[ DOCUMENTARY ]
Billabong trip a
flawless mountain
A decade or so ago, big wave surfers faced a problem in their pursuit of the ultimate adrenaline rush, fame and big pay days.
The world's premiere large wave surf spots, like Hawaii's Waimea Bay and Mexico's Todos Santos, were becoming too crowded with surfers, increasing the danger of serious injuries from loose boards.
"Billabong Odyssey"
Rated PGPlaying at Consolidated Pearlridge and Ward; Signature Dole Cannery and Windward
Thanks largely to Hawaii lifeguard legend Brian Keaulana, who helped develop big surf rescues with Jet Skis, surfers tried using the personal water crafts to reach inaccessible outer reefs where mega-waves break, and be towed into the swells.
The technology has created a new aspect of the surfing known as tow-ins. The surf company Billabong created a three-year adventure -- the Billabong Odyssey -- to find the largest waves in the world on any given day and take the best big wave surfers to these mountains of water, then film the adventure. The elusive goal was the 100-foot-wave.
The resulting documentary, "Billabong Odyssey," features some of the top names in Hawaii and West Coast surfing: Mike Parsons, Brad Gerlach, Flea Virostko, Barney Barron, Ken Bradshaw and Rush Randle riding waves with 60- to 70-foot faces in California, Washington, Hawaii, Mexico, Spain, France and Australia.
The film is technically flawless with superb photography (both 35mm film and high-definition 24p digital formats) from in, under and above the surf. Viewers get a clear and undistorted surfer's eye view of tube rides both great and small, as well as the razor sharp coral lurking inches below the surface.
"Odyssey" captures the first year of a three-year project. At stake is a prize for the surfer who rides the biggest wave each year and receives $1,000 a foot; an extra $500,000 grand prize will be thrown in if that wave is actually over 100 feet.
COURTESY OF ARENAPLEX
Traveling at close to 70 miles per hour, Billabong Odyssey surfer Mike Parsons tries to outrun the heaving tip of a 50-foot wave.THE TEAM used advanced satellite and meteorological equipment, as well as the services of Surfline.com, to predict big waves as far as three days in advance.
During the surfers' travels to each big wave spot, they talk about why they tackle such dangerous surf, as well as get biographical glimpses of their lives.
But that information quickly seems secondary to seeing the surf.
The opening sequence shows the slender Parsons being towed into an incomprehensible mountain of water at Maui's Jaws. The sequence is in slow motion and Parsons appears to be gliding into a slow, fat, benevolent deep ocean swell. But as the wave feels the drag of the reef, it turns into a monster of some 60 feet, eventually burying Parsons in two stories of surging white water.
Wave riding at Cortes Bank, a remote sea mount, is the starting point of "Odyssey" and though the waves surfed are huge, Dana Brown's recent "Step Into Liquid" film showed Cortes and Parsons on even larger waves. (How jaded we soon become.)
The waves at Jaws and Maverick's in Northern California, shot from helicopters or boats, are so terrifying in their immensity and sound that it seems they had to be created in a special effects lab. But it's Tahiti's Teahupo'o that wins most terrifying honors but is yet strangely beautiful, with its crystal blue water and perfect sphere shape.
The deadly shallow left break on the edge of the barrier reef has never been shown with such clarity and artistic respect. Director Philip Boston wisely keeps the narration to a minimum and lets the images -- empty waves impossibly steep and thick and the horrible wipeouts -- speak for themselves.
Both surfers and non-surfers may find it hard to watch the flailing men being sucked up and over onto the reef by waves more than double overhead.
Riding big waves is pretty easy, says the veteran Bradshaw, but "surviving is the trick."
"Billabong Odyssey" may not make any converts to big wave riding, but you'll walk out of the theater appreciating the surfers' skills and nature's beauty and unforgiving power.
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