Photo Department

Jamie O'Brien switch stance, Kelly Slater's backdoor bomb Fanning's perfect 10 and more. The North Shore finally turns on and here are the photos to prove it.

For the first time this year, the surf thundered at night. You could feel it, rumbling on those outer reefs exploding onto the sand-covered inside reefs then pushing brown foam way past the high-tide line.

Chasing super-typhoon Aoki in the Land of the Rising Sun with Pat O'Connell.

Patience, people, patience. So, the start to this year's Prime Time season is the worst in at least a decade. Or maybe even of all time.

Wake up! After a semi-comatose first 10 days here at North Shore Live, we finally saw some seismic activity along everyone's favorite stretch of beach (and it wasn't just the 5.0 aftershock).

With the North Shore not exactly firing on all cylinders, you'd think it would be difficult to come up with rad photos everyday, but with patios full of the frothiest surfers in the world and SURFING'S lens men hard at work, it's easy as spending $9 bucks on cereal at Foodland.

Welcom to SURFING's Photo Unit Portfolio Series. This is staff photographer Kenny Hurtado.

Encinitas was treated to a night of culture this past Saturday as Nixon threw their first of a series of art shows better known as Art Mosh.

Hawaii's own Evan Valiere has won the 2006 Xcel Pro Presented by No Fear, overcoming a 132-man field and three days of intense competition at Sunset Beach on Oahu's North Shore.

The WCT in miniature. That's the best way to describe Saturday's Rip Curl Grom Search National finals.