Why old fashioned surf adventures are dying... and how I'm going to change that!
I believe old fashioned surf adventures are dying. I’ve always been drawn to those stories of people pursuing something beautiful, untouched, and soul filling but it seems we’re losing touch with those surf adventures… I’m working to change that
When I was a kid, I remember watching The Endless Summer while living in Costa Rica attending school with Robert August’s daughter and occasionally seeing him out in the lineup. Robert August, one of the stars of The Endless Summer, would surf around all of us youngsters with a longboard he shaped himself, still shredding with the elegance and grace that I saw in the 1966 film despite his body now frail and leathery. I talked to him a few times when my friends and I would surf with him and he still had that glimmer of excitement in his eyes whenever he paddled out. He had a shaping bay in Tamarindo, Costa Rica just down the road from where I went to high school so it wasn’t uncommon for me and my friends to share stories of things we’d heard from Robert August.
When I watch The Endless Summer now, over 50 years after it was released, I still feel the same emotions I did when I was a kid watching the film or talking to Robert August; awe, excitement, inspiration, curiosity, and motivation to do something similar with me and my friends.
Life is about creating experiences…
As I’ve grown up and adult expectations, responsibilities, and desires set in I realized that chasing an endless summer around the globe isn’t necessarily what’s best for me anymore but that doesn’t mean that surf adventures with friends should disappear too. There’s something so magical about chasing something into the unknown. For me, life is about creating experiences and I find that the moments that come from surf travel expeditions with friends create experiences that are truly unforgettable.
My favorite surf and adventure photographer Chris Burkard sums up this sentiment nicely, “For me it’s always just been about experiencing the things I love and documenting them. I have gotten a lot of joy out of what I do, and I feel lucky to be able to spread that joy.”
Recently, I was catching up with my freshman year college roommate since he has been working as a surf journalist in Hawaii for the past year so I wanted to hear some of his stories both in the industry and in the water. After we swapped stories of our favorite waves from the past few years, we were chatting about what we believe to be the state of storytelling in surf industry at the moment. I was a little surprised that as two starry eyed mid-20s surf storytellers, we were both a little disappointed at what seems to be portrayed in surf media these days.
High Quality Storytelling Will Always Be Celebrated
Obviously we’re relatively young and ambitious storytellers wanting to create the next endless summer film or tell deep meaningful stories about far off places and the people that inhabit them but we found some resistance to chasing those dreams. For us it’s about storytelling but for magazines, online publications, production companies, and agencies it’s often about website visits and monetization. A short accompanying article about a viral surf video where two surfers are fighting in the water in Southern California will lead to more website visits than a 15 minute short documentary about chasing waves in Haiti. There are obviously exceptions to this as amazing surf films, documentaries, articles and books have been published about uncharted surf adventures but it’s not the norm. However, I think it should be…
I’ll be honest. A lot of the people who see my work aren’t surfers.
A lot of the people who I work with on a regular basis aren’t surfers. Given my role as a Colorado cinematographer and adventure filmmaker based in the mountains of Boulder, my audience and community are mostly mountain athletes. However, I keep making surf films and I want to share the lifestyle and excitement, joy, curiosity, and inspiration that comes from those expeditions.
Surfing is not a sport, it’s a lifestyle
That’s a huge reason why we’re making the Goat Surf Club video series - a surf adventure video series focused on telling stories of individuals making a positive impact in their coastal communities. Like surfing, there’s more to the lifestyle than getting on a board and paddling into the ocean. It’s not a sport, it’s a lifestyle.
So, going forward I’ll still be watching the endless summer films every year and wondering what adventures are out there for me. What stories are left untold and how, even as somebody not from the places I’m visiting, can I share those in an empathic and compassionate way?
Follow the clicks from your heart, not your website
Even if the surf industry looks at my films and determines that they are not as engaging as the short form content focused around Kelly Slater and his workout routine, I’ll still be making my adventures come to life through photos, videos and articles like this. I believe that the world needs more stories of joy, positivity, pursuing your passions, and adventure so I’m just doing my small part to bring that forward.
Whether we are putting on our 6mm wetsuits to paddle out through the snow or sliding on our flip-flops after a session to meet up with a nonprofit tackling a water quality issue in the tropics, I hope you stick around. I hope you can get just a small piece of the joy that I get to experience in these places through the films that I making.
Let’s Connect!!
Roo is a commercial/documentary filmmaker and photographer based in Boulder, Colorado but travels all around the world for his filmmaking career. He has produced films for Outside Magazine in Ireland, camera operated for Netflix in the Rocky Mountain West, photographed among indigenous communities in Peru and Ecuador, directed videos with professional climbers in Mexico and has received notable recognition in his hometown of Orcas Island in Washington State for his work telling uplifting stories in the outdoor space.
If you have questions or want to talk more about my life as a Boulder cinematographer or surf adventure filmmaker please reach out! I always love connecting with new people and talking through how I can help them achieve their dreams in telling stories of impact.
