Do What You Love with Mike Ruthnum

Mike Ruthnum is Jeffreys Bay's resident surf photographer and filmmaker, the eye behind @jbaytv. Raised in Isipingo Beach south of Durban, he took up kneeboarding at 13 and first made the pilgrimage to J-Bay at 16, settling there for good in 2007. After a near-fatal illness kept him in hospital for eight months, Mike picked up a camera during his recovery and turned pro in 2021. His work has since appeared in The Surfer's Journal, Zigzag, Pacific Longboarder and Surfline, and on most days he's on the beach at Supertubes from first light to dark.  Enjoy this chat with Kevin Miller while he was on location in Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa. 

In this episode of Surf Stories, John Brooks and Kevin Miller talk with professional big-wave surfer Torrey Meister about his path from childhood at Banyans on Hawaii's Big Island, shaped early by Shane Dorian's grom contests, through a decade chasing the Qualifying Series in California. Torrey shares his breakthrough 2013 Cold Water Classic win, his long-standing O'Neill partnership, and the Jaws session during the 2015–16 El Niño swell that turned him into a dedicated big-wave rider. He also opens up on injuries, resilience, and gratitude for a life built around the ocean.  Florida Surf Film Festival was the gracious host of the world premiere of Tucker Wooding and Torrey's new film, Unmakeable.

Nate Zoller, a professional surfer, photographer, and writer based in Southern California, has spent over a decade with Roark as a Brand Ambassador and storyteller. He produces branded content and narrative campaigns from surf and adventure trips around the globe — from Iceland and Japan to the Falkland Islands and Mexico — while contributing to acclaimed Roark films like "The Forgotten Archipelago" and "Dear Mexico." On this episode, hosts John Brooks and Kevin Miller sit down with Zoller to talk about his Laguna Beach roots and what it takes to turn a life of travel into compelling marketing.

Aaron "Gorkin" Cormican, New Smyrna Beach's own aerial pioneer and two-time Quiksilver King of the Peak champion, joins John Brooks and Kevin Miller for this homegrown NSB chat. Known equally for his high-flying competitive career and for shaping boards under his own Gorkin Surfboards label, Cormican has spent decades as one of the Inlet's most recognizable and respected talents. In this conversation, he digs into how he found surfing and competition, kill or be killed attitude, his journey from competitor to shaper, and the local characters and culture that influenced his journey - a true homegrown story, straight from the source.  Now, Aaron lives and makes surfboards in Nicaragua.

Jeff Easson is a retired U.S. Navy Command Master Chief with 30 years of service — an achievement earned by less than 1% of enlisted sailors. Born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, he moved to Ormond Beach, Florida at age 11, where he traded hockey for surfing and competed in the ESA and SSA through high school. After a run-in with the law led him to enlist, he built a career in Navy finance and HR, rising to senior enlisted leadership. He's now retired back home in Daytona. Enjoy this chat with John Brooks and Kevin Miller. 

Eric Geiselman @ericgeiselman , the third Geiselman to join us after Father Greg and Brother Evan, brings a New Smyrna Beach pedigree built on a run of competitive surfing and a 2007 Surfer Poll Award for Most Radical Maneuver. Known as "Lark," he's built a reputation as one of freesurfing's most versatile talents—airs, barrels, and progressive rail work across every wave type. A musician and multi-sport athlete off the water, Eric has more recently become a standout foiler, further expanding the family's surf legacy. Enjoy this chat with John and Kevin.

Morgan Maassen grew up in Santa Barbara chasing waves at Rincon, but it was an injury that got him behind a camera instead of on a board — and the rest is history. He's since become one of surf's most recognizable visual storytellers, known for that dreamy, slow-shutter style that's landed his work in National Geographic, The New York Times, and Surfer Magazine, plus campaigns for Apple, Red Bull, and Patagonia. Morgan is a veteran of Florida Surf Film Festival, having conducted a photography workshop in 2015 and has won multiple awards for his short films around the world.  Enjoy.

Luca Merli is a Milan-based filmmaker, photographer, and surf culture champion who has spent more than two decades documenting the soul of Italian surfing. A Goldsmiths College graduate, he founded Block10 and the Onde Nostre collective, producing five award-winning feature films — including Peninsula and Nausicaa — distributed globally on Netflix and major platforms. In 2016, he co-founded the Skate & Surf Film Festival (SSFF) in Milan, now in its tenth edition and recognized as Italy's premier celebration of surf and skate cinema. Enjoy our chat with Luca. 

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Derek Hoffmann @derekhoffmann808 fell in love with the ocean and still photography at his home break, Sandy Beach, before moving to the North Shore and picking up a movie camera. His in-water 16mm work on the 1989 theatrical release Rolling Thunder set the course for a life behind the lens.  He went on to travel the world filming Rip Curl's legendary Search program alongside director Sonny Miller, contributing to iconic films like Searching for Tom Curren. Today, Derek is the founder of naluTV and Nalu Film Foundation, and has made it his mission to preserve and digitize surf cinema's most treasured archives — ensuring the history of the sport is never lost to time.

Cameron Kirkconnell @camkirkconnell sheds skin to scales when the moon is full or as soon as his toe touches saltwater.  He holds his breath for three-times longer than a normal joe, and finds the biggest, and of course, tastiest of fish.  He began his career as a merchant marine, achieving the rank of Unlimited Tonnage Captain, and with six month breaks between ships, he surfed, dove, studied, and fine-tuned his skills into the ultimate guide service for high-end spearfishing charters.  Keeping dry now means equipping multi-million dollar yachts with special tools, helipads, runabouts... Finding buyers and sellers all over the globe.  Based out of south Florida, Cameron still gets in the water plenty while raising little water people.  Enjoy these stories from the deep with John Brooks and Kevin Miller.