Daniel Crockett

Daniel Crock­ett is an Eng­lish surfer/writer who is the cre­ator of KooK, a self-published news­pa­per that fea­tures sto­ries and pic­tures on the state of surf­ing today. We spoke with Daniel to get the low­down on his life and times.

What was life like grow­ing up?
Idyllic—full of lit­er­a­ture and ani­mals. The mad­dest old house … we only lived in half of it. The front door never had a lock and the whole place was propped up by books. It was a work­ing farm, and we had horses and grew veg­eta­bles. There were barn owls in the roof. I used to hear them hiss when I was lying in bed. I spent most of the time out­side.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were young?
My dad when I was young. He’s out there—lives in a moun­tain hut in Arme­nia. He sailed round the world for fif­teen years at a time when not many peo­ple were in the Pacific. I don’t know if you ever come down from that. He gave me a love of the ocean, so I thank him for that.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
That was a bit north of Byron Bay. My cousin Andrew took us. He was a proper shred­der in those days. I got so hooked I lost two pairs of glasses in a week. I haven’t really stopped hav­ing that feel­ing since, but I have con­tact lenses now.

Where did your inter­est in art and design come from?
I’ve been paint­ing to escape com­put­ers. It’s a good release, kind of euphoric. Early Klee, Hun­dert­wasser, Leonora Car­ring­ton all strike a chord. For a few years, I’ve been mak­ing lit­tle books (like Melt­ing Pot), doing poetry col­lec­tions and small exhi­bi­tions. It’s great to keep them non-commercial and a whole lot of peo­ple come out of the wood­work. We had an epic one called Grat­i­tude in a garage with 200 paint­ings and another called No Surf in Eng­land where Neil Hal­stead played.

Tell us about your pub­li­ca­tion KooK.
KooK started with a late-night chat with Alex Rowse of A-side Stu­dio. We agreed we were see­ing so much ace stuff come out of surf­ing and either get­ting the glossy treat­ment or being over­looked. We wanted to doc­u­ment these changes—both in the Atlantic and all over the world—and give some atten­tion to friends who we thought deserved it. A news­pa­per is such a per­fect medium to explore surfing.

I cob­bled it together and Alex applied the design to bring it to life. We got some great sub­mis­sions in from all over the world. Twenty pages of pink newsprint packed full of art, cul­ture, pho­tog­ra­phy, illus­tra­tion and ideas. We decided to keep it inde­pen­dent, get it printed locally on paper from sus­tain­able forests. It’s not nos­tal­gic dream­ing of another era. It’s surf­ing right now. The edi­to­r­ial also takes a lit­tle poke at surfer egos, some of which run pretty free.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out? And why?
The Black Sea in Rus­sia was just a heavy trip—heroin syringes on the beach, pros­ti­tutes, mafia, bear-hunting. Some sur­pris­ingly good waves, like most wind seas.

Who/what inspires you?
Surfers like Neil Ersk­ine and Mark Dick­in­son, who are so intri­cately woven with a place that they become part of it. Mark’s lan­guage and Neil’s art are exten­sions of a life so tightly bound with the sea that it becomes indis­tin­guish­able. Both are great tube rid­ers. Whale Nation by Heath­cote Williams is a book surfers should read.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
That it’s damn short. We humans know shit and are gen­er­ally evolv­ing backwards.

What are you most proud of?
I just fin­ished a doc­u­men­tary about peak expe­ri­ence, called With­out Thought, with Ollie Banks and John Eldridge. It gives me goose bumps watch­ing it. If you could reckon my life on one bit of art so far, that’d be it and all I did was come up with the idea and ask some ques­tions. It’s beautiful.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Through surf­ing, I’ve blown a lot of oppor­tu­ni­ties and dis­tanced myself from a lot of peo­ple. It’s allowed me to never stop being a child. That said, I think it offers a lot of hope in teach­ing us how to exist.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
My girl­friend Anna, who has my measure. Surfing wise, there’s a lit­tle estu­ary point at home. I feel strongly con­nected to the place. Noth­ing bet­ter than surf­ing that around dawn on a 12 footer with the dogs run­ning up the point on every wave.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Any­one liv­ing it as a whole process. Prob­a­bly some­one way out there who we’ll never hear about, who couldn’t care less. Some­one like Garth Dickinson.

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
I’ve got a ver­sa­tile gath­er­ing of surf­boards. Kid­man instilled the virtue of a func­tional quiver. Right now, a lit­tle McCoy Nugget has pride of place. Most enjoy­ing an 8’4’’ Sim­mons made by Per­fect Trim from a Paul Gross design. My air mat got swiped in Morocco, so hope­fully some kid is sleep­ing on it! Any­where peel­ing with the hint of a tube and no people.

What’s your favorite meal?
We had a poly­tun­nel setup at home before we decided to travel. It was magic. Any­thing home­made, bal­anced, good ingre­di­ents. I bat­tle a sweet tooth.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Joanna Newsom’s “Have One on Me” Rob­bie Basho’s “Visions of the Coun­try”. And the track “Street Has­sle,” by Lou Reed, for a bit of grit.

What causes, projects, orga­ni­za­tions do you sup­port?
I give £5 a month to the World Wildlife Fund to spon­sor an ele­phant. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s been over a decade now. That ele­phant must be rich. I hope to make a pos­i­tive con­tri­bu­tion to the world through my writing.

What are you most grate­ful for?
The health—mental and physical—of my friends and family.

What’s next for Daniel Crock­ett?
Cal­i­for­nia in a van from April to June with the KooK. Anna is at Santa Cruz doing sus­tain­able hor­ti­cul­ture. Then, up to the islands off Scot­land with Ollie Banks for some space. Hope­fully, some time in Berlin writ­ing dur­ing the sum­mer. I’m work­ing on get­ting a cou­ple of nov­els out there, and plan­ning on an Autumn/Winter KooK in time for Christmas.

Find out more about Daniel Crock­ett at his blog here. Surf­ing images by John Eldridge. Exhi­bi­tion shot by Nick Rad­ford.