We checked in with our buddy in the Metawais last night, who thankfully replied back pretty sharpish. Luke writes, “Thanks for the message. We actually just got back to Oz a week or so ago, so that was lucky timing on our part. All of our friends in the region are safe and accounted for, but many local communities have been devastated. The West Sumatran Charter Boat Association and Surfaid are coordinating relief efforts at the moment. The charter boats are often first on the scene with aid, but it may be easier to direct your readers to donate to Surfaid (if you feel it’s appropriate).”

Hopefully you feel it’s appropriate, and if you do, click the image below to help out.

Luke writes… We’ve just gotten back from a few days in the jungle with our friend Hendri. It’s something that we’ve wanted to do for a while. A few hours upriver in a small canoe, a muddy trek for an hour or so, and a step back in time.

The Mentawai people are known for having on of the world’s most fascinating and preserved indigenous cultures. Living in the ulu (jungle), they’re completely in tune with their environment. For a pair of city slickers like us, it was a humbling experience and something not easily forgotten.

For now the modern world has little relevance to this remote part of the world, but traditions are slowly eroding. It may be that the Mentawai way of life may soon be a thing of the past.

Happy hunting

Tools of the trade

Keeping watch. cooking sagu over the flames

Sikerei - mentawai medicine man

This aint no master chef - preparing poison

Poison arrows

Harbour masters

Family portrait

Flavour country

Bye bye Mentawai

If you’re interested in learning more, our friend Rob spent a year living in the Mentawai. He’s finalising a documentary project at the moment – check the trailer on his website (or watch below) and subscribe to his mailing list.

Today, journeying to remote areas is comparably easy. Our travel decisions – how we travel, where we stay, and which businesses we support – shape the local environment and community and can ultimately determine whether we leave with more of a realistic view of the area or something further from the truth.

Take the Mentawai Islands – currently the most-hyped surf destination in the world, and rightly so. What surfer doesn’t dream of world-class waves set to a backdrop of white sandy beaches and clear blue seas? Boat charters enable easy access to all the famous breaks, and many visitors never set foot on shore.

There’s an argument that keeping surf tourism apart from the local economy may be beneficial in the long term, and that keeping tourists away from terrestrial developments will reduce the impact on the local landscape. Whether or not this is true, the fact is that most people visiting the Mentawais in this way will come away from the region with a false perception, and will fail to recognise the environmental and social issues that are defining this area. And whether or not a surf-based economy is wise in the long run, it also means that the huge incomes mined from these boat charters will likely remain ‘off-land’ and will have little benefit to the local people.

When I graduated with a Masters in Environmental Management, I wanted to combine my passion for surfing with my strong interest in the environment. Back in 2007 I took a trip to the isolated island of Siloinak. Leaving behind the bustle of Padang, I caught the overnight ferry to Siberut, and once there noticed the recent destruction of numerous building, caused by the series of earthquakes that had occurred in the previous months. Residents seemed unfazed by the damage, and while it may be a little extreme to suggest that earthquakes were a part of life in Western Sumatra, it was evident that the recent activity hadn’t dented their morale.

I was travelling with the owner of Mentawai Foundation, and together we came up with ways we could harness the opportunity to combine environmental and community programmes on Siloinak with surf exploration. And so SWAP was born, with the aim of working with local communities, rebuilding homes, and promoting environmental opportunities within the Mentawais. In my experience, surfers are an adventurous bunch. But they’re also incredibly environmentally and socially aware, and I wanted to make it easier for everyone to connect those two passions. Now with SWAP, you can easily find volunteer opportunities at exotic surf spots, making for a much more interesting – and rewarding – holiday.

When I returned home, I explored the possibilities for connections and collaborations all around the world, and now SWAP has a global network of opportunities combining surf travel and volunteer programmes. This year, my girlfriend Jess and I will be travelling from North to South America, visiting some of the key organisations that SWAP has partnered up with, highlighting the work and progress that these guys have made and continue to make.

Our journey begins on the isolated and wild coastline of Vancouver Island… You can follow us over the coming months through our blog here on Drift.

For more information on SWAP and opportunities visit www.swaptravel.org or contact us at mail@swaptravel.org

The guys at the Pitstop surf camp had been wonderful hosts, and we all had an amazing time in these beautiful, and remote, islands. Feeling kind of helpless over here in Devon, I sent the guys a quick email to let them know we were thinking of them, and to ask if there was anything we could do. Thankfully, I got a reply, and turns out they’re all ok, but  they are definitely the lucky ones:

“We are OK out here on the island, but all reports say Padang has been devastated. The quake was huge here yesterday arvo. I was having trouble standing up and keeping my balance. I grabbed the TV so it wouldn’t fall off then thought ‘fuck it’ and yelled for everyone to run outside. I thought the glass windows and doors were going to shatter.

There’s minor damage here but Padang is an absolute mess. People buried alive and trapped in rubble. The big hotels have collapsed, along with a couple of hundred other buildings. Fires, no power and no water. Nightmare. Only one road out of Padang is open too.

We have heard from half our friends that they are alive, but still waiting to hear from many more. It’s heavy man. Our crew in Padang are ok.

Phew… Oh yeah, and we’ve been battered by gnarly storms for a week now. 

But we can’t complain. We’re safe and comfy out here on the island. Just laying low and going to start rationing food and fuel because it seems like there ae going to be severe shortages for the next few weeks (ie: we might not get any more).”

If you want to do something to help, make a donation via SurfAid’s Padang Earthquake Appeal.

Mr B, whose fourth film, ’21 Days Later’, is out this month on DVD, chats to Christiaan Bailey about his work, trying to extract money from the surf industry, and the British surf film scene…

Christiaan Bailey: So, who the hell are you and why should people be interested in your work?
Mr B: I’m Mr B, I previously shot, edited, and produced ‘Performing Monkeys’, ‘Driven’, and ‘Substance’. All my films have been based around Britain and Ireland and have all focused on British and Irish surfers. They all in some way try to show the best surf and surfing that the British Isles have to offer, so if you enjoy watching our surfers going big in cold waves, check out my previous films.

CB: What defines your approach, what are your aims/ambitions for your work?
Mr B: I’ve always tried to be quite strict with the standard of surfing that makes it into my films. I have seen in the past that, sometimes, British surfing has been portrayed as thousands of levels below international standard and I really wanted to avoid this. So I’ve always tried to work with the surfers I consider the most talented where possible. However my idea of what great surfing has changed over time and I’m really looking at how surfers keep flow in their surfing.
I also have wanted to keep my films exciting, entertaining and not too serious (‘Driven’ obviously an exception) because I was just fed up with the all-acoustic trend surf films had gone into. But it always goes around in circles, it went from one extreme to another, raw punk trick flicks in the 1990s to mellow, acoustic, insightful (with a dash of hypocrisy thrown in here and there) films in the 2000s. Not generalising or anything!

CB: Who/what influences/inspires you to produce these films?
Mr B: Obviously the waves and the surfing. I love surfing and filming in the UK when it’s good. As far as surf film influence, I wouldn’t pick one particular director, just various surf films that inspired me.

CB: This is your fourth film now in four years, so how do manage to fit it all in and sustain your level of production?
Mr B: It’s been a lot of work. I always get told that I’ve got the easiest and most fun job in the world by all my friends, and I know I’m lucky to be able to do it, but they don’t know the amount of work that goes into making the films. From shooting to getting them out on the shelves – it’s a long process. For about three years I sacrificed a lot of my personal life to be able to keep up the productions, but I have burnt out on it the last year. Luckily for the most recent film I had all the footage already and I didn’t set myself any deadlines so there’s been nowhere near the same pressure.

CB: Please tell us about your latest project, how long has it been in the pipeline and what was your vision for it?
Mr B: I actually shot this film in 2006. It was all shot in the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia where I went on a boat trip with seven great British and Irish surfers and photographer Roger Sharp. A short DVD was edited up of the trip and given away with Slide Magazine, which Tim Nunn edited. Last year I started going back through and logging all the footage from the trip and realised there was so much footage that didn’t get used. Tim had no budget and literally no time to edit the film, and he did a fantastic job, especially considering the time constraints, but I just felt like I wanted to make a film about the trip in a different format where you learned a bit more about the surfers and the waves.
When I shot the trip, I didn’t really have a vision for the film, as I was just about to release my first film and was just onboard to film the surfing and get to know everyone. When I started to go through the footage again last year, I thought I’d like to make a film about the Mentawais where you learned more about the actual waves themselves, rather than just a montage of highlights to music. I couldn’t go back and shoot interviews there, so I decided a retrospective voice over would work well.

CB: How would you say this latest work builds upon your previous films and is it in any way a departure or change of tack for you?
Mr B: It’s definitely a change of tack. With this film I wanted to convey the different moods of each break, and also wanted to give a bit more insight to the surfers thoughts about the waves and a few different aspects of surfing. I think overall it’s quite a feel good film too. It’s also got two female surfers on (I haven’t had any female surfers on my previous films).

CB: How did this film come together and who are the principle parties involved?
Mr B: I got together a rough first edit of how I wanted the film to pan out and then spoke to and showed three of the seven surfers who were on the trip to see if they’d be interested in recording some voice over to give some insight to about the waves, the trip and different aspects of surfing. So I arranged for myself, Lee Bartlett, Sam Lamiroy and Alan Stokes to record the voice over, as well as a full commentary over the film, which will be on the bonus features. The other surfers on the trip were Reubyn Ash, Easkey Britton, Robyn Davies and Mike Morgan. Other than that I did everything on the film – shot, edited, produced, directed, titles, map effects, made the tea.
I would like to say thanks to Roger Sharp who contributed some fantastic photos from the trip for me to use in the cover and poster, and to John Downie for doing an exceptional job on the graphics.

CB: You have been entering Board Shorts with experimental edits of your features, working in conjunction with other artists. How has the experience of working with other artists been and how has it inspired your current work?
Mr B: It was great giving someone else the freedom to create part of the film (the soundtrack) and for it to dictate how I edit the film. It completely alters how you approach filmmaking on your own and it’s more spontaneous and fulfilling because you have to adapt to what the other artist is contributing to the film. I’d definitely like to be part of more collaborations.

CB: What are your ambitions for your work and for you as a surf filmmaker – where would you like to get to, what would you like to achieve with/through your work.
Mr B: My ambitions are to first get a budget to make a film; unfortunately it’s got to a point where it’s just not viable to simply sell your films. I’d really like to get to a position where I could shoot and direct a film with a budget that I work on with other people (cameramen, editors, producers etc) to create a really high quality, interesting production. My favourite thing is to shoot in the water, and I’d love to be able to film more water footage for other people’s productions – particularly with the surfers that I have a good connections with.

CB: Do you have a vision of a film that you would like to make given unlimited budget/time/crew etc?
Mr B: I have got a film in mind, which a couple of us are planning and trying to raise a budget for, but I can’t disclose details. It will be a documentary and will have a much broader appeal to the general public. If it comes off it will be pretty exciting but it’s a long way off yet. I’d love to get it broadcast.
I’d love to have a budget to go and spend some more time with Al and Cotty and do some more exploring with them too.
There are a lot of films I’d like to make thinking about it, I just need the budget!

CB: Tell us a bit about the UK surf film scene, what do you think of it and how do you think it stands up alongside other countries’ offerings?
Mr B: The UK surf film scene is massively under-budgeted. Overall it’s a group of independent filmmakers doing what they can, when they can. British surf companies don’t really see surf videos as a marketing option (unless it’s cheesy little web casts or something) compared to other countries, but you can’t blame them because maybe the marketing reach isn’t there with a British surf film! Mikey Smith has recently managed to tap into a bit of budget with ‘Relentless Revolution’ and ‘Powers Of Three’ and it was great to see him do a fantastic job with it, both films turned out great.
Obviously this puts the British surf film scene a bit behind other major surf countries like Australia and the US in the finished production level because they have so much more money to throw at their films, but it also gives the British filmmakers a bit more freedom to make what they want, and Mikey and Lee Evans have shown that the production quality and level can still be outstanding.
British and Irish surf films also have their own unique feel about them which comes from the landscape, light, water colour and temperature, and the individuals that have to put in that extra effort to surf here.

Find out more about ’21 Days Later’ here.

This one was a bit different, and though it took my friend Dan and I nearly 3 days to get there it was definitely intended to be more of a holiday than a photo trip. Our good mate Randall moved out to Australia over 3 years ago to shape surfboards for Classic Malibu and we’d arranged to meet him and his friends Jake and Joel in Padang before getting the 10-hour ferry across to the islands. Jake had organised the trip for us from Australia and it turned out he was from just down the road in Westward Ho. It was scary how many people we both knew yet somehow we had never met.

We got head high+ waves every day of the trip and the crew at Pitstop Hill Surf Camp were unbelievable hosts. Despite Qatar Airways charging Dan and I close to £800 each to get our boards home having let us take them out for free (let that be a heads-up to the rest of you) we all had an amazing trip.

It’s taken me over a month and a half to find the time to do anything with the images but here are a selection of my favourites in slideshow format…