Though pop history and culture places the origin of waveriding, and, therefore, surfing, in Polynesia, some untold millennia ago, it’s likely that anywhere there is a coast with warm water, people were riding the waves. When foreign surfers first arrived in west African countries decades ago to explore the coastline, they discovered kids with no outside world contact riding waves on pieces of wood. Surfing is culturally universal, in other words.
In this short film, South African surfing superstar Mikey February (easily the best name in surfing), is joined by a few friends to surf the right points of the Ivory Coast, a surf rich zone that has been embracing surfing more and more in recent years, tapping into their ancient love for the sea. Surf videos can often be trite, hard-to-watch shred fests, but this film is a love letter to travel, adventure, culture, and the pure joy of sliding on waves.
