Grind Magazine, catering to Japanese male fashionistas, ran a piece on my good friend Emanuel's hi-end fashion brand, Stockholm Surfboard Club. At the same time, they wanted to give a glimpse of Swedish surf culture. Luckily, I managed to squeeze both the quintessential Torö Stenstrand vibe and Emanuel into this pic.

Spread in the Nordic Surfers' Magazine no. 24. At the time this gentleman was ranked #7 on the Men's Championship Tour arranged by the World Surfing League. Adrian 'Ace' Buchan arrived, got familiar with the swell, and showed why he deserved a place on the tour for fifteen (!) years. A surreal afternoon. Thanks, Ace!

Summertime. And living is easy. Less rubber. No hood, booties or lobster gloves. Just water temps of 17 °C and really unreliable forecasts. That's what we deal with. But oh, the days when things align... then we have only the issue of parking to worry about. And the crowd. Here's Joel Den-Besten utilizing a mid-July swell to the fullest. Shot with 800 mm (handheld).

Imagine Messi or Ibrahimovic gracing your little league soccer training! Adrian ”Ace” Buchan, #7 in the WSL rankings, arrived to our local Pebble Beach, south of Stockholm and had a nice little summer-y sesh despite it being late September. Not a big day for surfing but a fun afternoon and definitely one for the encyclopedia of Swedish cold water stoke. 

Tres amigos waiting at an undisclosed location in Sweden. Mange Larsson, Joao Caldas and Joel Den-Besten weren't unhappy about the rather huge swells that were rolling in. Less enthusiastic were they regarding the launch spot. Required some timing. Later they were all about 'go for the gusto or stay the f-ck home'. That strategy paid off.

Arvid Lilljeforss during the finals of the Swedish Open Championships, December 8, 2007. Location: Torö Stenstrand. Water temperature: +4-5° C. The winter sun is so close over the Baltic Sea that it shines through the waves making them translucent green. Where in the surfing world will you get a similar kind of light? Can't think of anywhere else.

Henrik Andersson described himself fas being ”absent from the Swedish surf scene lately.” Then along came August where a few epic days ended the total summer flat spell of 2017. And Henrik proved that a few months of not surfing hadn't done him too much harm. Surfing a 5'2 Mandala he aggressively went for – and caught – more waves than most.

A mere 25 minutes later after the three amigos had been contemplating, Joel almost earned himself a tube-ride. Not bad in these mushy conditions. And not bad for a guy who grew up on the Macmasters point break about an hour from Sydney. First encounter with chilly water? 2007. And the tube? Sorry, moments later the wave closed down on him.

And haulin' buckets he was. Joel Den-Besten on September 28, 2016. Not a big Torö day, but a special Torö day as Joely brought his good mate, Ace Buchan, to the shore. It's fair to say that all surfers elevated themselves a notch or two, even Joel himself, who created a demand for umbrellas with some extra aggressiveness. Picture proof above.

Freddie Meadows eyeing out the path to his next turn. Few surfers are more surfing more focused and aggressive than Freddie and few people are more mild-mannered and spiritual. Frame captured at Pebbles on September 11, 2016.

No presentation of the Swedish surf scene would be complete without Sir Freddie. Not competing anymore, he keeps on doing what he does best; being Freddie Meadows, finding waves, particularly heavy slabs, where there shouldn't be any and getting shot while surfing them. Here caught on a tiny Torö-wave in mid-February 2016.

On Saturday October the 5th, strong winds from SSW created a pretty decent swell that would hit the shores of Torö Stenstrand the same afternoon. My mate Mange called early (thanks!) and we took off, not knowing exactly who to find there. But we were rewarded with +40 surfers in the water, among them Timothy Latte, one of Sweden's very best.