CORRECTION

CORRECTION: I cited that Simon Farrer's movie (reviewed below) cost $45. The movie itself is $40, while postage and handling are $5. This means that most people buying it will end up spending $45 unless they can pick it up directly from a local distributor.

Irregardless, the price of the movie itself is $40.

Apologies.

An inside and out review of Inside and Out

Blazing in-the-pocket (if not parked in the barrel) kneeboard surfing, dangerously board-mounted camera angles, and feel-good production work are available for $40 on a DVD from Australian Simon Farrer.

The movie Inside & Out: A Mentawai Adventure, due to the general lack of amazing kneeboard footage, attains groundbreaking status. The modern shredding kneeboarding in the dream-wave chain of the Mentawai's of the feature presentation, paired with futuristic surfing from Australian air-popping, knee-cap-smashing kneeboard prodigies Chayne and Troy Simpson in the bonus section, shows the past, present, and future of kneeriding.Kneeboarding can best be described as unique.

On a hardboard, but not standing up? That's just strange, say most. These surfers don't care and push their equipment and style to the limit. At the peak of kneeboarding performance, no doubt they have respect from the lineup. Everyone brings something great to the table; a crowd favorite may be lone swinfin-wearing Barry Baker, who stalls for the tube by dragging one of his flippers off the edge of his board. It makes one smile—and think about innovative riding techniques—at the same time.

Not annoyingly off-beat or indie, and not too dated to have fun with, the mellow rock soundtrack provides a good background and keeps the vibe positive.

Despite not being shot on excellent film stock, the camera footage is great for the most part. The best may be the dangerously-attained camera-board footage. A bare, bone-cracking aluminum skeleton holding a housing sits at just the right angle on Farrer's board for a great shot. It allows the viewer to see most all of Farrer's movements and weight displacements. The quite telling footage may have instructional value during one cut where a boat shot, layered over a board-cam shot, speaks with instructional value. Weight distribution technique can be seen up close, and the whole ride is shown from afar.

All in all, if you don't need that $40 for lunch, go drop it in Farrer's hand and enjoy some knees-of-steel, spine-contorting riding full of great cutbacks and critical barrel rides.

Its worth it.

BOOGIES ON A BUDGET

South Bay local Sal, surfing Redondo Beach post shoulder surgery; it was only his third session since this past August. Heal up, brother! http://www.emulsionphoto.com/

Surfing has become relatively mainstream--equipment costs have gone through the roof thanks to "supply and demand"--but bodyboarding remains an obscure sport, and a consistently cheaper alternative. Nowadays, the likelihood of fiding great deal on a surfboard at a yard sale, no matter it's age is nill--but a bodyboard is another story.

Case in point: I scored a great bodyboard today at a yardsale for $2.

I was ready to pull out $30 when I saw the vintage beauty.

My wallet became $15 lighter last time I made an impulse purchase of a similar model.

"How much is this boogie board?" I asked the lady hosting the yard sale.

"Two dollars!" she said, much to my surprise.

Done deal!
My sponsored bodyboarding friends cannot even scrape by with their sponsorship income--if they even have sponsorship income.

The disparity between the income of the rich (surfers) and the rags (bodyboarders) always dissapoints me.

However, my mind should be at ease now.

All I need to think of next time I look at ESPN and see surfing is one thing, and I will be happy: the $2.00 boogie.

SURF REPORT:

The surf is gradually filling in; there were 2'-3', perhaps occasional 4' sets today, with fair (but not hollow) shape at Manhattan Pier. It was a windswell, but with the dark, cold and murky water and much stronger waves, it felt almost like winter! It was a great session with all of the groms out there. The waves weren't big. However, size should increase Sunday through Monday.

CORRECTION

I believe I wrote the review for the 5-south video too hastily. I have corrected the "a lot" of previously released footage to "some," as as far as I can tell, there wasn't as much previously released footage as I thought. Apologies.

Experiment Results Unclear

NEW PHOTOS: NO, THANKS TO SCUMMY L.A. WATER
Check www.emulsionphoto.com, or myspace/emulsionphoto for pics.
Soon!

A hip-hop take on the bodyboarding culture, the 5-South Mixtape Experiment brings unusual editing and a non-traditional soundtrack to boogie videos--and some previously released footage.
This "Experiment" has "Mix"ed results. The editing is bodyboarding action specifically cut to the soundtrack--not a soundtrack matching the flavor of the bodyboarding. This is interesting, but it comes along with a dissapointing caveat--some of the bodyboarding footage has already been on the internet in clips on the 5-South website (for example, at least some the "Urban Bodyboarding" segment).
Using a lot of turntable mixing, the beginning of the video features seizure-inducing quick-cut editing. However, the editing changes with every different mixed track.
Despite the speed of the cutting slowing down in the video, the cuts remain far too quick.
When checking out the extra/bonus segment, it seems like there is a reason for the quick cuts: choppy panning. In the extra/bonus segment, more or less uncut waves are shown. Throughout many of the pans, there are slight jumps or abrubt slowing down. These jumps or abrupt decelerations in panning coincide with seizure-cuts in the video.
Either the video was shot purposefully choppy to aid in the editing process, or the editing was a creative effort to cover up bad pans.
Despite the some previously released footage, the appearance that there were limited amounts of sessions filmed to comprise the entirety of the work, and the really fast cuts (that often jump back and forth between different waves), the Experiment is interesting. It shouldn't be at the top of the list for bodyboarding video purchases, but deserves a look by people tired of the similar videos that are released from American bodyboarding companies year after year.
The Mixtape is more music video than surfing video--check it out if you are brave and looking for something new.

PERSONAL NOTE:
I am still sick, I hope to be back in the water in a week or two. New pics may come from this weekend. Stay safe everyone--DON'T SURF IN SCUMMY WATER!

Have you ever wondered...

Photo: Speed blur/pan shot of a Manhattan Pier local setting up to hack.

Have you ever wondered...why people think everyone that rides waves is a complete idiot? Well, wonder no more. I'll give this guy the benefit of the doubt--maybe he was the victim of creative editing. Regardless, this type of quote is the gold standard in mainstream television surfing coverage. Didn't they interview anyone else?

PITTED BRAH!

SURF UPDATE:
The surf cranked today, all the beaches were fun @ around head high and barreling, and I was sick from surfing after first rain (still). No sesh for me.
To anyone out there that surfs: DO NOT SURF AFTER THE FIRST RAIN! This is common sense, I know, but waves can be tempting. This isn't going to do me in, but it made me feel like crap. Which isn't surprising, now that I think what the water I was surfing in smelled like.

Simmering Sandbar Action!

PHOTO:
Sometimes, the ocean just looks better at night.
(C) Marcus Bockman 2007 @ www.emulsionphoto.com

NEWS OF THE DAY

Home of one of the longest, hollow sandbars in the world--the Superbank--Australia's claim to surfing fame currently rests squarely on the shoulders of a piece of ocean floor on the Gold Coast.
Numerous connected pointbreak sandbars create this surfing wonder.
One of YouTube's claims to fame could lie in The Superbank News. View this long-running "channel" on YouTube to see a video chronicle of the Superbank. Every day--during runs of good surf--The Superbank News is updated with a clip from the past day or few days.
Not up to par with that of the modern surfing world videos for sale, the production values do not impress. There are no clips taken out in the waves with the surfers. The songs, oft-recycled between clips, can be annoying, and the angles are not original.
However, seeing the world through the eyes of a Superbank surfer--for free--never ceases to entertain.

PERSONAL UPDATE

Waist-head high barreling rights into the pier were supposed to be the call of the day, but that didn't happen. I can't say much for the reliability of the www.wetsand.com forecast today.

See you at the pier.

--Marcus Bockman