Were These Clips Worth Getting Punched In The Face For?

Life comes at you fast. 

So do all the sand-bottom sections in this clip.

Stab’s favorite Maui/Venice Beach hybrid, Noah Hill, has just released another artfully crafted surf edit, and we’re fucking into it.

Conceptualized by budding creative Quinn Graham, “As It Is” gives pensive weight to what would already have been some very enjoyable surf clips. 

Prefaced by some Eckhart Tolle profundity, the experimental edit is split into two acts. The first act is dreary, dark, and onshore, filled with blowtails and dungeon music. Then, as the storm lifts and the wind clocks around, the second act is pure jubilation — aka: shit tons of backless tube time.

“I think a lot of the meaning in this film comes from my relationship with Quinn,” says Noah. “We’ve spent a lot of time together, just going through life as young adults trying to figure out our purpose. A lot of the time I think we get really far ahead of ourselves, and constantly need reminders to stay in the present. I think that’s why a lot of people resonate with surfing, because it blocks out all of those distractions and you’ve gotta be in the moment.”

The two have been close friends for the last 5-odd years, and this is their third project together. It is, however, the first project that Quinn has been able to singlehandedly film, edit, and conceptualize on his own, and the uniformity shows.

The downside?

Quinn had to get punched in the face to stack some of the footage.

“I don’t know how much I’m supposed to talk about that. I’m probably not allowed back down there after this trip,” laughs Noah. “I’m just really white, I stick out like a sore thumb when I’m traveling. I would sit on the inside minding my own business and the locals would yell at me everyday, telling me to go in and calling me a gringo. One day they’d just had enough, and Quinn was standing on the rocks. This guy started aggressively coming at him, and Quinn was worried about his camera so he gave the guy a little push back, and the guy just punched him right in the face. But then I think they were both so shocked afterwards that it de-escalated everything. It was weird.”

No better way to be in the present than getting punched in the fucking face, right?