Are actual surfers singlehandedly saving surf media?

A bit of a trend has been slowly developing for a couple of years now, one of which we find very refreshing: That being surfer produced surf content. We’re not talking throwaway Insta clips off the edit room floor, but some really quality work being produced by some of the best young talent, both in front of the lens and behind it. It’s really nothing new considering projects like John Florence’s epic, Space, which was produced by his production company Parallel Sea, as well as Craig Anderson’s recent release, The Quieter You Are The More You Hear, which was created in part with his pals, Dav Fox and Kai Neville. One trend that we are seeing in all of this is the production values, as well as the surfing itself, are now very much top-shelf. John, and a few others raised the bar and now the boys are all shooting for it.

Long gone are the days of pure, unadulterated editorial content, of which held no attachment to a brand. But over the years surf media has pretty much has been reduced to a very thinly-veiled “bought and paid for” advertorial shit show. From which unfortunately also includes brand produced content with it’s horrible “buy it now” messaging. “We don’t need media, we can make our own content” was the mantra of the day, but thankfully that era would seem to be slowly fading away. From the ashes of what was once our traditional source of surf content, some sprouts of creativity began to bloom via a new push of surfers beginning to hire film and editing talent to produce their own media releases. It’s rather ironic that it took the surfer’s themselves to reinvigorate surf media, but then maybe that’s where it should be?

Have we come full circle?

Surfer produced content, which is in many ways a throwback to a time were the creative integrity of a project was the only real goal, is a trend from which we all win: The surfer is doing work to keep the paychecks flowing, the brand is the recipient of an authentic representation of their sponsored personalities, and media outlets, like WY, are now flooded with really good content. And last but not least, you, the consumer of such, now have a wide-open window into some pretty cool people and places.

This clip, produced by Kai Hing, also happens to feature a very capable cast of creatives behind it. Hall, Cukr, Martinez, and others, make up a very qualified team effort that contributed on this project. Not exactly sure how the financials are spread around but hopefully it’s working for everyone involved.

Watch it, enjoy it, share it. We want this to continue.

WY