What is SLIDE Magazine? The most comprehensive international surf magazine in the
world? Perhaps. For me, it’s easier to urge readers to flip through an issue and see what
we are, rather than me tell you what we think we are. Have a look, and you tell me what
SLIDE is. But, I can say this much: SLIDE is grounded in the ride-everything ethos,
unbound by label or stigma, born in the classic longboard aesthetic while showcasing
the vast range of today’s surf craft, their riders, their craftsmen, and the surf culture
surrounding this communal vibe. Occasionally, SLIDE even includes a bit of the
mainstream shortboard thruster crew, though, truth be told, that ASP Top 44 side of our
sport is better left to the corporate mags.

We believe gathering the best content possible from all points of the compass is
paramount, away from the influence of corporate leaning. Surfers, photographers, and
scribes, the world over, have noticed our tact, and we’re stoked to have attracted your
attention and to receive your imagery, stories, and ideas, making for features that range
from timely to timeless. We believe SLIDE is a wondrous auditorium for our side of the
sport to perform and make some noise in, but, without talent to sing and dance within, it
would be an empty black space, just a place to hear our own echoes.

Considering this great support system, it is our duty to maintain SLIDE’s high level of
content and production, with tasty twists to further set us apart from the current surf mag
amalgam. Our goal is enhancement with each edition, yet we can never be completely
satisfied. And we are pretty sure you, the reader, would not want it any other way.

SLIDE has been sometimes labeled an “alternative” magazine, despite the fact our
periodical welcomes every waveriding vehicle built today (including shorty thrusters)
and all surfers, pro or not, free of the politicking and cannibalization from big-business
sponsors and contest dictation breathing down our neck. So, how is it that such an all-
inclusive forum like SLIDE is dubbed “alternative?”

Meanwhile, the so-called “mainstream” magazines focus on a single type of surfboard
– the cookie-cutter thruster shortboard – basically featuring approximately 100 of the
planet’s professional surfers, who represent a mere 0.002% of Earth’s surfing populace.
0.002%? Is that “mainstream?” Seems to me that someone has it backward, but maybe
being “alternative” is precisely where we want SLIDE to be, since being “alternative” is
exactly where surfers started.

Sincerely,

Ryan A. Smith
Editor-in-Chief