Surfing Life

Nhundu wanhtharra, surfing gals, guys, groms and grandmasters. Welcome to 2025, the year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Surfing Life magazine!

Like most underdog tales, our origin story reveals how SL started in 1985 as the overlooked younger grom—the first national surf mag based in Queensland, specifically at the mecca of Australia’s world-class waves on Yugambeh-speaking Country, the Gold Coast.

This type of hero shows an underdog whose greatest disadvantage (and its strength) is that they are persistently disregarded by “The Suits” (the establishment, a group of uptight, land-locked, culture vultures). The Suits branded surfers as “beach bums”, taunting that surfing is not an actual sport nor could develop into a legitimate business, let alone a genuine industry.

Forty years later (and a gazillion stories and shots), SL’s journey has evolved from the new grom on the block to a global surf mag (complemented by its worldwide Surfing Life TV show, podcast, surf travel, plus more)...