Acid, surf mag from Barcelona

Surf mags are usually for the obsessed semi-pro/wannebe-pro surfer. New magazine Acid promises to be different. This is a magazine for the weekend surfer, the type of wetsuited amateur I suspect is looked down on by those wannebe-pros. ‘Hardly Any Turns’ is the line on the cover.

This launch issue is a good read; I enjoyed editor Olivier Talbot’s reflections on having stuff nicked from the beach while surfing , and a piece about the consumerist nature of the sport rings true.

There’s plenty of surf photography from around the world, and an excerpt from a French philosophical treatise on the sport. All nice stuff, and engaging enough, but what wins me over is the design by Jad Hussein. It is modern but unfussy, with a subject-appropriate spontaneous feel that belies the care that has been taken on every page.

This first issue has over 120 pages, and I’m not sure that volume of content about this subject can be maintained. I’d like to be proved wrong on that – there’s a general approach to life contained in the magazine that could be expanded on. Issue two is promised this autumn.

Jeremie Leslie, May 2013