The Fourth Phase will make you want to get barreled
or maybe jump off a mountain.
Blake Vincent Kueny and John John Florence’s
masterpiece View from a Blue Moon is the topic du jour and
it is receiving high praise from all corners. GQ says,
“Best!” The HuffPo says, “Wowest!”
Of course it deserves the superlatives. Mr. Kueny is a visionary
director, Mr. Florence a surfer at the very top of his game. Their
collaboration will live on and be well remembered. But what of
technical 4k guts? The look/feel? the soaring spirit? All from the
souls of Curt Morgan and Travis Rice.
Mr. Morgan, if you do not know, is the founder of BrainFarm
Cinema and, if not a genius then a wildly progressive
innovator. The whole action sports game, the entirety of the way we
experience film today, is due in large part to him. His mastery of
the tools, manic drive to push beyond logic in capturing
visuals, love of spending wads and wads and wads of cash has set a
bar which he continues to elevate.
And his perfect muse is Travis Rice. I have had the privilege of
spending much time with Travis over the past five years. My wife
has represented him since he was 19 and the three of them have
crafted a truly game-changing narrative. It began with the film
The Community Project then That’s It, That’s All
before The Art of Flight. They are films which live
on a different plane than others. There is something about them
that absolutely crackles and they each add a piece to a larger
puzzle with Travis at its center.
Travis is unique, I’ll tell you, because he is starving.
Starving for experience, starving for knowledge, starving for
nature. He wants to see how far he can push it in every situation
and there is never a moment of rest. I was with him last in Mexico
on Cabo’s barren east cape and there was a fun wave out the front
of where we were staying. Travis kept trying to look around the
corner. He said, “There’s for sure a wave over there. It’s faster
than the one here and barrels…” I went to surf the one I could see.
He, somehow, commandeered a jet-ski and went around the corner.
Hours later he came paddling back. He did not, in fact, find
anything but that is what sort of man he is.
The Fourth Phase, their next movie will certainly
elevate the bar once again. It will give birth to more stellar surf
sessions than anything that has come before because it will be that
sort of film. The sort that makes you want to do something big.
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How Wavegarden saved a Welsh town!
By Dan Kerins
Building a wave pool put an economically depressed
little town back to work…
Preface: Yes, Surf Snowdonia is closed due to
major mechanical repairs. But they will be back in
the spring. I was fortunate to surf the
pool in their opening week during a trip earlier
this year. Obviously, the wave itself is fun but the location and
history was the biggest surprise.
I surveyed the surreal scene around me. I could
see the century-old pipes leading down from the mountains toward
the adjacent hydroelectric station. I could make out the hustle and
bustle of spectators though the chain link fence that prevents any
entanglements with the unforgiving machinery of the foil. The
infinite Welsh countryside rolled out into the distance.
Excited? Yeah.
I tentatively paddled out. No salt in the water. There was a bit
of wind, the light chop of capillary waves on the surface. A guy
who’d just finished his session gave me two pieces of advice: stay
close to the pier and paddle hard.
I’d hired a perfectly respectable fish from the on-site surf
academy and made my way to the takeoff spot. There was a gurgle and
a deep mechanical screech. A ripple gathered speed, quickly
evolving into a head-high lump. Instinctively, I turned and started
paddling hard.
The £12 million project is more than just a hyped-up-sports
facility. It is a regeneration project and the latest chapter in
the unlikely story of a small Welsh village of which the principle
protagonists are gravity, aluminium, electricity and most
importantly water.
Not so instinctively, I got to my feet and bottom turned towards
the chain link fence. I raced toward the pier as fast as I could,
never reaching it. I did top turns and cutbacks. There was a
pitching lip and fast section. This was actually surfing.
I had a one hour advanced session that gave me and two others
about 15 waves. A large contoured membrane lined lagoon is filled
with 33,000 cubic liters of tea coloured, UV-filtered
Welsh water transported directly from lake Eigau (four miles away)
down the same two giant pipelines to the hydro-eclectic plant that
once ensured a pioneering aluminium plant had access to cheap,
reliable electricity.
That same system now provides Surf Snowdonia with access to the
water necessary to provide waves for to 36 surfers at a time. Yet
the £12 million project is more than just a hyped-up-sports
facility. It is a regeneration project and the latest chapter in
the unlikely story of a small Welsh village of which the principle
protagonists are gravity, aluminium, electricity and most
importantly water.
Nestled in a glorious slice of the north Welsh countryside seven
miles up the winding Conwy valley, the unsuspecting hamelt of Porth
Llwyd was chosen in 1906 to be the site of a large aluminium
smelting plant. The hamlet’s fate was sealed by its proximity to
the lakes of the Carneddau mountains. Not only where these lakes
the source of reliable, clean and plentiful peat brown water but,
crucially, they where at elevation.
The Aluminium Cooperation Ltd were blazing a new industrial
trail, hedging a bet that they could bring the price of aluminum
production down by extracting it from the aluminum ore (bauxite)
using the relatively new technique of electrolysis. The clue
is in the name. Electrolysis on this scale requires large and
readily available amounts of cheap electricity.
The corporation set to work constructing Eigiau, Coedty and
Cowlyd dams to raise the levels of the lakes on high ground to the
west thus providing the potential for hydro-electrical power
generation. Given the rugged and, at times soul-crushingly steep,
nature of the local terrain, these were major engineering feats –
and engineering feats require workers and their families to bring
them to fruition.
Before long, little Porth Llwyd grew into the bustling
industrial village of Dolggarog. By 1907, the smelting plant was up
and running. Herculean efforts had made it made it possible, not
only were several dams constructed but a network of canals had been
dug to transport the water from the dams to supply the plant 300
meters below.
A steel pipe had been constructed to negotiate the improbably
steep drop at ‘marble arch’ high above the village, along with the
construction of railways to transport both materials, finished
product and workers around the various sites and to the coast for
shipping.
The 1920’s saw the development of purpose built hydro-electric
scheme and the aluminium rolling plant completed. All
this activity placed Dolgarrog at the heart of a fledgling
industry. For the next one hundred years, water and gravity
provided the electricity to drive an industrial operation dedicated
to producing refined aluminium to a world hungry for airplanes,
caravans and kitchen utensils.
Nothing is more certain than a world that turns and by the end
of 2007 the un-profitable aluminum works closed it doors, leaving
170 people to find new work. These would have been dark days for
Dolgarrog, suddenly a tiny, relatively quiet backwater of north
Wales in a world headed for fiscal meltdown.
The hydroelectric plant remained open but would never be able to
provide the employment opportunities necessary to sustain a
now-defunct workforce. Even with the incredible vision of
Dollgarrog’s forefathers, it’s doubtful anyone would’ve seen what
was coming next.
The decommissioned aluminium works remained a prospect-less
brown field wasteland until 2012 when it was acquired by Ainscough
Strategic Land Ltd who ingeniously and resourcefully set about
developing the site.
Three years later, Surf Snowdonia opened its doors to the
public. The central pier that runs down the centre of the
vinyl lagoon sits between two stout motor houses and drags an
elusive top-secret hydrofoil up and down at approximately one
minute intervals. The foil creates waves, waves create stoke.
This revolutionary technology has been developed by the Spanish
group, Wavegarden, who have answered the dreams of every
landlocked surfer on the planet. At the push of a button, a
head-high peak can be mustered from the depths and sent rifling
down the lagoon.
So what’s the deal?
It’s a real wave, but don’t go expecting an ocean wave or you’ll
be disappointed. But you can do real surfing here. It’s all been
worked out so that everyone gets fun waves. It’s a totally unique
experience and something every surfer given the chance should
try.
At 45 pounds an hour it isn’t cheap in comparison to the beach,
but I didn’t feel ripped off. I suspect the lagoon will come
into its own as a learning and training facility for inland
grommets who will have a chance to get on a board, get to their
feet and wiggle to the vinyl shore, unburdened by the ferocity of
the sea.
It’s a great spot for families and groups alike to have fun.
Surf Snowdonia have big plans for the future with further
water-based activities and events, they have on site accommodation,
restaurants, a bar, good transport links and the whole place feels
well-thought-out and exciting to be around.
Whatever your view on the place, it’s a regeneration project
worthy of celebration. They have a taken a negative and turned it
positive, provided local jobs where there were none.
With a projected 75,000 visitors are year, it should be
profitable and self-sustaining. They are striving for and achieving
a good environmental impacts. The ripple effects from a project
like this could really benefit Dolgarrog and the surrounding areas
for years to come.
If you are fortunate enough to find yourself riding this
mechanical wonderess, try to make some time to explore the local
area. It’s a fascinating landscape, steeped in industrial history
and full of rugged splendour.
As I paddled back toward the crowded shore, tired and stoked,
the next three guys were paddling out, wild in the eyes and excited
as hell, just as I had been an hour before.
Dan Kerins is photographer, writer, surfer and
horticulturalist specializing in ill-planned and under-funded
excursions into the lesser known. Want more of his writing
and photography? Click
here.
And he rides big waves. Don't this world need a
li'l more culture defying romance though?
Pedro”Scooby” Viana is one of my favorite
surfers in the world because he is fun and he is brave and
rarely do those things go together. I interviewed him a few years
back and it is printed below. I hope he wins the XXL Ride of the
Year.
Pedro “Scooby” Viana has a neck tattoo, like me, and that alone
makes him totally awesome. It makes him my current favorite surfer
in the world. But guess what else he has? A movie-star/model wife,
an amazing home in Rio de Janeiro, a Nike (Oops! Not anymore!)
contract, a fine moustache — when he chooses to shave just so — the
most amazing nickname and the world at his fingertips. Scooby is so
totally awesome.
He was born in Rio to a surfer father. “My dad was a surfer,” he
says, “so I started surfing when I was 5 years old and competing
when I was 13.” But competition was not his avenue toward the so
totally awesome. No, when Scooby was also 13 he became the first
person to pull a kerrupt flip completely nude. He has since surfed
macking Pasquales completely nude for two days. Just getting
barreled and barreled and barreled in God’s wetsuit. “Surfing makes
me happy,” says the now 24-year-old.
Being Brazilian also makes him happy and one star-aligned day,
after surfing, he went to Rio’s famous Carnival and attended a
party. It was all samba and sangria and capoeira and amazing. And
standing there across the room was the sexiest woman on earth.
Literally the sexiest woman on earth, as chosen by VIP Magazine.
Her name was Luana Piovani and she was a very, very famous
Brazilian actress and model. They locked eyes and pow! Magic. “It
was love at first sight,” he says, “but her world is very different
than mine. It is interesting but it is not all good because we have
no privacy. But we get to go to amazing parties. It’s fun!”
Scooby and Luana were married soon after they met and
honeymooned in Tahiti, this past year, during the swell. The
code-red swell. And Scooby had not packed any tow boards so he
called Nike’s team manager (Oops! Not anymore too!), Frankie
D’Andrea, and informed him of his dilemma. Frankie sourced a
too-small tow board and got it over to the island and Scooby caught
a ride out to Teahupo’o. He had never towed before.
As the waves grew and grew he sat on the shoulder and became
excited and then it was his turn. His partner whipped him in to one
of the biggest waves of the day. A Teahupo’o beast. A bone-crushing
giant. And he skittered down the face on his too-small board and
got very deeply barreled and then got bone crushed. “I saw the
footage,” Frankie says, “and I thought, ‘Oh man…I sent him a
coffin, not a board.’” But when a man is so totally awesome he does
not become undone by the ocean’s wrath. Scooby popped to the
surface laughing.
Big waves are now his passion. He is currently being filmed in a
documentary also staring Carlos Burle and Maya Gabeira. He is
chasing the beasts. Laughing. Before his Tahitian honeymoon he had
a standout North Shore season. “He gets barreled as good as
anyone,” Frankie says. “He just looks great out there.” And so he
plans on putting in another two North Shore months this coming
winter in between chasing more beasts. “I want to keep traveling to
find the best and the biggest waves in the world,” he says. “Big
waves make me happy.”
What could be better than Scooby? I cannot think of many things
and I want him and Luana to move near my wife and I so we can all
become best of friends. The waves in lovely Cardiff-by-the-Sea are
not large, but San Diego International Airport is nearby and I can
make a delicious caipirinha.
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…at one point, David Eggers was the hottest thing in
California. A couple of years older than Kelly Slater, he flamed
out early, competitively. On Monday Eggers died of what is being
called a suspected heart attack.
RIP: Dave Eggers
By Chas Smith
One of surfing's tall tales dies of apparent heart
attack.
I went looking for famous surfer turned dropout
Dave Eggers once on the Salton Sea. It is a strange world out there
in the middle of California’s desert. A “sea” was formed, or rather
re-formed, accidentally in 1905 when engineers were attempting to
irrigate the area for farming. It was then thought to be a wonder
and many people built vacation homes.
Today, the water has resided and toxic dust delivers cancer to
the few inhabitants who think that levels will rise again and they
will be sitting on primo waterfront property. Dave worked here,
somewhere, I was told in a bar. I went looking but never found him
and today, at 45, he is dead of an apparent heart attack.
Much has been made of his prodigious rise as a young surfer, his
fall into drugs and later diagnosed schizophrenia. Matt Warshaw
wrote the most beautiful eulogy today, or maybe just
the most fitting. As a younger man I heard the tale of Dave Eggers
and how he fell into drugs then disappeared. For some reason I
thought he came back as Dave Eggers the author and thought, “What a
brilliant story. Surf star to drug addict to best-seller.” It’s too
bad that his story, and most stories like his, generally end in the
dumps. Fucking drugs.
A new facility in Southern California makes you and
Brett Simpson better surfers.
There is, in Costa Mesa, California, a 2500
foot warehouse filled with all manner of heavy rope, heavy ball,
stretchy band and padded floor. The name on the outside reads
Extreme Athletics and, though I’ve never been inside, I’m certain
it is also there on the wall.
What makes Extreme Athletics different from all varietals of
CrossFit X-Fit t-Fit is that it is surf specific training. A whole
gym! Dedicated to the shred! First opened in 2012 by a
kinesiologist and an exercise scientist, the whole mission was/is
to help surfers surf better by focusing on what surfers actually
do.
“It’s not traditional training, we put a different spin on it.
We take the mechanics of how the body works and [use] specific
exercises that a surfer needs to get results…” Paul Norris, the
exercise scientist, tells Sports Illustrated. “If you
watch a lot of videos of NFL athletes, they’re doing a lot of clean
and jerks and really heavy Olympic lifting because they want to be
explosive. Surfers don’t need to be big and bulky and don’t need to
carry a ton of mass, but they still need to have that power and
agility.”
Pros (Brett Simpson is a client!) and more casual surfers both
receive similar training, apparently, focusing on the legs and
agility but the pros get a more tailored experience depending on
what sort of wave they’ll be making surf to.
In Huntington Beach, for example, during the US Open of Surfing
“… the waves are chopped up and not smooth and the wave will
reform so they can do a few more turns on the inside,” Norris says.
“So we’ll focus on leg endurance so they can keep pumping on the
wave on the inside.”
Let us please, now, be honest with each other. Are you the sort
that tells people, “The best training you can do for surfing is to
go surfing…”? Do you roll your eyes at the thought of going
to a gym and doing surf exercises? Do you even hate the gym
altogether and think it is completely anathema to the surf
life?
Would you surf train if it was guaranteed to make you surf
better? Do you only hate the gym because people who used gyms beat
you up in high school? Does the smell of sweat on padded floors and
the sound of Metallica rush you back to an uncomfortable childhood
place?
So many questions, but important I feel to arrive at our root
catechism. Is surfing a sport? Let’s once and for all answer!
