Mick’s face was one of the first one who greeted us when we arrived to the Bing surfboard factory on the hill in Encinitas. He has a face you rember, it’s the archetype of the American dream with a perfect smile. I remember I wondered if all Californian guys were gonna look like that, later I found out that they don’t.. And if his look is hard to forget, wait til you see him surf!

The following day we packed the car full of Bing boards and drove to San O. Watching Mick surf made Petter and me speachless, he was proabably the first really good longboarder we came across and even though we have met many good ones since then we havn’t yet seen anyone who is as fast on the board as Mick. A noose rider out of this world. It’s amazing to watch! When people on the beach comments his quick moves his friends tell them that he used to be a ballerina and that’s why he is so good..

Mick Rodgers is not a ballerina, it is his dedication and love for surfing that has taken him where he is today. He started surfing when he was six years old, now he is a team rider of Bing Surfboards. He works in the surf factory when he’s not in school or in the surf. He is a “eat, surf, sleep, eat”-guy and his friend Kyle told us that he sorts You Tube surf clips after the date they were added, that’s how many surf clips he is watching!

To make the American dream even more perfect he drives a beautiful, old Chevrolet truck. It matches perfectly to his Bing logs.

We met up with one of the best longboarders in Mexico.

Israel Preciado is a Mexican surfer born and raised in Sayulita, a get away surf paradise in the northern Pacific Coast of Mexico. He started surfing as a little kid and has always had a thing for bigger longer boards, back in the days when Israel started surfing the average opinion was that if you came with a big longboard, you couldn’t surf. But as soon as Israel got in the water everybody could se he was ripping on that big log.

He’s one of the nicest guys we have met during our travels, he took us into his Mexican life and let us stay in one of his houses, showed us the secret spots around Sayulita, took us on a crazy road trip down south along the Pacific Coast and learned us some very useful Mexican street language.

Growin up as a surfer in Mexico is’nt the same as in any other country. For example when Israel grew up, he was drafted to the competitions in California, got the Visa and everything, but couldn’t pick it up in time due to the some endless bureaucracy issues. He decided to go anyway and jumped on a bus to Tijuana. He went up super early and at 4 a clock in the morning he took his wetsuit on,  jumped on his board and started to paddle across the US/Mexico border. There is a rivermouth there which is famous for having tons of sharks and very soon he did see ha few fins pop up around him. He went so far out there was no swell visible anymore, paddled for some hours and when he was far across the boarder he started to paddle towards the shores of San Diego. He took of his wetsuit walked a bit threw the bushes and sat down to wait for his buddie, thats when the border police showed up.. They arrested him and questioned him but Israel is such a nice guy and was only a little kid back then so somehow he talked him self out of the situation and they thought it was a pity they already had made the call about arresting him.. Instead they said, try again tomorrow..

He did’nt. But he did’nt give up surfing either. Today he works with property managing as well as doing private surf lessons. Check out his website, he is one of the most professional instructors we have met. Both me and Linn grew so much surfing with him, “put a little bit of more weight on your frontfoot”, “turn that board a more with your rail”, “paddle over here” etc. etc. It’s stuff you have heard before but Israel just nailed it and took our surfing so far. If you want to start surfing our improve it even if you are good send him an email and uncrowded waves around Sayulita is included.. He will hook you up with a house too for pretty much the same price as a room in a cheap hostel, just that it sleep tons of people and are very luxury with AC, balcony, kitchen, etc. Not to mention pointing out the best local taco stands in town.. Woow those fish tacos were so yummie!

And yeah, don’t forget to check out his modeling at Quality Peoples.

This is actually the first sunshinestory we made. It´s about a really cool couple in a really cool town.

Rasi & Catharine.

In Galle.

Galle is an old town in southern Sri Lanka, with a fort surrounding it. Everyone rush to the fort. But they miss our favorite place in Galle.

THe oLD RaiLwAy.

It´s a store located next to the channel, not far away from the bus station and right across the train station, thus the name. It’s owned and driven by Catharine and Rasi, and to be honest it is so much more that just a store. It’s the outcome of a love story, you can sense it in the clothes, furniture and definitely in their smiles.

Rasi and Chatrine fell in love 2006, got married 2010 and later that year in december they also opened the doors to  The Old Railway. Cathrine is from London and has a four year fashion education behind her. When she does´nt work with making her own clothes she work as a travel guide and gets flown around all of the historical wonders of the world. She a great sense for coulor and style that I don’t belive any education can give you, she´s truly a natural talent. Rasi is Sri Lankan and works with old vintage furnitues which he collects all over Sri Lanka. He goes to old houses seeking for furnitures left from the past colonisations. What he findes?  Some of the coolest furnitures iv´e ever seen, made of olf beautiful wood, and sells for quite alot.

Rasi’s eye for old, amazing furniture and other collecteble things, and Cathrine’s incredbile clothes makes the perfect match. Walking trough the doors of the store feels like to step into a different world. A world with amazing dresses, skirts, pillows, jewellry and t-shirts for both boys and girls. I bought this top and this cute dress.In the resturant & guesthouse ”Why not” in Hikkaduwa you can find some clothes and bags from The old railway. Help them out and like their facebook page, and if you are in Sri Lanka, you should definitely pay them a visit.

Everything is handmade by Chatrine and if you ask her where the fabric is from she´ll tell you a unique story about even the tiniest piece of cloth. The fabric in my top is from a sari she wore when going to the cinema in north india to watch a bollywood film. The lace on my dress in handmade by an old Sri Lankan woman who lives next door.

Before they turned the store into The Old Railway it used to be Rasi’s fathers old electronic store but together they renovated it to a hip lifestye boutiqe. There’s also plans on making the second floor to a coffee shop, and I have no doubt it will be a sucess.

Thanks for sharing your story guys.

Linn & Petter

Imagine one of the most beautiful places on earth. Then add a great wave, or actually waves. And of top of that; a restaurant overlooking all of it. A place where you can relax after some hardcore surf, take a healthy juice or grab a cold Bintang beer. Add a cool store with all the latest of Insight & Rythm clothing, smashing surfboards and bikinis. Does it sound to good to be true?

It’s not. You’ll find this little piece of paradise on the cliffs of Uluwatu. It’s created by Tai & Helle, a couple who looked out of the box to live a life on Bali. During the month we lived on the Bukit we watched the resturant and store, let’s call it the phenomenon, “Single Fin” take form. We sat down and took a chat with them to find out what their story is. How a viking and a maori ended up on the islands of Gods.

Tai spent his childhood with the best of two surf worlds, on the Goldcoast of Australia and on beaches of Bali. He’s a pro surfer and just recently won the Billabong Rote Open. Helle is a norwegian who did a three month exchange program on Bali. They met in the crazy buzz of Kuta, and when Helle got home to Norway a couple of weeks later to start university she came up with an idea to return to Bali. Why not study graphic design thousand miles away from campus? It takes a whole lotta self discipline to manage distance studies. Helle got it. Juggling six hours study days with renovations and release parties. If you scroll down you can see a glimpse of the Single Fin logo she also designed. And they’re both involved with Rythm Livin, a clothing and lifestyle brand that soon is gonna take over the world.

Their optimistic view of life shines thru the whole premises and the first Bintang easily get’s followed by another and before you know it you´ll hang out to watch the last surfer catch the last wave in another epic bali sunset. And thats also the time for their Sunset Special Margarita, the live band and for Single Fin to change name to Single Fun.

Check out their facebook page and when you’re on Bali you definitely have to check Single Fin out.

And just like with Mega we let Helle & Tai fill in our sunshine forms! Read, enjoy and share their wise words! Click to enlarge.

On Sri Lanka we heard about an incredible Indonesian surfer from a fellow traveller. Rumors said he was a priest and connected with god threw the sea.. Also he was probably Indonesia’s best surfer. He described him surfing and getting speed faster than anyone else and when in the tube he stood in a praying position. Like he was praying to the sea..

We had been on Bali before and knew it is an island of gods so we didn’t doubt there was a guy like this, we just hoped to see him some day..

Our second day on Bali we celebrated Nyepi with the locals in the village of Pecatu, we got invited to a local family’s house and their neighbourhood turned out to win the Nyepi festival. They showed us an enormous generosity and we had a great evening.

It wasn’t until later, after reading an old copy of Indo surf & lingo, we saw the a photo of a surfer standing in one of the fastest tubes in indonesia, in ”praying stance”. And the guy on the shot was the generous family member who invited us to his home on Nyepi.

We started to hang out and he was so inspiring we decided to share some of his life with you guys. To actually make a sunshine story, here you go.

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His name is Mega Semadhi. He is born and raised in Pecatu which lies in the heart of Bali´s famous peninsula ”the bukit”. Uluwatu, Padang Padang, Bingin, Balangan, Nusa Dua, Greenball, Impossibles, Nyang Nyang they are all his home breaks. With a 6’10 board he got from a friend he caught his first white water on the inside of Bingin. At that time Mega was ten years old, later the same year he surfed the outside of Bingin and next year, 11 years old, he ”stood up in his first competition”.

He has been sponsored by Rip curl for 8 years and are now sponsored by Rusty, Electric, MacBeth and Vestal. He competes in the ISC (Indonesian Surf Championship) and the ASC (Asian Surf Championship). This february he got home from a two month stay in Hawaii. Over there he has been surfing pipeline and Woow!! why not scroll down and take a sneak peak at the pipe-pictures right now, wooha they are amazing!!

But Mega still claims that his favourite waves in the world are the ones he got at home, where he’s close to family and surf with his friends. When we ask him when his best session ever were he answers that every time he surf he has his best session. That pretty much describes Megas view of life. His dreams are to always be able to surf, be good to people, and to enjoy life. His positivity really rub off on you and a more humble surfer than Mega you just won´t find.

For him being a pro means nothing, to surf is his life. He surfs to be close to nature, to be close to God. Mega got priest blood in his veins, he is chosen to become one and should be studying as we speak. But he got permission by his family to surf in this part of his life and is meant to become a priest in a later phase. Having this in his mind while in the water as a pro surfer is what makes that perfect connection between him and the ocean.
If you want to hear the details you will have to come to Bali and ask him yourself. I´m sure he will sit down and have a chat with you, share some glow of life and if your´re a surfer, definitely share some of his waves with you.

Maybe we have just been poisoned by all the visa application, arrival and departure cards or something but we have let him fill in one of our sunshine forms, and asked him about some life advise. To share Mega and some of his wisdom with you.

Thanks Mega for taking your time. Enjoy the waves of life until we are back again,

Petter & Linn

Photos from Megas “profile photos” on facebook. Thanks to all the great photographers! Especially to Jason Childs o let us use the last one, such a great shot and just the picture we had in our minds when we heard about the mysterious surfer flying in the waves of Indonesia.

Below are our shots from an afternoon at Megas house, taking a look at his new boards, his new bike and just playing around with his dogs.