“I was a boat trip 6 months before Banda Aceh earthquake 2004 and I was lucky enough to surf the waves in the area before they changed or disappeared, Azure being one of them which is featured in the footage. I was there with Bali Strickland shooting for his movie ‘Freeway’ which had so much additional footage that alot of it ended up on the cutting room flood. Years past and video cameras went from tape to digital, Bali went onto new adventures as did I.. This was one of the best surf trips for waves and company that I'd ever done, Exploring with Dylan Longbottom and Rasta. 18 years later i reconnect with Bali and he managed to dig through piles of tapes that he had kept away from moisture and mould and pass on to us” - Margo

“I grew up on the 90’s and early 2000’s surf films of Australian Filmmakers such as Bali Strickland which always heavily featured Australian surfers.. Not many people from that era had as much of an influence on me as Margo did. He was the first real Australian freesurfer that i knew of and i couldn’t believe that anyone could get paid to go on surf trips and work on films and not have to compete… So when we had the opportunity to get to work on this project with Margo after idolising him as a kid really was a dream come true. Margo has been on the Standard Procedure surf team for a while now and using and testing our existing products and some new ones in the works, and he mentioned to me about a year ago that he remember doing this insane trip to Indonesia almost 20 years ago with Bali Strickland… He told me of some insane waves they surfed that no longer exist and that he thought might be all but lost but there may be a chance Bali would still have it... So he put me in contact with Bali who was absolutely legendary and spent the better part of a month searching through his archive of old DV tapes. Once he had found all the tapes he shot on the trip, he then tracked down the old camera and cords he needed to go through them all one by one and pull out Margos waves from the trip. When he sent me the raw clips I was blown away. The surfing being done by Margo almost 20 years ago is almost more relevant today than it was then. The smooth lines, effortless style and raw power are the hallmarks of Margos timeless surfing, all in showcased in Indonesian perfection. It was an absolutely incredible effort by Bali and I can’t thank him enough for the time and effort he put in for us to get this incredible footage of Margo that would have otherwise sat on those tapes that one maybe one day would have disappeared.” - Dion Agius

Filmed By Bali Strickland.

The Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, the fourth stop on the World Surf League (WSL) 2022 Championship Tour (CT), saw the first competitors eliminated today with the completion of the Opening and Elimination Rounds in semi-clean three-to-four foot surf at Winkipop. The second day of competition witnessed no shortage of excitement with big wins by Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Johanne Defay (FRA), and Morgan Cibilic (AUS) and a visit from Tennis World No. 1 and three-time Grand Slam Champion, Ash Barty. 

Former Bells Winners Battle for Big Results to Overcome Mid-season Cut

Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), and Courtney Conlogue (USA) are all previous winners at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach but find themselves in jeopardy of not making it through to the second half of the 2022 CT season. All three veterans are searching for big results at Bells, the second-to-last competition before the new Mid-season Cut. 

Four-time Bells winner Gilmore made the most of her heat, ending up on top and beating Hennessy, who currently holds the No. 1 spot on the rankings. Two-time Bells winner Fitzgibbons was unable to progress through to the Round of 16 after placing third, just 0.54 behind fellow Australian Bronte Macaulay. Conlogue also narrowly missed out on the second position by 0.91 points against compatriot Lakey Peterson. 

Two-time Bells winner and Australian World Title hopeful Fitzgibbons (above) found herself in the dreaded Elimination Round and with the possibility of another sub-par result in 2022. Needing a massive result here at Bells to keep her spot on the Championship Tour alive, Fitzgibbons dug deep in her second heat of the day, posting a 15.10 two-wave combination to get her campaign back on track as she now shifts her focus to the Round of 16.

“After my first heat, I had another chance, paddled out with a fresh start, and just enjoyed my experience no matter what,” Fitzgibbons said. “When you put your heart and soul into your surfing and sometimes don’t have scores come your way or the results don’t flow, it can sometimes break your spirits a bit and that’s when you dig deep and trust in the work you’ve put in. I’m so comfortable down here and love competing here so it’s good to be back.”

Ash Barty Drops in on Friends Stephanie Gilmore, Molly Picklum, and Mick Fanning at Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach
After the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach played host to some of Formula 1’s rising stars yesterday, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach welcomed Ash Barty, Tennis World No. 1 and three-time Grand Slam Champion. On her first visit to Bells Beach, Barty attended today’s competition to cheer on good friend Stephanie Gilmore in the Opening Round.

“It’s nice to come down and watch Steph (Gilmore), watch Molly (Picklum), and a few of the other girls that are my mates,” said Barty. “To come down and watch them do their thing live for the first time, it’s so different live than it is on telly and as a fan and as a friend, I really enjoy doing it.”

Local Hero India Robsinson (above) Advances to Round of 16, Defay and Weston-Webb Score Big
2022 CT rookie and local hero India Robinson (AUS) progressed through to the next round after placing second in Opening Round 1, Heat 5. Johanne Defay (FRA) was the stand-out performer of the heat and the day with her highest scoring wave of 8.50 (out of a possible 10) and a combined score of 16.67 (out of a possible 20). Defay found the best waves of the matchup and showed full commitment on critical sections, which were highly regarded by the judges.

“I got lucky with those two bigger waves that came through because I got them without priority,” Defay said. “It’s so cool to be back at Bells after missing the last few years. I love it down here. I stay with a great family here and have been enjoying my time, so I feel like I’m in a really good headspace.”

The other standout from the women’s Opening Round was perennial Title threat Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA), who posted an excellent score in her heat win over Fitzgibbons and Bronte Macaulay (AUS). Weston-Webb’s 8.17 came from a series of vertical backside re-entries on a long clean Winki wall. Weston-Webb will now face fellow goofy-foot Macaulay in Heat 3 of the Round of 16.

Wildcards and Injury Replacements Build Momentum at Rip Curl Pro
A slow heat on the Bells Bowl yesterday saw Mick Fanning (AUS) relegated into today’s Elimination Round. The four-time Bells winner found redemption on Day 2 as the competition shifted to Winkipop. Fanning showed flashes of brilliance on the way to claiming the second progressing spot behind CT sophomore Morgan Cibilic (AUS). The three-time World Champion will now have the tough task of taking on World No. 1 Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) in Heat 9 of the Round of 32 when competition resumes.

“Yesterday was a bit embarrassing on my behalf, so it was nice to go out to go out and get some waves,” Fanning said. “It was cool coming up against Morgan (Cibilic) and Seth (Moniz)–two kids I absolutely love and cheer for on Tour. But, I’m stoked to click into gear. Winki is good, it’s different to Bells, but I love it just as much and always have fun surfing heats out there.”

Wildcard Barron Mamiya (HAW) out-performed the two Australians Ethan Ewing and Morgan Cibilic (above) in Heat 12. Earning a 6.0 and 7.0 (out of a possible 10) early in the heat, Mamiya set himself up well to claim victory in his opening heat on Day 2 of the Rip Curl Pro.

Current World No. 2 Mamiya said he was excited with his first-round win on his first-ever visit to Bells Beach: “I’ve been surfing out at Winki for the last couple of days since I got here. The waves have been pretty small but it was super fun out there, so I’m stoked with the heat.”

“After Sunset everything kind of moves super fast for me," Mamiya continued. "I got some time back at home after Portugal to reset and focus on the new goal. I’m super stoked to be here and I’m stoked to hopefully make some more heats.”

It was a mixed day of results for Rip Curl Trials winners with local favorite Tully Wylie (AUS) being eliminated from competition while Californian Alyssa Spencer (USA) found herself a progressing spot into the Round of 16. Spencer’s backhand was in good rhythm with the Winki walls and she’ll be hoping to carry that form into her heat with reigning WSL Champion Carissa Moore (HAW).

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Men’s Opening Round 1 (H9-12) Results:
HEAT 9: Joao Chianca (BRA) 11.93 DEF. Caio Ibelli (BRA) 11.33, Conner Coffin (USA) 7.10
HEAT 10: Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.93 DEF. Jack Robinson (AUS) 12.16, Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.13
HEAT 11: Deivid Silva (BRA) 11.27 DEF. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 10.90, Jake Marshall (USA) 10.84
HEAT 12: Barron Mamiya (HAW) 13.00 DEF. Ethan Ewing (AUS) 11.33, Morgan Cibilic (AUS) 8.17

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Women’s Opening Round 1 Results:
HEAT 1: Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 14.40 DEF. Lakey Peterson (USA) 14.07, Courtney Conlogue (USA) 13.16
HEAT 2: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 14.10 DEF. Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 13.60, Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 13.06
HEAT 3: Isabella Nichols (AUS) 13.70 DEF. Carissa Moore (HAW) 13.14, Alyssa Spencer (USA) 8.34
HEAT 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 12.16 DEF. Brisa Hennessy (CRI) 11.16, Molly Picklum (AUS) 10.20
HEAT 5: Johanne Defay (FRA) 16.67 DEF. India Robinson (AUS) 12.53, Luana Silva (HAW) 11.00
HEAT 6: Malia Manuel (HAW) 11.20 DEF. Tyler Wright (AUS) 9.84, Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 0.50

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Men’s Elimination Round 2 Results:
HEAT 1: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 14.37 DEF. Jadson Andre (BRA) 13.03, Tully Wylie (AUS) 10.34
HEAT 2: Morgan Cibilic (AUS) 14.84 DEF. Mick Fanning (AUS) 11.90, Seth Moniz (HAW) 8.90
HEAT 3: Nat Young (USA) 13.34 DEF. Imaikalani deVault (HAW) 10.93, Conner Coffin (USA) 10.83
HEAT 4: Connor O'Leary (AUS) 14.83 DEF. Jake Marshall (USA) 11.17, Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 9.77

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Women’s Elimination Round 2 Results:
HEAT 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.10 DEF. Alyssa Spencer (USA) 13.33, Molly Picklum (AUS) 9.50
HEAT 2: Luana Silva (HAW) 12.16 DEF. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 11.84, Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 11.76

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Men’s Round of 32 Matchups:
HEAT 1: Griffin Colapinto (USA) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)
HEAT 2: Caio Ibelli (BRA) vs. Nat Young (USA)
HEAT 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Jackson Baker (AUS)
HEAT 4: Ethan Ewing (AUS) vs. Lucca Mesinas (PER)
HEAT 5: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Mikey Wright (AUS)
HEAT 6: Connor O'Leary (AUS) vs. Ezekiel Lau (HAW)
HEAT 7: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Joao Chianca (BRA)
HEAT 8: Barron Mamiya (HAW) vs. Morgan Cibilic (AUS)
HEAT 9: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)
HEAT 10: Frederico Morais (PRT) vs. Callum Robson (AUS)
HEAT 11: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Deivid Silva (BRA)
HEAT 12: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
HEAT 13: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Imaikalani deVault (HAW)
HEAT 14: Jack Robinson (AUS) vs. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA)
HEAT 15: Jake Marshall (USA) vs. Samuel Pupo (BRA)
HEAT 16: Italo Ferreira (BRA) vs. Ryan Callinan (AUS)

Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Women’s Round of 16 Matchups:
HEAT 1: Lakey Peterson (USA) vs. Courtney Conlogue (USA)
HEAT 2: Malia Manuel (HAW) vs. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
HEAT 3: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) vs. Bronte Macaulay (AUS)
HEAT 4: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Gabriela Bryan (HAW)
HEAT 5: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs. Alyssa Spencer (USA)
HEAT 6: India Robinson (AUS) vs. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
HEAT 7: Brisa Hennessy (CRI) vs. Luana Silva (HAW)
HEAT 8: Johanne Defay (FRA) vs. Isabella Nichols (AUS)

For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.

Think your local spot is rammed? Think again. Just you and a few mates for a chilled afternoon session. Yes we know it was pumping at snapper in the morning but we had work, so as usual stopped by to get the after work madness session.

Superbank, Snapper Rocks, Greenmount, Rainbow Bay, Kirra
Coolangatta Gold Coast
Queensland
Australia

By Captain Matt Knight

‘Savage Waters’ began as a story of a modern-day treasure hunt. The film chronicles a journey into the wilds of the Atlantic in search, not of gold, but of waves and adventure. In the end, a five-year Odyssey took us four times to a remote outcrop of Atlantic rock, thousands of miles from our homes; and the treasure we found was of a very different sort to any we had imagined at first.

As a child I was obsessed with the romance and adventure of sailing to faraway lands. From Swallows and Amazons, to The Cruel Sea and The Last Grain Race, I devoured sailing tales. On the TV I was glued to Cousteau’s documentaries, and drama such as the Onedin Line. It was inevitable that at some point I would find myself on a sailing boat crossing the ocean. A teenager in the 1980s, I hitchhiked my first Atlantic crossing, and for some years thereafter worked my passage under sail, around the world, becoming also a passionate surfer along the way. There was romance, adventure, joy, heartache, tragedy and loss; until one day, I met a beautiful mermaid, who’s robust enthusiasm for life on, and in the sea, surpassed even my own.

Twenty something years later, Suzanne (the beautiful mermaid) and I, found ourselves the very proud parents of four lovely grown-ups, all of them equally able to handle themselves in heavy mud, heavy surf, and also at home far out in the deep ocean. Inspired by George Greenough, in 2010 we decided to set off in search of unknown waves under sail. With remote Pacific atolls in our dreams, the vessel we chose, partly for romantic, but also financial and technical reasons, was a James Wharram design – a simple but seaworthy catamaran based on a Polynesian double hulled voyaging canoe.
We soon realised that the journey from our family home in North Devon, to those dreamy faraway atolls, was going to take some time – and even in a Wharram would need funds we didn’t have. Plus, the children were all at key stages of full-time education at that point, variously doing GCSEs, A Levels and Uni; and two of them had become such competent surfers that they were representing club and country in competition. So, we decided to start near to home, doing some surf charter work around the UK, Ireland and NW France, thus delaying our departure until we could afford to set off on the Big Adventure, and potentially to enable the whole family to go together.

It was during this time that a casual conversation with Carve Editor Steve England first brought the Ihlas Selvagens to our attention. It says much about their remote and relatively unknown existence that I had actually sailed right past these rugged outcrops of rock on two separate occasions on passages across the Atlantic, without even clocking their presence. Steve and I were chatting about the possibility that unknown waves might yet exist in European waters when he mentioned the Islands, whose translated name aptly describes them: for they are indeed Savage. A seed was sown during that conversation, but I wouldn’t find out for some years how that seed would grow into such a huge part of our lives.
We had the great good fortune during this pivotal time (by now 2015-2016) to have a surf charter booking out in Ireland, and whilst sailing there we stumbled across a giant offshore wave in Donegal Bay. Here is where the first of many coincidences led us eventually to the Selvagens. Unknown to us, Andrew (Cotty) Cotton and Al Mennie had already been scoping out this particular spot. A chance conversation with Cotty in the pub back in Croyde led to another more specific brainstorming session, and we ended up working for his sponsor RedBull on a documentary. ‘Beneath the Surface’ chronicled a winter of trying to score that cold and unforgiving Irish behemoth, and subsequently a further, big wave search expedition to Southern Portugal.

Now came the second of the great coincidences that watered and fed the seed that had been quietly dormant in my mind since it was first planted five years before. An old Cornish shipmate from my early sailing days lent me a book. It was a dusty first edition of The Cruise of the ‘Alerte’ , written in the 1890s by E.F. Knight, a Victorian gentleman who was my namesake. It told the story of a real treasure hunt. Suzanne and I both read the book because it’s a great seafaring yarn, but it wasn’t till we had finished and were discussing it afterwards, that the significance of what we had read became clear. Buried in the text lay a giant clue, pointing not to the exact location of plundered gold, (which E.F. Knight and his crew never found), but to a different treasure altogether. For there in black and white, described over several paragraphs in wonderfully colourful Victorian English, was a vivid picture of a colossal and perfect, slabbing barrel, going absolutely nuts, in this remote and uncharted place called the Savage Isles, that we had hardly ever even heard of.
As the mermaid and I agreed that this passage had stood out for both of us as a bright, flashing signpost that said, “there lies treasure”, I suddenly remembered that long ago conversation with Steve… and that was when the lightbulb clicked. From that moment on there was never any doubt that we would be going to look – to see whether that crazy and perfect wave, breaking out there unridden, no doubt for millennia, and first described by E.F. Knight in 1890, was still there.

I am not going to give any serious detail here about what happened next. You’ll have to watch the film to find out. Those coincidences that led us to set sail for the Selvagens after that initial inspiration, later became deeply buried under shocking and life changing events, over which none of us could have any control. In brief, our journeys to and from the Selvagens took us, Cotty, our great friend and talented film maker Mikey Corker, plus our extended crew of family and friends, to Nazaré, Madeira, the Canaries, back to Ireland, out to Cape Verde, and the Azores, via a completely random circumnavigation of Great Britain, with a crazy and loveable swimmer called Ross Edgley.
Numerous times during this whirlwind few years, the search for the Wave on the remote and inaccessible Ihlas Selvagens was relegated to the backburner, as life events swirled around us and funds dwindled. It was not until Cotty met our passionate and committed Producer, Ghislaine Couvillat (the owner of the production company Whipped Sea and executive producer of other ocean adventures and surfing feature length documentaries such as ‘Girls Can’t Surf’ and ‘Against the Tides’), that we were finally able to plot a course for our last of four exploratory missions to those fabled Treasure Islands.

The wonders that are to be experienced over a lifetime of ocean passages: the adventure, the beauty, the wild and natural spaces, the ethereal majesty of a night sky unpolluted by artificial light or even by the shadow of land; all those wonders are balanced by the terrors, tragic losses, discomfort and pain, the inevitable hardship that living on the ocean will deal out from time to time.
That balance, and the fact that however hard we try to control or plan, we are never really able to anticipate the unexpected curve balls that life at sea throws – have been a strong part of our story. ‘Savage Waters’ dives deeply into how those elements are mirrored in our complex lives as human beings, floating through space on the thin and fragile smear of habitable soil, on this ball of rock called Earth, buffeted by chaotic cosmic forces that are beyond our control. ‘Savage Waters’ became a journey, and describes a path of adventure, drama, disappointment and discovery, pain and loss, endurance and resilience. Ultimately through love and hope, we are led towards acceptance: of our limited time, and our small place in the universe.
Savage Waters’, directed by Mikey Corker, documents a captivating surf adventure that became an odyssey through life with perils the crew would have never imagined.

It's World Premiere as the Opening Night Film at DocLands Documentary Film Festival in Marin County, California on 5th May 2022. The screening will be followed by a special Q&A.