Já ouvi muitos narradores nos webcasts do WCT dizerem que o Brasil é o país das ondas inconsistentes e fracas. “Mushy”. Mas na verdade o Brasil vive outro momento que os outros países surfistas mais desenvolvidos, onde todo point já foi descoberto. No ‘Braza’, estão descobrindo inúmeras ondas e picos novos, com uma mente mais aberta com as possibilidades novas do Stand-Up e do Tow-In.
Sem a mesma infra-estrutura dos estrangeiros (boias, estradas boas, patrocinios etc etc etc…) O brasileiro consegue fazer a adrenalina correr na veia. Olha só o Luel Felipe no Pena Pro, surfando sem assistência de Jet Ski, num dia cancelado por excesso de ondas. Parabéns, Luel. E que o Brasil continue evoluindo no surfe de mão dada com o meio-ambiente.
I became familiar with Chippa Wilson through the The Landscape Altered webisodes. Videos made by Kai Neville (director of Modern Collective) during a Kustom sponsored boat trip with the likes of Josh Kerr, Jay Davies, Clay Marzo and Mitch Coleborn.
That, to me, seems like the future of modern competitive surfing. Put those guys on a boat and whip them around to the best breaks. They compete whenever the waves are best, not fixed to a time table. Just see who comes out on top when the trip is done. Have all the surfers vote at the end. No judges. Income can be provided from webcasting, webisodes and merchandizing. An online travelling circus rather than the terrestrial thing we’ve got going now.
On the hand, I like the Eddie Aikau. Unlike the WCT, It’s on when it’s on. The Eddie Aikau plays on the other side of the spectrum from the Kustom Airstrike competition. An event, locked to a certain destination, Waimea, but it only runs when the waves are at their best. And from that competition, you get arguably the best event in surfing.
We’ve seen from the last WCT season and this season’s Tahiti Event that the waves don’t get the memo on when the competition is happening… Billabong and everyone else had to pay for 7 or 8 days of uncontestable surf. Chillin’ in tahiti does everyone wonders, but whoever is dishing out this cash should be scratching their heads.
I recently watched “The Drifter”. Taylor Steele’s big-budget-surf-film.
Yet another failed attempt at bringing a story regarding surfing with depth, conflict, character arcs etc… like “Surfer, Dude”.
“The Drifter” doesn’t move passed the surf film genre into anything else. Rather, you’re disappointed half of the time with all of Machado’s talking and non-surfing footage.
The producers should have hired, Fatima Toledo, the lady who coached the child actors in “City of God”. Those were non-actors and they rocked it. But then again, they had a story to work with…
No excuses. If you can’t write a compelling tale, stick to good surfing and good music. Your movies are probably just going to end up playing in bars with the sound totally off anyways…
Films are about the narrative & the event (parties, festivals, etc…) Surf films are directly correlated to the events that surround them. That’s fine. Until there is sufficient narrative in the films, let’s throw some images up on a wall so we can drink & sing & dance.
I liked the music. Especially, “Heart it Races” by Dr. Dog and “Beach Baby” by Bon Iver.
