Taj Burrow At North Point, Rasta Robb Bangs Ulu’s Rights + Hayden Rodgers’ Napoleonic Dynamite

The FUDO prologues are presented in black and white. The full-length film, however, will be very much be colour-coded.

“One of the ideas we had when we started thinking about the film was that every surfer would have a colour,” explains Steko founder Kolohe Andino, who will fully flesh out his filmmaking, brand and surfing ambitions on Stabmic next week.

Pre Fudo (which loosely translates to ‘immovable’ or ‘unshakable’ in Japanese), he’s released three prologues from:

Western Australia: where the crew nearly break water cinematographer Tom Jennings with their vlogging antics, learn the art of lobster trapping from Taj Burrow, and pull into a few human-sized lobster traps at North Point.

San Clemente: where they flicking paint around the …Lost Enterprises factory, and Hayden Rodgers — who broke through to third-place finish at the US Open — swings into some tall tubes (presumably not at T-Street). 

Indonesia: where Rasta Robb manages to find a couple rights… on the Bukit’s premiere left.

Now, back to the FUDO propaganda, a film which appears to have borrowed a few notes from respected surf filmmakers Joe G and Kai Neville.

“People have messed around with colour in movies before, but they’ve never really gone all-in,” says Kolohe. “I was like, ‘We’re going all-in on this.’ Your boards, wetsuits, trunks, T-shirts and even the lifestyle stuff you’re wearing on the beach.

“I dyed my hair pink for one of the trips. Once it started coming to life, it looked really beautiful in the footage, so we leaned into it.”

As he did with Reckless Isolation, Kolohe is going big on the FUDO tour in an attempt to drag the surf community back into the same room.

Expect prizes, beanies, surfboard giveaways, Steko merch from the accompanying capsule, drinks, food trucks, DJs and degeneracy. 

Screenings will take place exclusively on Fridays and Saturdays, which is kind, ‘cos there will likely be some sore heads.

The tour begins at the Hard Rock in Atlantic City, New Jersey, before concluding with back-to-back hit-outs in San Clemente and Encinitas.

On the clothing:

“The capsule has a thermal, (which is kind of a long-sleeve waffle garment, not snow underwear) instead of a hoodie because it fits the brand better. We also did two T-shirts and seven different colours of beanies: purple, yellow, red, pink, green, black and blue.”

Around 50 surf shops across the US have ordered the capsule. Kolohe and the Steko team will be personally delivering the stock to each of them.

His logic?

“There’s such a big disconnect between the surf stars of the world and what actually happens in a surf shop, where surf gear gets sold. We’re trying to bridge that gap. It worked well last time, so we’re doing it again.”

On West Oz:

“That trip, I was thinking like a more seasoned veteran. I thought, ‘The wave is going to look better from this angle, so I’m just going to sit next to Taj. If he doesn’t go, I’ll go.’ Even if it closed out, I’d pull in and hopefully get a good shot. That would make the trip worthwhile. I’m realising that time is finite and watching my kids grow up is the most important thing. When I’m away from them, I want to make sure I’m really capitalising on the time.

Some of those waves were only four-foot, but you had to airdrop every time. It was hard for me to figure out. Everyone forgets I’m from T Street. The big day at North Point was like a Cloudbreak left running into the boil where you sit. On a couple of sets, I tried to fight through it and make it out. I took some of the biggest beatings I’ve had in a while. It was super washed out, but I thought that might allow me to sneak a couple away from the crowd. On a perfect day, everyone would be out. Unfortunately, the whole world was thinking the same thing, so there were still 50 guys out.”

On Hayden Rodgers, who broke through with a third-place finish at the recent US Open:

“I’m here to support him with whatever he wants to do.

“He’s really into competing. He ripped at the US Open and got a huge result. I told him the next day, ‘People wait five or six years to get a third on the Challenger Series. You should try to qualify this year. Now is your time. Go for it.’

“I’m there whenever he wants me to come along.

“When you start a brand or become an entrepreneur, you learn to wear a lot of hats. The hat I’m wearing with Hayden is more like an older, wiser brother. I’m there for whatever questions he has.

“Ultimately, his coach at the US Open was Matt Myers. I was just the pom-pom boy.

“A couple of times, I tried to speak through Myers when Hayden wasn’t around and say, ‘Maybe you should have him do this,’ so Myers could pass it on.

“But I’m here for whatever Hayden wants, and I’m really proud of him.”