Being also considered as the pinnacle of style in longboard surfing Joel Tudor´s dissatisfaction grew over the time, because longboarding lost its soul due to the “high performance” movement where longboards were just considered as “big shortboards”, as Quintal mentioned. So the Duct Tape Invitational was born by Joel Tudor and since then it has spread across the globe.

This unique festival atmosphere gives you the idea of the real deal of surfing and its origins from the beginnings of surf history.

Good Vibes in Ericeira

The Atlantic coast of Europe fitts just perfectly for this type of event. Living the retro days side by side with todays most progressive long boarding icons like Alex Knost and Justin Quintal with perfect weather and just good vibes. Singlefins are lined up like skis at a after ski party. You get the chance to look behind the scenes during live shaping of surfboards by Manel Sousa from Live Stoked and Nathan Fletcher, listen to beautiful tunes from Tom Currens daughter Lee Ann Curren and other artists. The Surfrider Foundation is present educating about pollution and plastic, beach cleanups are essential and art from Lizzy artwork and more creative heads are shown.

And there is also surf!

Surf is up

Besides the icons of logging (Single fin surfboards in length of at least nine feet are known as “logs”) there are rising stars invited like Eurico Romaguera & Kaniela Stewart and girls like Karina Rozunko & Chloé Calmon. They all bring their logs which must weigh at least 12 pounds, have smooth rails and no leashes or leash plugs to showcase the origins of longboarding.

Party waves, cross stepping, hang fives and hang tens could be observed while the crowd is chilling on the beach. It is so different to shortboard competitions, because the priority rule doesn’t exist or any other interference rules. But you follow the “gentlemen´s priority”. Further sharing waves is celebrated by the crowd and extra rewarded by the judges. It is a pretty laid back atmosphere overall and just full of positive energy. There are no barriers between athletes and spectators so there is an engagement directly through surfing, art, music and sharing of ideas. 

Preserving the roots

Joel Tudor put once more together a great event to preserve traditional roots of logging. Kaniela Stewart took the win back home to Hawaii as the youngest of the contest. He inspired with his talent and took us really back to 1964 when nose riding was God and the best nosrider in the world was a skinny Honolulu surfer named David Nuuhiwa. Hanging five and hanging ten are considered as one of the most difficult manoeuvres in surfing. All the surfers of the festival showed their clear ability of gliding along the walls of water and performing this art of dancing at its best. A truly amazing experience to be part of and live the lifestyle of surfing. If you haven’t been at the Vans Duct Tape Invitational Festival you might be able to join the longboard festival in Salinas, Spain in July. Check out their program and the dates here.