Mikey Feb hits a twin at J-Bay.

Michael February stars in “Why do I surf? Because it represents freedom. Because I can breathe!”

By Derek Rielly

6 years ago

Is Mike Feb a bad fit for the WSL or is the WSL too tight for Swinging Mike?

You might’ve seen the sixties feel-good flick Born Free. I’m guessing not.

Here’s a snapshot.

Based on a memoir by a British gal Joy Adams, it follows Joy and her stud George, who’s a game warden in Kenya, as they raise a lion from cub to adulthood.

Instructive quote:

“Yes, yes, she was born free and she has the right to live free. Why don’t we live in a more comfortable setting George? Other people do. We chose to live out here cause it represents freedom for us. Because we can breathe.”

In this short by Cape Town-based filmmaker Tao Farren-Hefer, which is called Born Free, we follow Michael February, who is 25 and the current world number 31, as he roams South Africa in his vintage Mercedes.

It’s a film of uncommon passion and beauty. We watch deftly sliced footage of Feb as an 11 year old in 2004 juxtaposed with the catlike tread of his WSL-level approach in 2018, and all scored to the cocaine of the woodwind family, the grimy ol saxophone.

It’s more of a growl than a salutation.

Loading comments...

Load Comments

"Nooooooooo!" says Shane.

Watch: Shane Dorian on the Joe Rogan Experience: “I wanted to rip people’s heads off!”

By Derek Rielly

6 years ago

"Is there enough people on earth to watch shit movies? My time is precious," says Shane.

The American comedian turned MMA aficionado and now podcast renaissance man, Joe Rogan, sure do like his surfer boys. A couple of weeks ago he bantered and bunted with Kelly Slater.

A couple of months prior to that it was Shane Dorian and, today, Shane is back, to talk about the new Momentum movie, deer hunting and the difficulty of explaining his profession at barbecues (“Oh you’re paid to surf?).

At one point Joe tells Shane, “You should be able to sue the fuck out of those people!”

Joe says cunt a lot too.

“Can you do a little more cunty?”

If we lived in the eighteenth century Joe would’ve made a very good pamphleteer.

This episode streamed two hours ago.

Watch, listen, whatever works.

Loading comments...

Load Comments

The closing wave, by drone, of The Road to Homecoming.

Teahupoo Feature: “Oh, you a pro homie?”

By Derek Rielly

6 years ago

A sublime long-form cut of a season at Teahupoo…

I ain’t one for slow-mo and believe it to be a crutch for lesser skilled filmmakers who want to appear serious and puffed-up and important. Same thing with photographers who dump colour and pull the sharpener lever hard in Photoshop.

In this ten-minute film by Ryan Moss, a Californian who divides his time stateside and in Hawaii, we’re gifted that rarest of morsel – a pared back, unpretentious, pressure relieving examination of a season at Teahupoo, locals only etc, that claws onto the viewer.

The Road to Homecoming, as its called, has all the ingredients of a stinker: no pro homies, slow-mo landscapes and drones and so on, and yet it palm bangs my rear end.

The score by J Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive successfully achieves the feat of matching rap with surfing.

Highlights: the first wave after the intro, 2:25 in; the closing drone shot.

Open a window, kick your feet onto a chair, order some sausage.

Watch.

Loading comments...

Load Comments

Here's Noa having a grand old time and fooling everybody!

Watch Noa Deane in “A nice mixture of poison and treacle!”

By Derek Rielly

6 years ago

A destructive two-point-five minutes…

To know Noa Deane is to love him. I think. I’ve only had limited contact but have found him to be a supremely loveable, lovably freakish fellow.

Favourite quotes:

(Guns) “It’s a powerful fucking thing in your hands. It’s a weird feeling. You’ve got a gun with a bullet that can kill someone. Is it sexy? Yeah.”

(In-N-Out) “It’s so unhealthy and cheap. It’s everything I want in one thing.”

(Morocco holiday) “The surf was doing my fucking head in. I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I was, I wanna get outta here, I fucking hate this same shit, it’ll be fucked, let’s fuck off.”

(Moroccan cuisine) “Me and and Jay smoked some hash and we were so high we went and ate snails. They’re like abalone, a little chicken-esque, too.”

(Airs) “If you do a big air and you bone it, it shows how passionate you are about airs.”

(Me) “Is Derek Rielly a pussy?”

The burlesque in Noa’s surfing and simplicity of attitude is a nice mixture of poison and treacle.

Although he is a decently modest person, his surfing faces his audience, and even in this throwaway short, it will make your jowls wobble.

Loading comments...

Load Comments

Koa Rothman and a jet-ski step-off at a wave Shane Dorian says "gives me a lot of anxiety."

Watch: Koa Rothman and Nathan Florence in “Tahiti ain’t just Teahupoo!”

By Derek Rielly

6 years ago

Four days of boredom followed by some blue-water boom boom!

I wonder, with the passage of time, whether North Shore pals the Florence bros, Koa Rothman, Eli Olsen, Kiron Jabour and co will be regarded as a sort of Momentum Generation.

Of course, apart from John John, and Kiron’s HIC win last week, none show any interest in WCT careers. But when shipped to significant waves, Teahupoo, Jaws etc, the little gang claw at the monsters with an impatient passion.

In this, the latest vlog post from Koa Rothman, the handsome son of Eddie Rothman with the sunny brown curls and slow-twitch muscle fibres, demonstrates an easy ability to carry a dozen minutes.

The highlight of episode 26, Surfing Secret Spots in Tahiti, is a session where Koa, Nathan, Ivan (Florence) and co use a jetski to step-off in eight-foot waves at a righthander that has notes of P-Pass.

Some years ago, I interviewed Shane Dorian and Alex Gray about this wave after one session.

Dorian said the wave gives “me a lot of anxiety.”

Alex said of a set Dorian caught, “It’s the craziest wave I’ve seen ridden ever.”

Eat beach grit spam!