We Imagine This Is What VR Surfing Would Look Like

According to Wikipedia, 680 surf films have been produced since 41-year-old schoolteacher and former lifeguard Bud Browne first premiered Hawaiian Surfing Movies to a full house at John Adams Junior High School in Santa Monica, California. 

From the EOS:

At the time, surf filmmakers were one man production companies, shooting, editing, scoring and promoting screenings themselves. “I can’t think of a worse business,” Greg Noll said, “than trying to rent auditoriums, hammer up posters and handbills, and go through all the bullshit of making surf movies, the way it was done in the old days.” A first-generation surf film cost about $5,000 to produce, and filmmakers generally met costs and living expenses, and had just enough left over to begin the next movie.

Thank baby Jesus for our divine digital bits.

Needless to say, the days of running around from beach to studio to darkrooms, manually cutting, pasting, and layering media have been left in the dust, and anyone with an iphone, some surf clips and an internet connection could tenably claim the title of being a surf filmmaker. 

The new challenge with the saturation of surf content is to create something that leaves a stark impression. In our SSOTY interviews, the most common preface to a person’s best surf film/clip of 21’ was ‘Ah, shit, what came out this year? I can’t remember.’ Much head-scratching. Much foggy recall. Much noise on the information superhighway.

Good surfing is a safe attention-grab, as will seeing surfing documented in new and interesting ways. Dylan Lightfoot and Chris Rodgers have managed to do both here. Wielding an “admittedly ridiculous looking” sail video system 3PVX2 mount and a Gopro Max, Dyl’s footage puts you in the passenger seat of his joyride through fun-sized Jbay.

Feels like wearing a VR headset.