Inside SURFER'S 2009 Big Issue With Editor Joel Patterson

Reinforce the newsstands of the world and prepare to distribute Advil to mailmen everywhere, because SURFER’s annual Big Issue is on its way! It’s big (almost twice the size of a regular issue), it’s thick (300+ pages), and it’s an entire summer worth of beach reading packed into one “big” package.

50 Greatest Surfers, Ever

With our 50th Anniversary coming up in January of 2010, we thought it an opportune time to reflect on the people who laid the foundations of modern surfing. To create the list of the 50 Greatest, we asked legendary surfers, journalists, and industry insiders to cast ballots for the surfers who inspired them in the water. We then asked them to profile each other, and the result is a fascinating window into the pantheon of surfing greatness, from Duke to Dane.

Special 4 Cover Series

Because the Big Issue profiles 50 surfers from all eras of the sport, we couldn’t pick just one person from one generation for the cover…instead, we chose four influential surfers in their primes. You’ll have to wait to see who we chose. Collect them all, send us a photo and you could win a limited edition framed cover.

…So Much More

Beyond the 50 Greatest, the Big Issue goes global, spanning the seven seas in search of surf. We follow Rob Machado and Clay Marzo on a Peruvian surf strike, we pull back the curtain on Ireland’s emerging big-wave-charging generation, and we think deep thoughts about Mainland Mexico. There’s also a huge photo gallery…literally huge.

Bigger is better,

Joel