Wade Goodall’s Film Premiere Far Exceeded Our Expectations

The title of this post implies that we expected Wade Goodall’s three-year-in-the-making magnum opus, Pentacoastal, to be less than stellar.

If that’s the case, it’s only because Wade coyly convinced us of as much. 

Over the past year-and-a-half, we’ve heard whispers from surfers, lensman, and even some of Wade’s sponsors that his profile film was having all types of issues. But primarily that, “Wade keeps getting skunked on all of his trips…”

Like an inverse fish story, the waves deteriorated as the rumor spread, to the point that we expected the film to entail ten minutes of chop-hops and cheater-fives. 

As it turned out, establishing these low expectations was all part of Wade’s master plan. A plan that culminated with dropping the best surf film of the year, perhaps longer. 

Last night, at the Aloha Beer Co. brewery, Wade displayed Pentacoastal to a group of, oh, let’s say… 250 well-lubricated souls. 

The film opened with a remarkable stop-motion animation that took Wade over a year to create. Then the music came in, then the surfing. For 33 minutes, Pentacoastal entranced the crowd and led to a handful of hoot-n-holler moments. I won’t spoil the highlights, but let’s just say they’re mostly cylindrical. 

A loose poll of the crowd confirmed that this was the best surf film they’d seen in a very long time. While objectively true, Pentacoastal also proves the efficacy of inverse marketing ploys.

Wade undersold and over-delivered on his long-awaited film piece; we were all supremely thrilled. 

Following the film, the Black Lips played on the brewery floor. At one point, Tosh Tudor was lifted from the ground and passed around the crowd like a sacrificial goat, ready for his ritual slaughter.

Thankfully, Tosh was spared. And the night went on.