Freddie Meadows » TRAVEL

Åre Sessions with Oatly

Freddie Meadows — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 23:45:45 +0000

To my family at Oatly – Thank you for the coolest birthday present imaginable.
2 days in the mountains with a crew of a lifetime at Åre Sessions.
I watched live performances by some sick artists, Storken and I DJ’d on a mountain top,
I partied with all old friends and new ones and I had way too little sleep in general…
But sometimes you just gotta say – when in Rome.

Photos by Adam Klingeteg

Ran: the revisit

Freddie Meadows — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 18:52:01 +0000

It’s a unique feeling achieving something you’ve worked hard for. Ok, it wasn’t that big; to be honest it needed a little more to show its true colours, but a great opening day out at Rán nonetheless.

Three months prior to this revisit I had driven all day and all night only to show up to a wave of such magnitude that I could barely surf it. It was a surreal feeling! After all that travelling, there we were sitting on the ski in the channel; way out on some distant archipelago with this brutal but beautiful truth – It was too big for what I had prepared for. That day was still the best that I’ve seen so far out at Rán… The first recon mission ever when you have absolutely no idea what to expect, turns out to be the day of the year.

Our revisit consisted of quite the crew. Quite the random crew that one wouldn’t find every day in this remote corner of Scandinavia.
Surfers: Ryah Arthur, Nic Von Rupp and Tore Kramer,
Photography: Felix Skulstad and Gustavo Carvalho.

Almost there… Introducing the power of Swedish oats to my transatlantic brothers.

What is man without his fire.

A raw and turbulent introduction to Rán…

Nic on a mean one. Though with the wretched devil wind, it couldn’t really take to its true form.

I always forget to leave energy and warmth for this part… I pre-heated the car with the
BMW Connected app prior to our return which kept us from tipping over the edge and somewhat capable for the task ahead.

The harbour of anticipation…

“You see this look in my eyes? You see my eyes? That is what you call froth… uncontrollable froth.” Nic von Rupp – one of my best friends.

Frothing

Ryah… The most glorious man I know reflecting on how glorious the sunrise is no doubt.

Myself & Tore.
I could come up with so many different captions to this photo.

In 50 years Tore and I will still regard this as one of the fondest moments.

My first proper wave at Rán… Special.

Tore was so happy he was having a hard time keeping his emotions together as the morning unfolded.
I think him towing me in to that wave made him happier than it made me.

It was my turn to drive… Tore – rising with the wave.

After everyone was getting exhausted and Tore felt satisfied with the day’s work I decided to go for one more run.
We had just taken a very mediocre wave and were on our way back through the lineup when this thing materialised.
Tore whipped me in from the side so I had to cutback into the wave.
The positioning would’ve been perfect had the wave barrelled.

All smiles after the smack at Rán.

I miss my brothers.

INDO

Freddie Meadows — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 09:43:08 +0000

Moving through the islands,
Happy to be alive,
Good to world class waves on a daily basis,
Life altering pits,
Welcoming people,
Old friends,
Delicious cuisine,
Motorbikes,
Taxis,
Traffic,
Plastic,
Pollution,
Corruption,
Immense beauty,
Power,
Sacred lands,
Longing,
Missing,
Indonesia.

Sunset, Lombok.

Desert Point.
Photo – Thiago Okazuka

The Legian

BALI
Photo – @thetropicalviking

Villa Nord – as usual.

We made it

Freddie Meadows — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 01:55:15 +0000

One forgets how much of a mission it is to get here… I guess thats a good thing.

I left Stockholm on Thursday the 3rd, had charismatic night in London and then met up with the other Fred in NYC.

We made a late arrival in San Jose that night and passed out at the Hampton Inn. The next morning we embarked on the final leg of our journey to the happy place.

Photos by Fredrik Skogkvist & me.

06:00 – Hampton Inn Airport Hotel – San Jose, Costa Rica – The best we could get.

06:30 – An overpriced hotel room – Never had this moment documented before

07:10 – SJO INTL – Awaiting the pilot that had forgotten us. We called, he woke up and arrived an hour late.

07:50 SJO INTL, Hidden hangar – I cleared security.

07:55 – The other Freddie. A great friend.

08:10 – Pura Vida

08:11 – Crowded lineup…

08:25 – Focussed.

08:30 – A sense of freedom

08:32 – Excited & exhausted

08:35 – A room with a view. Fred got the co-pilot seat which made me nervous until I figured he could totally land this thing…

08:40 – TOUCHDOWN

09:20 – The glorious Casa Capitan

09:30 – out there…

Doing this every day for the next 3 weeks is such a blessing.

A monumental moment – The boys first sunset.

We even hung out with BIG ledge Peter Sahlberg from Surfakademin. It was a good day.

Warmth

Freddie Meadows — Sun, 31 Jan 2016 22:21:18 +0000

http://freddiemeadows.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/the-rock-youtube.mp4

The original plan was to be away for a month, but life is too good in Costa Rica, so I stayed for an extra 2 weeks to surf myself out completely. Its been my second home for the past 11 years and after spending the better part of a year away, returning really made me understand why I’ve invested so much time in the place.

My friends, the nature, the food, the vibe, the lifestyle, the waves. The waves have been epic this year – we had four overhead swells in January… It almost brought back memories of when we first bought our property there back in 2005; when the winter West Northwesterly’s would reach us, followed and joined by an even bigger Southwest resulting in frequent solid surfs at the reefs even throughout the summer months.

A day in Santa Teresa:

I have a really cool room there. Since the house was built with forms and designs of those similar to a ship, my room has a captains wheel which opens the roof revealing the stars and heavens above. Apart from the aesthetics, it also forces you to wake up with the sun.

My day starts around 5am

Water, water, water then coconut water

Coffee + work

Smoothie:

Any fruit and a banana + greens, Hemp Protein, Macca powder, Spirulina, Wheatgrass, Oats & Cacao. Based on either Oatly or water.

A long warm up – Go surf from 6-9am.

A big breakfast of eggs, rice and beans, avocado, plantains and more coconut water.

Surf again from 10 until the wind goes onshore.

Training – Stretch.

Hang out with loved ones.

Siesta…

Sunset session from 4-6pm

Dinner at 7

In bed by 8.30.

Im now in London visiting my Father en route to Sweden. Looking forward seeing everybody, longing to come home; sensing the Baltic love lurking around the corner.

Sumatra – The Land of Thunder

Freddie Meadows — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 17:46:23 +0000

I hadn’t been back to Indo for 2 years… For any surfer, Indonesia has a magnetic effect. Whether it be due to the mesmerising video sections, picturesque images in magazines, magical memories from previous encounters with the mechanical almost man made reef set ups that bless the corners of almost every bay… The list of reasons are as endless as the amount of world class waves that reside here.

I hopped on the redeye flight from Bali to the distant shores of Sumatra where I rendezvoused with great friends Uncle Jonas and Jacob Wester. The one session we documented looked like this…

Photos by Steven Waycott & Jacob Wester.

ISPO – MUNICH

Freddie Meadows — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 15:00:59 +0000

ISPO is the world’s largest sport fair boasting 8 different halls with each one being the size of a medium scale airport… Amongst the chaos of Action Sports Hall 1:A was a section dedicated solely to cold water surfing. The vibe in this little corner was unlike any other I personally got to see. There was a real sense of community and contageous excitement both within and amongst the various brands. Don’t get me wrong, ISPO as a whole was super positive and incredible to see, but this section had a real genuine feel to it.

Throughout the 5 days, a number of characters came and held talks about either their business or their connection to cold water surfing. It was an honour to be part of it and share my story; from double wetsuits and dish-washing gloves to future products to surfing waves in the Baltic that I never believed but always hoped existed.