A little Country Soul with Bryce Young.

Son of “the most important surfer of the modern era” profiled in epoch-defining film, “Following the Fall Line”

Derek Rielly

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A beautifully made epic about brave people in the middle of the ocean…

Rarely can a surf movie hold me hostage but I am a sucker for believable, beautifully made epics about brave people in the middle of the ocean.

Every element is so perfect in this forty-eight minute profile of Bryce Young, youngest son of the “most important surfer of the modern era” Nat Young, that it left me a little tremulous.

Per the liner notes,

“Following the Fall Line” is a portrait of Bryce Young and the people who have inspired him on his own journey. This film, produced by needessentials and edited by Milo Inglis, showcases the unique surfing and skateboarding talents of Bryce Young while giving an in-depth understanding of the influences that have helped shape his creative approach to waves and terrain. Flowing on from concepts explored in the 1977 film “Fall Line,” cinematographers Ti Deaton-Young, Milo Inglis and Gabe Roxburgh beautifully capture the way Bryce’s environment and community influence his creative approach to life. In the film narration Bryce explains how the talents of Ti Deaton-Young, Nat Young, Ryan Burch and Laurie Towner have played such formative roles in his development. With an eclectic soundtrack featuring Huun Huur Tu, Dorothy Ashby, William Onyebor, Mick Turner, Terry Riley, Fenua, William Tyler, Donny & Joe Emerson, Goanna and JJ Cale, this film is a stunning portrait of Bryce Young following his own fall line.”

If you crave something different, I highly encourage you to watch.

The wild, murky waters of Yellowstone with local shredder hitting the curves, inset.

Guinness world record holding surfer unveils isolated surf community in hamlet famous as setting for neo-western TV hit Yellowstone!

Derek Rielly

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Trussed up in much rubber, Dylan Graves tames the wild and unruly waters, surfing as elastic as an after-birth vagina.

The last time the Puerto Rican heartthrob Dylan Graves was on these pages, he had just smashed the world record for most manoeuvres on a wave, a leg-trembling forty turns on a Sumatran tidal bore.

(An obscure record previously held by Cristóbal de Col for 34 turns on a wave at Chicama in Peru, occasionally and lazily referenced as the world’s longest lefthander. Graves, who is thirty-seven, submitted the ride to the Guinness people and is still awaiting confirmation of his astonishing feat.)

In his latest adventure Graves joins up with a Montana surfer called KB who has a voice that could bite the fat off a taxi-cab driver’s neck, as full of vibrations of power as those machines which rout out grooves in wood, to surf several river waves that look like tornado puke.

The water is very murky and very cold and the danger obvious, but the impulse to clown is impulsive to Grave and, trussed up in much rubber, he tames the wild and unruly waters, surfing as elastic as an after-birth vagina.

What’s most interesting, is the sort of surfboard that works in these waves: wide, flat, shovel-nosed things, so white and rectangular they look like body-of-Christ wafers.

Click play and hear the scripture.

 

Dreamy Oaxaca roll-in with Jackie at the wheel.

Surf prodigy godson of Kelly Slater stars in Mexican-themed film described as a “savage, breezy, occasionally obscene and sometimes poignant mix of laughs and surfing!”

Derek Rielly

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Jackie Dorian employs his razzle dazzle on Oaxaca’s famous sand-bottom points!

In this fourteen-minute featurette from Jackson Dorian, the sixteen-year-old son of Shane Dorian and godson of literal God Kelly Slater, we find the preternaturally talented kid employing his razzle dazzle on Oaxaca’s famous sand-bottom points.

Many highlights, too many to mention as per all of Jackie’s edits, but it’s the chemistry with the noted board collector and stylish obese shredder Uncle Buggs that is perfect; Jackie, a little dynamo, Buggs, perhaps three times his volume, drawing Curren-esque lines.

And, some of the roll-ins Jackie gets at the five-and-a-half minute mark, ooowee-oo etc.

Stylistically, this short is like Jackie himself: bold, quick and effortlessly entertaining.

The story of a wounded bird that didn’t know where to beat its wings, an immutable sadness masked by vivacity.

Watch Lisa Andersen biopic “Trouble” for free, “Raging and fighting and surfing like a gorgeous disaster!”

Derek Rielly

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“She's the first woman to cross over into surfing celebrityhood and achieve a dominance that made the pig dudes shut up and take notice."

Six years ago, Chas Smith was commissioned by clothing giant Roxy to create a documentary on the four-time world champ Lisa Andersen, the gal whose surfing made most male shredders look they were using orthopaedic aids.

It wasn’t an easy ride for the Cardiff-based writer and director, trawling through hours of ex-boyfriend Dave Parmenter’s videos of the pair, mowing through editors, navigating the conflicting approaches of his v Roxy’s, deadlines that existed in only an ephemeral form, Smith getting his nourishment almost entirely from soft drinks, and a budget that quickly evaporated as Smith spent American dollars as if it were Italian lire.

The result, “Trouble”, surprised the hell out of me, the story of a wounded bird that didn’t know where to beat its wings, an immutable sadness masked by vivacity.

“She’s the first woman to cross over into surfing celebrityhood and achieve a dominance that made the pig dudes shut up and take notice,” wrote Outside magazine in 1996.

As Chas tells it,

“She lived on the beach and in her car before being taken in by an abusive local surfboard shaper. She was, in fact, often abused in relationships, running away time and again when things got too bad. Or when she felt trapped. Or when the system threw up barriers.

“In the water, she was something else entirely, raging and fighting and surfing like a gorgeous disaster but could never quite put it all together, competitively, until career suicide presented itself in the form of an unexpected pregnancy. Over objections and common sense, she decided to have the child and in so doing magically broke through and achieved her dream of becoming a champ.

“Trouble follows Lisa on her all too human journey. Surf is a beautiful backdrop but the real story is the epic poem of her life. It is the struggles, abuse, pain and joy. It is the story of a modern, self-made American woman.”

To watch, it used to cost five bucks to rent. Now, free!

What fun, boys.

 

Skeleton Bay, as you know, was  brokered to the world by computer nerd Brian Gable in 2007.

Surfer rides 2.5 km-long tube in west Africa; films groundbreaking event on POV camera!

Derek Rielly

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“Logging late-night hours online, I studied the the terrain, bathymetry, people, marine life, weather-patterns, the cost, travel, logistics…"

In this compelling video, see the German-Portuguese shredder Nikolaus von Rupp get barrelled for roughly two-and-a-half clicks at Namibia’s famous Skeleton Bay, which is roughly 25 kms south of the town of Swakopmund.

Von Rupp, who is thirty two, cannot live without the transcendence of tube riding, a place where he can lose his ego for a moment, the indispensable elevator that raises his phallus to its fullest height.

Skeleton Bay, as you know, was  brokered to the world by a magazine and a computer nerd in 2007.

The Google Earth challenge was a Surfing magazine initiative to shoot a little out of the box, readers using the then new Google Earth tech to discover secret waves.

Deal was, you tell the mag, they let you join a photo shoot to the joint.

Brian Gable, an IT specialist, was a runner-up to the contest in 2007 (a wave in Western Sahara was chosen though no trip was made).

His loss drove him nuts.

“From that moment, I committed to nothing else,” Gable wrote. “Logging some serious late-night hours online, I focused on studying the country, the terrain and bathymetry, the people, the marine life, weather-patterns, the cost, travel, logistics, etc. I corresponded with locals halfway around the world. Obsessed and possessed, I selfishly put personal and professional duties aside and spent my days formulating the ultimate package for the ultimate magazine surf trip. To me, it wasn’t just a free adventure for myself. It was a chance to prove that the gem I found not only stood up to every other world-class setup, but was on the very short list at the top. Then, on Wednesday, Sep 19, 2007 at 10:03 AM, I got the call. First prize, the Indians take the pennant, the whole freakin’ enchilada!”

Skeleton Bay, of course, is now a photo studio, Von Rupp just one of dozens of pro’s squeezing its sides.

Better than snorting crystal blow, as old-timers used to say.

Photo: Jack English
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