Curtis Reale

In April of 1965, The Vietnamese jungle felt unusually humid on this particular afternoon with an air engulfed in fumes of distant fires. This created a suffocating atmosphere filled with unknowns, which surrounded Staff Sergeant Frank Lee and the rest of his squadron. As they walked up to the desolate village on patrol, boots covered in mud, hands tightly gripping their metal machine guns, something seemed off. Slowly making their rounds they realized the village seemed much more isolated than usual. The doors of the makeshift wooden homes were wide open, empty, and filled with dust, producing an eerie feeling of abandonment. They continued along the path led by the battered brick walls, wearily trudging down the dirt road to the center of the village. As they reached the end of this path, they paused for a moment, sitting in silence.

Surfing is a sport that brings people together, in and out of the water. People from all over the world use surfing as an intimate form of expression, transcending borders. This builds communities of like-minded surfers with a common goal of enjoying their time in the water in search of new waves.

ASM’s stories are clean, family-friendly, and deeply connected to the real lives of surfers. Lambert insists they are trying to tell stories that have impact and can make a difference. It’s a deliberate break from the industry’s often jaded and commercialized tone. The magazine’s rapid evolution from digital upstart to a publication with ambitions for print is a testament to a singular vision, rooted in community growth and providing opportunities for young writers to tell stories that matter....

The familiar scent of salt air was tinged with smoke, making lineups feel lighter in the shadow of loss. In the aftermath of the wildfires, Malibu surfers weren’t just wrestling with battered waves and murky water. They were facing something deeper, a fractured community scarred by destructive flames and the loss of family homes. The Palisades Fire left over 6,800 structures destroyed and many families without a home. The runoff from these memory-filled structures left many surf spots polluted a...