and who has an ease about him that makes people feel comfortable straightaway. I really enjoyed this episode - Tim has plenty of lessons to impart from a life and career lived at a hungry, breakneck pace. I enjoyed our conversation and learned a lot - hope you do too. Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, to Duncan Yeldham for production support, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

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 a surfer and activist Adam Hall. He’s Head of Sustainability for Surfdome, a trustee for POW UK, and is part of the team that just successfully ran the campaign to have the North Devon coastline designated one of only 12 World Surfing Reserves in the world, putting this much loved corner of the British surf world on a par with places like Noosa, Malibu and Ericeira, All of which would be reason enough to have Adam on as a guest for Type 2. But Adam’s story is really about how a passionate, driven individual has found a way of - yes - parlaying his own passions into positive actions on a wider scale. Which really is a key question when you get down to what it actually means to be an ‘activist’. How can we make it personal, yet impactful on a wider scale? How can we think big when we’re starting small? After all, it can be overwhelming, especially in the face of the sheer scale of some of the challenges we face, to work out how to make a difference. This is a conundrum that Adam has cracked, both through the projects that personify his take on activism, and through his passion for surfing, which is really at the heart of all his work. For me, this is what Type 2 is really about: the chance to hear from passionate, articulate, fired-up people who are out there making a difference and calling it out for what it is. We recorded this one at the Wave in Bristol after a really fun surf (it won’t surprise you to hear that Adam rips, by the way); and all-in-all it was a great day capped off by a brilliant, thought-provoking conversation with somebody who wears his principles on this sleeve and is out there making it happen in every way he can. 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. 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

Full episode and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comThis week’s guest is photographer Wig Worland, one of the most respected and influential people in the history of UK skateboarding. I’ve known Wig on and off since the 90s. Looking back, we were all a little bit in awe at his complete understanding of who he was as a person, and how single-mindedly he approached his craft and self-appointed task. Indeed, as my old pal Phil Young said, when I told him I’d finally persuaded Wig to come on the podcast, there’s argument to be made that for a key period in the 90s and 2000s, Wig was THE most influential figure in UK skateboarding.It’s a big claim, but the evidence (and any measure of common sense) backs it up. In the dim, distant, pre-social media years, the role of surf, skate or snow photographer carried an enormous amount of clout and influence. Particularly in the UK, which at the time didn’t have the huge industry apparatus of the States underpinning the scene. In many ways, the early history of British skateboarding is really the history of a lot of talented and extremely driven people tirelessly documenting (and hence effectively creating) the scene as it rapidly evolved in real time. Wig was and remains a crucial and highly respected part of that brilliant tradition. And Wig really has shot with absolutely everybody, as you’ll know if you follow him on Instagram, or are at all familiar with his work over the years. All of which means the man has tales and opinions galore on the history and uniqueness of UK and wider skateboarding history. Wig doesn’t do many of these, so to get the chance to hear his perspective on all things skateboarding and creativity is a privilege I don’t take lightly. Hope you enjoy the episode. Enjoying the podcast? Want to keep it free and ad-free? Donate here: https://bit.ly/LSBuyPint Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, to Duncan Yeldham for production support, and to my editor Fina Charleson. 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

Full episodes info and Show Notes - www.wearelookingsideways.comThere are many layers to this week’s conversation with surfer, director, film-maker, producer, creative and all-round legend Mikey Corker. On the one hand, it’s about this latest project Savage Waters, a surf film in the finest classical, questing tradition. It’s about how Mikey and a crew of similarly-driven and passionate people have spent years abroad Matt Knight’s yacht Hecate, on the hunt for a mythical wave, and the adventures and scrapes they got into along the way. Then, on another level, it’s about the travails of the professional surfing life, as well as a homage to the incredible, inspirational Knight family; a group of total legends who live life completely on their own terms, and who by the end of the film will have you wanting to jack in the job, sell the house and head for the horizon. But above all, it’s the story of Mikey’s own creative quest, and the reality of embarking upon such a quixotic creative endeavour. As you’ll hear, at the beginning of this project Mikey really had nothing more than the germ of an idea and a lot of drive. It has literally taken years to get to the point where Savage Waters is out in the world and beginning to garner plaudits in the form of festival slots and acclaimed reviews. And that’s what this one is really about: the reality of all creative projects. Nobody gives you permission. Gates don’t mysteriously swing open in recognition of your devilish cleverness and latent talent. You have to make it happen, whatever bumps in the road you encounter along the way. This is why I find Mikey’s story, and this brilliant conversation, so inspirational. Thanks to Matt Ward for the theme tune, to my editor Fina Charleson, and to Duncan Yeldham for production support. 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