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I was in France shooting stills for Rip Curls wetsuit campaign and I had this old Polaroid camera with me. I hadn’t used in in a few years, and it was one of the models that has no accurate shutter or aperture settings, just faker and lighter. It's all educated guesses. It was a last minute decision to take it, so I organized a few hours in Paris to catch the train in and pick up some film. I shot this image one morning that Mick wanted to surf alone up the beach, well away from anyone else on what was an eight foot beachy with crazy left bank. The tides are massive over that way and it had run a fair way out, exposing the rocks that get all churned up when the tide is high and breaking real close to shore I grabbed the Pola and snapped this image of the solitary world champ. Photo: Andrew "Shorty" Buckley
Love, beachbreak barrels, red wine, culinary excellence, high fashion and good looking humans. These are some of the hallmarks of France. With the end of summer through winter yielding excellent conditions, assuming the sand bottoms stack up favorably, it’s one of the greatest places in the world to be a surfer. Or, if you aren’t up for the typically flat summers, to visit in the fall. No matter how you cut it, France should already be on your bucket list, and if you’ve already been, chances are you didn’t hit all of the wonderfully hollow breaks that litter its southwestern coast. So grab a glass of rouge, kick back and enjoy all 30 of these French beauties…or better yet, go get some for yourself.