SEOTY: Kai Hing Accidentally Surfs A Crocodile Sanctuary In ‘DIP’

Pareidolia is the phenomenon of seeing meaningful shapes, such as human faces or animals, in random objects, clouds or patterns.

It’s why some cars, the Fiat 500 for instance, are cute. 

‘Lil round eyes, a smiley grille, a chubby bonnet you want to squeeze by the cheeks.

It’s just a baby.

Only it was conceived by a panel beater, iron ore, bauxite, crude oil, silica sand, rubber sap, copper, coal and several blast furnaces. Its soft little face was stamped into shape by hydraulic presses. Its windows began as sand, its tyres as trees and petroleum, its dashboard as ancient organic matter dragged from the earth and cracked into plastic. Then the whole thing was welded together by robots, filled with combustible liquid and released into traffic.

Look at the little guy.

Realising we’re just wigging out most of the time when we see faces in the clouds creates its own set of issues, however.

We overcorrect and dismiss all faces as yet another case of our senses leading us astray. 

Occasionally a croc-looking log is indeed a croc. 

Kai Hing explains: “We were up in the Banyaks on this big cat called Pulse. Super luxurious. Nicest boat I’ve been on. We pull up to this wave, I think it was called Camel Backs. Everyone was surfing this inside right, Rolo [Montes] and I were out the back, Snaz [Jimmy Jazz] was shooting water.”

“We’d surfed there all day. That afternoon, back in the harbour, Snaz looked at Rolo and I, points to a log floating nearby and says, “I swear I saw that log snort water. Water came out of its nose.”

We were like, “Logs don’t do that, man. You’re fucking tripping.”

He goes, “I reckon it was a croc.”

We were like, “There are no crocs here, man. You’re sweet. We’re all good.”

But low key after that, we kept seeing heaps of logs and wondering, “Is that a croc?”

Anyways, the waves went small, and we went around to another bay to snorkel and hang out. Jared [Mel] aka Bing Bong went for a little explore on land with an older bloke who was on the boat. There were ranger signs all along the beach because it was a reserve area where turtles come in and out.

Rolo and I jumped off the boat to burn some energy and flap around in this slightly murky water. It was still pretty clear, I guess. We had a little snorkel and a swim.

Suddenly, Bing Bong busts out of the bushes and starts waving down the boat with some urgency. Rolo and I were like, “What’s going on with these lads? Why are they tripping out?”

They got back on the boat and rushed over to pick us up. They said, “Dude, the sign on the beach says, ‘Beware: Saltwater Crocodile Sanctuary.’”

We were like, “Whoa, fuck. All right.”

We got back to the boat and Repo [Jason Reposar] put his drone up. Low and behold, there’s a fucking huge saltwater crocodile right where Rolo and I had been swimming. We’d basically been cruising next to a dinosaur.”

The following clip of Hingy was shot (mostly) over the past 6 or 7 months, while banking footage for the new Lazer Fins film. There’s also a couple reheated bangers from his Rage 5 part that deserve an encore. 

He’s been getting after it, Hingy, self-funding trips doing social work on the Northern Rivers of NSW, between regulating the Lennox Pub bank on his 10ft glider with his landlord Ozzy Wright (or Wrong). 

“Ozzy is 50 and has more froth to surf than anybody I know. It’ll be a one-foot left shorey and he’ll say, ‘Yeah, I surfed four times today. It was pumping.’ 

“That’s such a blessing to be around because it’s very easy to get bored and jaded on stuff. He’s always painting and always sewing. There’s good creative energy around him. He’s still so young in spirit and mind. Life can throw you curveballs, debt and all this other shit, but it’s cool to be around him and watch him stay positive through everything while sticking to his roots.

“Even at Stab High in Sydney, he was judging and said, “I’ll give Hingy an eight because he owes me 800 bucks.” I never thought Ozzy Wright would have a little personal joke like that.”

DIP also marks the end of Kai’s one-year contract with Afends.

If you wanna help him fend off Ozzy and his army of mozzies, give him all your money.