Tim Davies interview: Producer of brand new surf film "Seven Stops"

Tim Davies, British surf film maker kindly provided an interview for Extremehorizon, telling us about his latest film release "Seven Stops"

"When your a British surfer there is nothing more enjoyable and invigorating than travelling around the world with a camera in your hand and a surfboard under your arm. From 6 lane freeways in California, hopping over coral reefs in Lombok, bbq’s in Australia or maybe just the people you meet and the cultures you can experience. This is an insight to surfing the world! " -Tim Davies

Q- So Seven Stops in now on sale, how long did the production take to create and which counties are involved?

The film took about 14 months to film and edit and incorporates 7 surf destinations. California, Central America, Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia



Q- Where was the most impressive surfing?

Hawaii is a fantastic place to film and just observe. We stayed on the North shore right by pipeline so all sorts of surfers would walk past our house like Occy, Andy irons, Jack Johnson and many more. Hawaii during the Winter/pipe masters time is a beacon for all pro surfers which enabled me to hook up and get good sections with Joel Parkinson, Jordy Smith and AI plus many more of the worlds elite. The waves here are so heavy and its amazing to see the top guys pushing the limits!




Q- Which country did you spend the longest filming?

Central America was a 3 month duration and with the like of Alan Stokes staying the same amount of time meant I could work a lot with him and get a British surfer a solid section in the movie. It was a fantastic place to visit because as soon as we would finish filming and step off the beach it felt like you were deep in the jungle! A large abundance of insects, snakes, cats and monkeys would turn up on a regular basis which left me with a great tropical/jungle feel to the section.

Q- Which were your favourite destinations?

Fiji has some of the friendliest people you can find and also some of the best waves in the world. Speeding out on boats to the coral reefs at 6am with a long range swell and glassy conditions is enough to make you explode! Also Indonesia as the waves are so perfect, the people are friendly and its cheap living. There is always a high standard of surfing out at the main spots in Bali with the local crew like Betet and Garut surfing really technical.

Q-Your previous surf film was ‘Step into the realm’ which features all the top brits and was really successful, how does this film compare?

My previous film was a surf amp film for Britain which was great but this film has a far higher standard of surfing as all the surfers involved are of an international standard and are performing in the worlds best waves! This film is more informative with interviews with top surfers discussing the pro’s and cons of each surfing area. It’s a travel surf film and I hope you enjoy!

www.extremehorizon.com

CLICK HERE TO BUY SEVEN STOPS ONLINE

Layne Beachley announces retirement

Layne Beachly officially announced her retirement from competitive surfing effective at the end of the year. Beachley is iconic in womens surfing, as well as having won 7 world titles she's been involved in pushing the boundries of womens big wave and tow surfing, inspiring the next generation and in no small part has played an integral role in raising the profile of and legitimising surfing for women.

Beachley announced “I feel like now is a really good time, even though I am in my career best form, because I am an all-or-nothing kind of girl and to achieve the goals I set for myself in surfing, I have to give it my all and I’m not,” Beachley said. “I have to be honest with myself – I’m not commiting 100% time and energy and effort and focus into winning world titles."

As part of my involvement in an ongoing film project devilcountyfilms.com, I was fortunate to meet with Layne in Cornwall and interview her (check out the short film below).

Mavericks season kicks off in style

Whilst our local North Sea breaks were stirred into Autumnal life on Sat 04th Oct with a solid 6ft groundswell, hours later and across the other side of the world, Mavicks Fall season was also kicking into action. A 15-18ft swell with 12 second period crashed into Northern California the same day-not a classic by Mavericks standards but a big day for most mere mortals!

photo www.towsurfer.com

Kelly Slater makes it 9 times world champ in Mundaka

Kelly Slater has just won his heat at around 11.30am local time this morning, in Mundaka Spain, which means that he has secured an incredible 9th World title!

Given the talent on the WCT at present it makes it an even more remarkable acheivement for a man who won his first title way back in 1992. After 17years on the tour Kelly was non-commital in his post heat interview as to his return to the tour next year to go for number ten, but he did say he was interested if someone was to put up the $10m prize for 10 titles which has been rumoured ( a fairly strong incentive!)

Congratulations Kelly

Peter Troy Australian surf explorer dies

In the not so distant past the landscape of surfing was unrecognisable compared to today. Surfing is a multi-billion dollar industry which has been exported to almost every country on the planet. Exploration of new surf locations can still be a challenge but the potential for new surf spots is dwindling with each year that passes and surf brand investment in these trips takes the edge of what we'd see as true exploration.

This wasnt the case for Australian Peter Troy who explored the planets surf spots during the 1960's when surfing in many places was unheard of and travel wasn't the easy pastime it is today. Peter Troy was a true adventurer who's discoveries and travels were made all the more remarkable for the carrying of his 10ft log everywhere he went. Troy surfed in both southern and northern hemisphere extremes and across all the continents.

"Australian surf adventurer Peter Troy has died from a bloodclot. Troy is best known for his discoveries in Bali and Java. In 1975 he was one of the first to surf Nias He is also known for his part in Paul Witzig's 1971 classic 'Sea of Joy' where he and Wayne Lynch surfed newly discovered Tamarin Bay on Mauritius. A true adventurer, he claimed to have visited 140 countries, many in Africa. He surfed Jeffreys Bay in 1966. In Australia Troy ran a Sydney surf-movie-only theatre as well as a Noosa Heads motel. Peter was born in 1938 in Torquay Australia."*

*source Surfers Village /Pic Bells Beach Torquay

Europes first artificial surfing reef begins construction

Much hyped and long awaited the artificial reef at Boscombe, Southern England is now under construction. Lets hope it works as well as anticipated. Heres what Bournemouthsurfreef.co.uk says:

The Bournemouth Surf Reef in Boscombe will be one of four artificial reefs worldwide: Narrowneck, Queensland; Opunaki, New Zealand and Mt.Maunganui, New Zealand.

The reef will be located to the east of Boscombe Pier (about 2.5 kilometres from Bournemouth Pier) and the submerged reef will take up approximately one hectare (the size of a football pitch) which will be 225 metres from the shoreline. The reef mimics the effects of a natural reef and will be built from large geo-textile bags pumped hard with sand. The sandbags weigh up to 2,500 tonnes and biggest are up to 70m long, 2m high and 6m wide, so once they are in place nothing will move them



What conditions will the Surf Reef provide?
The reef acts as a ramp which changes the way the waves break. The reef has been designed to provide mainly a right-hand breaking wave of approximately 75m. The left-hand break of the reef is designed to roll down the reef and 'clean up' the short period chop that the dominant cross-shore wind creates. This will make the wave-face on the right-hander cleaner for surfing.

During clean swell conditions with light winds, the left-hander will also provide a 20m fast ride, which will likely be most favourable to body boarders. This is similar to the Narrowneck Reef on the Gold Coast in Australia, and the Mount Reef in New Zealand. It is expected that inshore of the reef, better surfing conditions will also occur due to the changes in wave-height gradients caused by the presence of the reef offshore, which result in sand banks with peeling and surfable waves. During clean, long period swell, the reef and the inshore banks would all be surfable.

The reef at Boscombe is designed to provide a grade-5 wave on a day with good swell which is in the challenging range (Hawaii Pipeline is a grade-8).

In calm weather, such as July or August, the reef will create a ‘lagoon’ along the shoreline offering safe, flat conditions for families and beach users.

Surfers threatened with possible court action for riding waves

Heres an article we read in the Guardian newspaper a few days ago which amazed me. OK, water safety of all beach users is important but when local authorities start to threaten police intervention on where you can or can not surf its not a good sign. Its bad enough having lifeguards bark orders to surfers, but getting an anti social behaviour order slapped on by the police for surfing in an area that they say you shouldnt be in, would be ridiculous:

Here is the article from guardian.co.uk

Surfers who ride waves through areas reserved for swimmers off a UK Cornish beach could be taken to court and issued with antisocial behaviour orders, it emerged yesterday.

Lifeguards at Sennen beach, near Land's End, are so fed up with rogue surfers who refuse to follow the rules that they have turned to the police for help.

Police are now considering sending a community support officer to patrol the beach and perhaps even the use of asbos to control the surfers.

The beach at Sennen is popular with surfers but has a no-go area which is reserved for people, including many families, who use it for swimming. Lifeguards employed by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution patrol the beach but have no powers to enforce the rules. They have asked the police to help them next summer after a series of incidents in which surfers cut through the bathing zone and almost injured swimmers.

Devon and Cornwall police have a project called Beach Beat at St Ives, Newquay and Perranporth in Cornwall, where they have worked with the RNLI to try to cut drinking and antisocial behaviour.

There are no current plans to formally extend Beach Beat to Sennen, but an officer could be drafted in to patrol the beach next summer if the problems persist.

Local constable Andrew Tonkin said: "The RNLI lifeguards have logged quite a few problems with surfers recently. There have been particular problems with longboarders whose refusal to use leashes could cause injury to swimmers." A leash connects the surfer's ankle to the board and stops it zipping off in a fall.

Tonkin said an officer on the beach could monitor surfers' behaviour and, if necessary, intervene.

A police spokesman said the Beach Beat project was intended to make the environment safer for all users. He said: "The idea is to provide a high-visibility uniform presence on the beach."

The RNLI said it had a problem with a few surfers at Sennen. A spokeswoman said: "Our lifeguards cannot enforce the bylaws. Their remit is to advise."

Surfer Sam Bleakly said: "The idea is narrow-minded. It is unsustainable to pay police to patrol the beach when we already have very qualified RNLI lifeguards.

"Surfers are famous for being rebels. It is part of the identity of the sport and the extra bureaucracy will only create strife."