Caity's walking a knife edge between weird-cool and weird-weird and it’s entertaining to watch her do her mad thing.
Have you missed Caity Simmers? It’s been a long time since Trestles and the latest world champion has kept a low profile.
Why? Well, it seems that Caity’s been really, really busy surfing. And I can’t say I can argue at all with this choice. The girl has her priorities straight, that’s for sure.
Earlier today, she released a new edit with a characteristically oblique name. It’s called Blouse. You will recall that Caity previously named an edit after a Sylvia Plath novel — The Bell Jar — so we should know better than to expect the usual thing when she announces a new edit. She comes at this thing from her own particular angle.
The liner notes description reads: “A lightweight, decorative surf film made of fine fabric.”
Given the sheer amount of water involved, I feel like lightweight might not be the word I’d choose here. The fabric is, in fact, fine.
With a run time of 20 minutes, Blouse includes a delectable assortment of Caity’s clips from the past year. Like any box of chocolates, there are a few duds, but also plenty of goodness to enjoy. The b-roll is low-fi and I enjoyed the off-beat weirdness of it. Her music choices swerve away from the mainstream.
Mostly, this thing involves lots and lots of surfing, which is my kind of edit. I do not need interviews, contest footage, or story-telling. I am a simple kid and like to watch surfing. Caity gets me.
If there’s a signature moment in this edit, it comes around the three-minute mark. The clip is from this past December during California’s swell bender. You will recognize the spot, despite the blurred out background. I don’t think I need to help you there.
Caity paddles into a beautiful, clean left. She hits the bottom turn, then in perfect rhythm, swings into the barrel. Exiting clean, she finishes it with a nice, little hit off the top. It’s not a long barrel, but it’s as smooth as anything you’ll see in surfing. Caity looks like she could do it with her eyes closed.
Since this wave comes after a barrel bender in Hawai’i, it’s safe to say, that Caity Simmers has gotten barreled more this year than the average human. She also seems to be having a damn fine time doing it. If any part of her is jaded about what is doing with life, she isn’t letting on.
Footage from West Australia comprises the strongest segment of the film. Yes, she hits the Box. There’s a series of non-makes — Caity has a street skater’s willingness to show her disasters — before she nails a deep one. There’s also a lofty, hero-shot air.
If there’s something missing here, it’s turns on big, open faces. It’s not that I doubt that she can surf those waves, but more, I’d love to have seen a bit more of it. It’s hard to be two places at once, though, and Caity’s heart is clearly in chasing barrels.
The world title does not seem to have made her any less hungry. There are moments in her surfing where she seems to be almost hyper-aware of the cameras, who she is, and what’s at stake. There are moments of self-consciousness that her early edits didn’t have. But when she forgets, and just surfs, it’s still fresh and free.
I would love to see more women put out edits — even if it’s just practice days around Tour stops. Please, I’m just a girl standing in front of the internet, begging for more women to make surf videos. The world is burning. Give me one nice thing.
For now, we can spend 20 minutes with one of surfing’s more unique characters. Caity Simmers’ quirky and creative, and she’s so far eluded any efforts, if any have existed, to make her conform. She’s walking a knife edge between weird-cool and weird-weird, and it’s entertaining to watch her do her mad thing.
If there’s one thing that the stream of disparate and often hilarious images in her edits tell us, it’s that she’s her own person. And from the looks of it, she seems pretty determined to stay that way. It sure feels like surfing could use a few more people like her.