Photographer Profile: John Lucarelli

Name: John Lucarelli

Years shooting Surf Photography: 3

Equipment: Canon 40D.  100-400mm and 28-135mm lens

Favorite Type of shot: A pulled back lineup shot with some unique elements in the foreground or background.

Favorite Spot: Uluwatu, Bali

Where have you been featured: Surfing, Transworld Surf, Surfline, Wetsand, Surfshot, Eppic Surf

Favorite Shooting Conditions: Early morning or late afternoon, sunny and offshore

Favorite Surfer to shoot: anybody progressive

My inspiration comes from....skateboard and snowboard photography.  Also, good landscape photography.

Website: Lucarelli Photo

Speed Up your Surfing

Do you ever feel like your high performance longboard feels slow and ridged. Having a board that feels slow and rigid is one of the worse things that happens to shortboards who don't buy new boards very often.

You get a high performance board surf it for about a year and then it starts to feel slow and dead. But there is a easy way to fix this problem.

First off, clear the board of all the wax and dirt and repair all the dings. Then ride a classic longboard for a few sessions. Jump back on your high performance shortboard and it will feel brand new and super fast.

If you want to revamp your board even more than invest in a new pair of fins. This should make you feel like you have a brand new board for very little $$$.

Has longboarding become to High Performance?

The Longboard was the first type of surfboard aside from Alaia's. Classic Longboards were easy to ride. The paddled well and rode very smoothly. They were fun to ride and were all about just cruising on the wave. 

It wasn't till many years later that the High Performance Shortboard came along. 

And that really jump started the surf competition arena. It was the best thing that happened to surfing. 

But with the surfing world turning the eyes on high performance and radical maneuvers, I start to wonder if classic longboarding is a thing of the past. Where surfing was more creative and style was your way of expressing yourself. Because with high performance longboards I have seen airs being performance amongst many other "shortboard" maneuvers.

 I can't help but think about the classic aspect of longboarding and what that will look like in the future.

Catch Surfboards

When I first heard of Catch Surfboards, I figured they had a great product but that they were just another softtop surfboard company. 

I couldn't have been more wrong.

There designs, technology and prices are 100% different than their competitors. Based out of San Clemente, CA Catch Surfboards currently has 5 different models ranging from 4'5 - 9'0.

 What sets them apart are two of their boards - The Beater & The One. 

The beater is short enough to be surfed at beach's which are black balled, which is a huge advantage to Orange County Surfers. The One can be surfed, bodyboarded or skim boarded. It is a unique fin-less board which stands at 4'6. 

I am hoping to get my hands one of their boards soon to test it for myself and of course so I can write a review on the site.

Catching waves in a Crowd

We have all had those surf sessions where the surf is horrible and it seems like every surfer in the world is attempting to surf your local spot. The waves are inconsistent and to make matters worse all the beginners are sitting on the inside. So what do you do when you find yourself in this situation?

Your first option is to look for a peak either up or down the beach. Chances are the set waves are hitting a sand bar down a little from the main peak. And if no one is surfing that peak then that is your chance to escape the crowd. The trick is to paddle to the spot without drawing attention to yourself because you want to surf the peak by yourself.

If you are stuck at one peak then you need to get creative. Try to backdoor the peak - takeoff early or go backside. For example if there is a long right that everyone is trying to catch, then catch the left even if it is a short ride towards a pier or other obstacle. Chances are you will be the only one catching the left.

Lastly just practice spotting set waves and getting into the best wave position possible. Once you have caught the wave, then you can call people off the wave, who have cut you off.

Using Rip Currents

As surfers we have an advantage over swimmers and Bodyboards. We can use rip currents to our advantage and get into the line up a lot faster. Becuase we are on surfboards it is also safer to use a rip current than for instance a swimmer. The trick is to be able to spot a strong rip current and to know how to use it effectivly.

Generally you just want to jump into a rip current and start paddling out. It will pull you out past the waves and then you can paddle into the line-up. The biggest thing is to not ditch or loose your surfboard. But as long as you have floatation (surfboard) than you should be fine. At first when you start doing this it might be a little scary, but you will learn that using rip currents to your advantage will help you get out past big waves. Also remember to never go out in waves bigger than your abilities.

Classic Longboarding - The Art

Many people are drawn to longboarding due to the ease of paddling and the fact that you can catch the smallest of waves. But what many surfers do not realize is that you can still surf a longboard as an advance surfer. 

But surfing a longboard when learning how to surf; and when you are confident surfer are to different things. Once you become a confident and skilled surfer, riding a longboard becomes more about style than performance. Short of like an art. I encorage you to try riding a classic single fin longboard. 

When you go back to riding your shortboard it will feel 10x faster and looser.