Mikey February Finds Rhythm In The Beating Heart Of Cote d’Ivoire

“I was struck by a lightning bolt of culture that struck me to the core” said Harry Bryant, referring to the first Sonic Souvenirs shot of Mikey February in Africa.

The Mikey x Kai Neville x Vans edit won Stab’s 2021 Edit Of The Year, as judged by the top 50 most influential voices in surfing, and was an instrumental role in earning Mikey the number eight spot in the Top Male Surfers of 2021, only trailing surfers who competed in CT/CS events last year. 

“He’s not just a twin fin guy strobing and carving lines, he’ll just as easily hop on a thruster and throw some aggression into his turns and land airs with grace. There’s a very small group of people that can do that with authenticity. I’d argue that spending the first half of his 20’s on the QS postponed his global recognition,” said Dane Reynolds in a blurb for his tailor-made M Feb edit. In the Pick Up, Nathan Fletcher, noted Mikey’s semblance to style icon Montgomery ‘Buttons’ Kaluhiokalani for his performance at Velzyland. It was touching.

Here, Mikey, along with fellow Vans team riders Alex Knost and Lee-Ann Curren, visit Cote d’Ivoire on the West Coast of Africa in the follow-up to Sonic Souvenirs vol 1, this time shot and directed by Blake Myers. 

“West Africa is pretty special,” says Mikey. “Ghana, Nigeria… There’s amazing music that comes from there, there’s also some really epic waves. The attraction of the Ivory Coast was that it hadn’t been documented very much,” says Mikey.

Between sampling goods and talking to locals at Treichville (‘The colorful markets’), Assinie, the town of La Plage De Palmiers (‘The Palm Beaches’), and Sassandra (‘The West Port Village’), Mikey’s postcard from West Africa is enough to contemplate a tour of The Ivory Coast and its teeming repository of waves. 

Watch Mikey, Alex, and Lee-Anne find rhythm in the beating heart of West Africa.