Safetosea

Today I watched the online premier of Cyrus Sutton's Stoked and Broke, a little movie about as lo-fi a surf trip as you can possibly get. Just a walk along the San Diego Coast, towing home made bamboo rickshaws laden with boards, wetsuits and the the very meagre necessities of living they granted themselves, Cyrus and young Ryan Burch have a fine, and ultimately, wise old time.

As we all know, doing a surf trip gets you to places you'd never otherwise go, exotic places, strange and sometimes dangerous places that take you away from that comfortable bubble the familiar gives us.

It's part of the fun.

What these guys have managed to do is look at home in a far different light. By placing themselves on the outer, busking, making, bartering, selling for a little extra cash or a dog biscuit (true) they find a new So Cal and do a little self discovery in the process.

Sure, there is a safety net. Never probably more than an hour from home, nevertheless the sleeping rough, and placing themselves in places where they meet those they might not otherwise meet, they connect and now will know more of the realities of where they live.

So what did they learn?

It's clear they already know how lucky they are.

A bit like being born in Australia, to be living near the beach in Southern California is ahead of most of the pack for a start. They realise that surfing is not the be all and end all, and that sooner or later the stark realities of living will loom, and hopefully not devour.

Of course I could go into more detail, but that would spoil the journey.

The surfing is eclectic to say the least, and both surfers are fine examples of open minded water play. Longboards, handplanes, planing hulls and blocks of foam, they rip in a different way, and sometimes just choose to feel the glide and read what's going on ahead of them. There is a lot of good surfing, some quite incredible, but it is surfing that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Which is as it should be.

Did I like it?

Well, it ended with me wanting to go for a surf, and wishing I could travel again, both looking distant options at present as I pass up glassy four foot Bells while I sit on the couch and cough my lungs out.

Go online and have a look. Nine bucks won't leave you broke, and broke or not you will be Stoked.