Nervous Laughter

Albee Layer has forged a name as one of the most relevant and exciting surfers on the planet. From his mind blow airs, to jaw dropping big wave paddle in sessions on Maui, Albee has become the yardstick by which global surfing is measured.

On the eve of the 2015/16 El Nino big wave season, Albee and his director friend Dan Norkunas (Attractive Distractions) sat down and mapped an idea for documentary, to follow the coming sessions through the eyes of the tight-knit group of surfers who are redefining not only the big wave genre but the very bounds of surfing possibilities.

Childhood friends Albee Layer, Matt Meola, Dege O’Connell, Billy Kemper, Kai Lenny and Torrey Meister followed each other into the daunting line-up of Jaws on Maui as teenagers. Through peer pressure and rivalries, they have pushed each other to unprecedented performances, challenging the very limits of paddle-in big wave surfing.

The resulting film, Nervous Laughter, takes an inside view of the crew, offering an unflinching look at a season rife with nerves, injury, triumph, pain and friendship. It combines fearless surfing and breathtaking cinematography, resulting in a truly inspiring documentary that explores the heart and soul of big wave charging.

Albee Layer and Dan Norkunas will be presenting the UK premiere of Nervous Laughter in person at this year’s London Surf / Film Festival on Saturday 21st October at Regent Street Cinema. Tickets here: http://londonsurffilmfestival.com/nervous-laughter/

We caught up with director Dan Norkunas to find out more.

Carve: What was the original concept of the film and did you go into the project with set goals? 

Dan: Our original concept was to capture as much content as possible during the El Nino winter. We didn’t have exact plans but with the idea that there would be big swells during our winter we just dedicated as much time to capturing what happens before during and after big swells. We knew it was going to be a documentary per se, but wanted to get as many stories and moments covered as possible. As the season went on we just honed in on the athletes around Jaws and Albee’s house.

The film is a really honest and open documentary – how did you guys set out what would be included? 

Dan: We didn’t have a set plan, but our style in general is not to over hype athletes or make it unrealistic. We wanted to focus not on one individual, but the friendships and characters that are from Maui and love big waves. We had multiple stories that we tried to include like the Santa Cruz guys, but as editing went on we felt our story was based on this up and coming Maui crew. It was hard to narrow down to the 5 main characters but it was really about which guys communicated throughout the year and built a friendship in pushing each other during the winter. 

Today many films seem to be a vehicle for one particular surfer – yet Nervous Laughter is very inclusive of all the crew – was that the intention from the start? 

Dan: No and Yes. Since Albee and I own a production company and work closely together it would be easier to make a film about him, and Nervous Laughter is focused around who Albee interacts with. We are firm believers however that individual films are too self-fulfilling and become boring/stale with hour long pieces with one character or style of surfing. Our goal was to have multiple layers in the film, develop characters and show their relationships, triumphs and failures as El Nino raged along. It was important to us not to be focused on one character and let the athletes tell their stories. 

What were the highlights of the project – were there any low points?

Dan: The high point was definitely the excitement of weeks worth of big swell. We all thought it was going to be a big year of surf but there was a Jaws swell like every week for almost two months straight. It was exciting to see it all come together like we hoped and watch each athlete push themselves to accomplish something special. Low point was finalizing the film. We are not documentary film makers and really battled narrowing down each segment. Films are so much work from organizing all the interviews, to music rights, to release. You really have to lock yourself in a cave and empty your bank accounts to reach a finish line. It was the biggest project our small crew took on, but at the end of the day it was what we set forth to accomplish from the start. 

One of the things that comes across is the sense of camaraderie between you guys but also the way you want to push one another – do you think that’s part of the reason for the amazing level of surfing you guys have achieved?

Dan: Maui has a crazy talent pool. There is also a great sense of pride in having Jaws in our backyard. I think each of these guys are good friends but also very competitive. They fuel each other to push themselves over the ledge, but also cheer each other on. When one of them accomplished something crazy, I think it gives the other guys a sense of confidence that they can do it too. I also think they want to be the best at the place that means the most to them. It’s like Kai says in the film, Peahi becomes a part of you, you want to protect it and show people what we are capable of doing out there.

What’s next for you guys? 

Enjoy the fact that we made a long form piece and accomplished something that we are not accustomed to making. We want to make another film, but need to reset the creative bank. Our goal for one year is produce more short form pieces to keep the content rolling, with the thought of brainstorming another more action based surf film in the future. 

19 – 21 October London Surf / Film Festival x Reef brings to the UK the best surf films from around the globe. Accompanied by talks with waveriding’s most inspiring heroes and icons, including Hawaiian big wave charger Albee Layer, surfer musician LeeAnn Curren and adventurer Kepa Acero,  plus live music, art, culture, pop up events 22-26 October, good times and more this saline hit of inspiration is an essential cultural happening. For full schedule details head to: www.londonsurffilmfestival.com

Howey and Curry take 10th Jesus Longboard classic

With over 80 longboarders entered, one of the highest since the competition began, all was set for a really exciting weekend to celebrate the 10th Jesus Longboard classic held at its traditional venue of Polzeath based in the amazing facility of the Tubestation.

Organisers Christian Surfers UK were in the middle of a very busy period of events, running the second leg of the Jesus Surf Classic (25th anniversary) the previous weekend.
After receiving feedback from the longboard community last year, there seemed to be a real desire to introduce for the first time a 60+ age category which was called ‘The Legends’ a fitting name for all those inspirational surfers who entered.

The organising team met to plan on Friday night in order that by 8 AM on Saturday morning all entered surfers were welcomed with breakfast and special commemorative event T-shirts. Heats were soon underway by 8:45 AM. Everybody knew that Saturday would be a tough day with onshore winds expected all day and wet conditions and this certainly turned out to be the case so huge respect for the judges, beach marshals’ and other beach based officials who faced the elements throughout the day.

By the end of day one over 20 heats were run in surf ranging from 2 to 3 feet, at the start of the day to a solid 4 feet plus and heavy onshore by the end of the day, but nobody complained. The atmosphere at the Tubestation was fantastic with a full house throughout the day, surf movies, and hospitality throughout.
Around 5pm as an additional treat for the surfers Sam Bleakley (currently recovering from an operation) had been invited to come and show one of his ‘secret corner’ surf documentaries based on his trips to Ghana.
This was really well received, and was followed by a lively and thought-provoking Q & A after from an appreciative audience.

Sunday dawned, day two, and as the saying goes ‘what a difference a day makes’, beautiful sunshine with 2 – 3-foot slight offshore waves and apart from a bit of early morning mist great visibility. As always happens on the second day of this event the surfers are invited to a very simple ‘Surfers blessing’ in the Tubestation, which this year was themed around the word, ‘joy’ and sharing joy, and reminding ourselves that taking small steps to improve someone else’s life can make a difference in the lives of those people.
Following that all those attended were blessed with Polzeath sea water from the new head of the church Alistair, and an Hawaiian Lei was giving out to all present, whilst the Grenaways played in the background.

The action moved swiftly then to the beach where 16 heats were run all semi-finals and finals in some great conditions. By around 3 PM the ‘open’ final was being run will which saw a fantastic 9.6-point ride from Ben Howey, which was the highest ride of the weekend, a fitting conclusion to the action in the water.

At the presentation in a packed Tubestation, thanks were given to all those involved by head of Christian Surfers and the Jesus Surf series, Phil Williams, who also shared a few reflections about the previous 10 years and the spiritual side of surfing which this event always embraced.

As always in an event like this will there are winners and losers but in addition it is always great to see people who entered for the first time, never were going to win, but made to feel very welcome, and confirming they will be back !!

With regards to the results, the inaugural over 60s title in a five-man final was won by Colin Bright (Llantwit major) a many time winner of various titles during this event, followed closely by Graham Hetem.

In the over 50’s category North Devon’s Rich Unsworth just took the title ahead of Colin Bright in his second final, and Tim Quick from Barnstaple.
The most popular category of the weekend was the Masters (over 35’s), and in a very tight final Porthcawl’s Steve Horn just took the title ahead of Rob Davin, Newquay’s Stephen Harrison, and Wadebridge local George Stoy.

It is always great to see a good crop of juniors (under 18’s) and this year was no exception, with Jordan Zervas from Newquay just taking the title ahead of Barnaby Innes.

The final two categories were both held in great conditions, as the low tide started to push and the wind remained light. Emily Currie dominated all the heats up to the final and in the final continued in the same vein, taking the title cheque and jewellery, although Dartington’s Claire Smail pushed her all the way with Jen Pendlebury, and Alice Brown also competing in a tight final.

The open final was a great advert for longboard surfing in the UK, which pitted one of the senior surfers Ben Howey against three of the youngsters coming through and on this occasion Ben, who sealed the victory with a 9.6 ride took the title and the cheque to retain his title.
All the other surfers in the final had also done so well by getting to the final in the juniors and on this occasion, Lewis Stritch just beat Barnaby Innes and Jordan Zervas to take second place.

As well as all the surfers, their families and supporters, and volunteer’s, the organisers of the event would like to say a huge thank you to the sponsors for their support in particular Nineplus, Finisterre, Zea Glass, Bird Sunglasses, Old Guys Rule and George’s Surf School, Tubestation, and Christian Surfers UK, and not forgetting the brilliant media team from Beagle Creative, photographer Andy Holter, and Era adventure, covering water safety, and of course the surfers of the Polzeath area who shared the waves with the event throughout.

The Christian Surfers crew are now heading up to help at the UK Pro Surf Tour in Snowdonia (Sunday 22nd October) and then heading up to Thurso to serve at the UK Pro Surf tour event.

If you’d like to know more about the work of Christian surfers or Tubestation don’t hesitate to contact [email protected] or log on to www.christiansurfers.co.uk or www.tubestation.org.
All in all, a fantastic weekend, a truly fitting event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this hugely popular weekend.

Open
1st Ben Howey
2nd Lewis Stritch
3rd Barnaby Innes
4th Jordan Zervas

Women
1st Emily Currie
2nd Claire Smail
3rd Jenny Pendlebury
4th Alice Brown

Under 18 men
1st Jordan Zervas
2nd Barnaby Innes
3rd Jack Gregorius
4th Tom Horn

Masters
1st Steve Horn
2nd Rob Davin
3rd Steven Harrison
4th George Stoy

Grand Masters
1st Rich Unsworth
2nd Colin Bright
3rd Tim Quick
4th Martin Lewis

Legends
1st Colin Bright
2nd Graham Hetem
3rd Chris Taylor
4th Gwyn Bright
5th Ray Sampsom

Skindog places third in Surf Relik

Skindog on the nose Malibu 📸 @stevenlippman
The first ever Surf Relik Longboard Invitational held at Malibu finished yesterday in a pumping south swell after an extended waiting period. The event aims to bring together the performance and logging fraternities and had a $75,000 prize purse. The events were won by Taylor Jensen (performance) and Tyler Warren (logs) Karina Rozunko won the Women’s Pro division!

📸 @stevenlippman

Skindog finished in 3rd place and Adam Griffiths in 9th hopefully meaning both qualified for next years three event tour.

Skindog said “It really was a blessing to be part of such a strong and exciting movement for longboarding.. The event was like a dream.. I still can’t process it all now! A great event with great friends, run by great people and pumping waves! The loggers were outstanding on the nose and the women were ripping!

“Looking forward to seeing what locations we will get to surf next year.” Said Bearman.

Quik Pro warm ups

Things are looking good! Starring La Graviere (Hossegor), John John Florence, Kolohe Andino, Owen Wright, Jordy Smith, Gabriel Medina, Joel Parkinson and Ross Williams

Wanderlandes highlights

Bringing a unique mix of live music, surfing and cuisine to Seignosse, The Wander Landes Festival presented by VISSLA and Heads Beach Brewing Company celebrated its first year under sunshine and blue skies. Curated by Anglo-Aussie quartet Sunset Sons, the highly anticipated surf/sound experience welcomed hundreds of festival-goers to the French surf region between Thursday 21st September – Sunday 24thSeptember 2017. It was pretty cool!