Cheers, to an absolute f****** legend! No, seriously. Photo: The Raglan Surf Report
For Luke Cederman, creator of the satirical web series The Raglan Surf Report, surfing is too serious. Luke’s channel takes the piss out of the pursuit, often portraying how ridiculous the plights of the surfing experience can be.
Take “Pub Surfing,” a bit that shows how “oceanic behavior might not translate well to other real-life scenarios.” We’ve seen how dropping-in on a surfer can land you a sucker punch. The skit gives viewers an idea of what snaking someone’s beer at the pub might lead to.
Luke’s an interesting character, and the goofy-foot has an enviable forehand hack to boot. I caught up with him to learn more about his surfing life in this totally serious interview. Fair warning: the line between reality and satire is seriously blurred – but thus is Mr. Cederman’s life.
When did you start surfing?
I was a pretty attractive 13 year old and I could surf quite well. I had the full package and the first brand to realize that was Town and Country. They were pretty big in NZ at the time so it was cool to be a part of that team. A few years later Volcom reached out, which was great timing as T & C were fading into obscurity. I’ve been riding for Volcom ever since, I think 25 years now. Still hot, still surf good.
Did you ever try to make the tour?
A few years ago, I won an event which opened up a few doors for me. There was a pretty good payout, I think it was about $500 and I decided to reinvest that into my surf career, give it a real crack, so I did what anyone would do in that situation; I bought a one-way ticket to Hawaii. I didn’t know anyone there so it was pretty tricky at first, but one of the big-time shapers took me under his wing and made me try all these different boards and then I went in a big-time surf competition at Pipeline but I lost because Laird Hamilton pulled my leash. That incident really left a sour taste in my mouth and I stopped competing after that.
Brilliant North Shore reference. Is that the kind of thing that spawned The Raglan Surf Report?
I wanted to make a web series, so I decided to create a satirical surf report. It started out as a few actual “surf reports” but over time morphed into whatever it is now. The name is a little misleading, although I like to think I’m “reporting” on different aspects of surf culture, and not a report on current oceanic conditions.
It wasn’t ’til I started the Raglan Surf Report in 2016 that I really got into [surfing], more out of necessity than anything else. I figured that if I was going to create surf-related content, then I was going to have to know what I was talking about, and being a good surfer was going to give my content legitimacy. So I did a few lessons, mainly online YouTube tutorials, a lot of Kale Brock and Ombe, a LOT of surf skating and my surfing progressed to the point where I could actually get respect within the surf community. It was a pretty big challenge for me, I guess most content creators create content about something they love, but I saw the surf industry as a viable industry to tap into and make some money out of. I guess I kinda did it the opposite way to most people.
Ha! Speaking of….describe your comedy.
It’s pretty dry and satirical, not even sure if you’d call it comedy, but I guess if some people think it’s funny then it could be deemed comedic. I just think surf culture in general is pretty bland and a large part of the surfing community takes things far too seriously. I’m even guilty of it myself, so I try to have a bit of a dig at how ridiculous it all actually is.
What’s your creative process like?
I always have a script and a shot list, otherwise shit goes wayward very quickly, but within that there’s room for improv and ad-lib. Some ideas I’ll chip away at for a long time, sometimes even a couple of years. Other ideas will pop up and I’ll shoot them immediately.
Typical day in the life?
I wake up, panic, drink a black coffee, panic more, open up my laptop and try to write some ideas, question my entire existence, have another coffee, check the surf, panic again due to my financial insecurity, come up with a great idea for a video, panic some more, overthink the “great idea” that I had and come to the realization that it fucking sucks and that I’m going nowhere with my life, have a quick surf, dinner, [brush] teeth, pajamas, bed, fall asleep at 3 a.m. because my brain won’t shut off. Wake and repeat.
…And your take on the state of surfing?
I think it’s all good. Surfing means different things to different people. You can’t just say that pro surfing has sucked the soul out of surfing, like some people believe, or that there are too many pretentious douche lords with contrived styles riding mid-lengths, because those are just a small part of surfing. I think everyone has their own interpretation of what it is, but at the end of the day, no matter how we all feel about it, we should all collectively agree that foiling is fucked and boogie boarding is for children…To anyone that needs to hear this – don’t take everything so seriously ya fucking nerd, it’s only surfing.
