Surfing the heart of an urban jungle

Wavepools – surfing’s futuristic oxymoron. The only way to truly emulate a controlled environment for a sport based on unpredictability and improvisation. Though still relatively primitive where functionality’s concerned, wavepools have created a platform like no other for the documentation of innovative surfing. Way back in 2004, after much pleading and attempted bribery of waterpark management, Stab managed to pull off an industry first – Taj Burrow, Trent Munro and Joel Parkinson zipping around Sunway Lagoon in Kuala Lumpur on a jetski, towing each other into small but rippable waves and setting a benchmark for years to come.

More recently, Rip Curl’s jumped in the pool for the ‘Mirage’ trunk campaign, also shot in Sunway Lagoon. Through a collaboration with Timeslice Films, the campaign showcases an industry first in capturing multiple 3D angles of the one freeze frame (which you might remember seein’ put to use in the Matrix trilogy). Mick Fanning, Owen Wright, Steph Gilmore and Matty Wilkinson spent a coupla days in Kuala Lumpur flaring for a 52-camera rig, which hovered above the channel shooting off consecutive, rapid-fire frames. Says James Taylor, Rip Curl Global Creative Director: “We wanted to look at surfing in an entirely new way, ultimately doing something that would blow people’s minds”. The images you see here are a look behind the scenes of the shoot.

It’s no secret that boardshorts are a surf brand’s best earner. “This is by far the biggest category,” says an industry insider. So it should come as no surprise that ad campaigns to sell trunks often receive the most attention. “Two hundred grand is chump change to invest in a really good international concept that is released over a number of platforms. Something like this new Rip Curl shoot could cost north of $500k.”

Hurley are the next big cats to get busy with simulated swell in the name of the trunk. After attempting to shoot their new campaign in Canggu, Bali, they realised that a controlled environment was necessary for the shoot – something that the ocean couldn’t offer. So they packed up their smoke machines, projectors and cameras, and jetted off to Kuala Lumpur too. The campaign drops in December, and’ll feature Hurley riders hot doggin’ on a wave face awash with projections of the trunk designs.

Looking forward, Insight’ve had their eye on Typhoon Lagoon in Florida, and Stab just returned from a trip to Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, where we incorporated a few challenging elements into the Siam Park wavepool to see what Bruce Irons, Julian Wilson, Kolohe Andino, Evan Geiselman and Adam Melling could throw down. Catch all that action in the November issue of Stab and our hard-cover annual, out sometime in December. – Elliot Struck