Underwater fin surfing...

[waveken]

Noa great to here from you especialy I always assumed other people where doing this somewhere .Most surfers which I am also have done this everytime they wiped out .I mainly just Dolphin now its much faster and more exciting and a better body rush.As far as marketing the sport I guess Jack and myself are doing that now at all his film festivals around the world he mentions that its a new thing thats emerging. Like tow in surfing and Hydroplane boards .In general it goes over everyones head as just interesting footage .Or somthing to try on an off day when there is no surf.I myself had an acid test a few years back when I chose to go Dolfining for a second time in a day instead of going surfing in perfect uncrowded surf .To me its just alot more fun and exciting.I think it could become popular its really easy to have fun straight away and you can have fun in small blown out surf . I took a German girl out on a perfect little day and she said it was the best combonation of three sports .surfing,diving and swiming.There is a serious limitation to having clear water to see in though. I have had my worst stacks going hard in water where I could not see its still a great body rush but clear water makes it alot better .I.E. that limits the world down alot as to where it can be done .As far as personaly I have thought alot about marketing this or that but seeing how popular surfing has become I live in dread of a day I go down to a fave spot and see it packed out with people doing it .I have been quite happy sneaking off to the beach and not having anyone really see what i am doing as its mostly underneath.I do share your excitment about sharing such a great thing.And its nice to have someone to go with. I guess thats why we are doing the Movie Its got alot of great Dolphin footage in it also.I would love to have some free diving footage in it .I am pretty shure our ferternity is quite small so we are making the movie more general about playing in the ocean although its going to have some kickass Dolfining in it. Let us know what you think of the trailer . And thank you for starting this thread I feel like an alien that has finally found my tribe .Also apologezeeee is there a spell checker here somewhere.

Regards Ken

Ken

 

[ADR]

Hi crew,

I downloaded the promo video and its pretty cool. Problem is that it's far to good as a promo ie. it gives you just enough to get really interested but no more .....perfect promo really. It's in slow mo and is very short but has some fantastic imagery and purveys the awesome feeling of subsurfing that has us all so excited. Interestingly Ken surfs behind the wave (being drawn along by it) like the diagrams I posted early in this thread rather than out in front of the wave as Noa does.

Ken - I'm in Sydney....how can I see the full movie and when are you heading over this way to catch some waves with me?

 

[waveken]

Thanks for the comments on the Movie adviously there is heaps more but that is managable to e mail around . We mainly do it bellow water but somtimes pull out front and then back again . Much depends on the Wave I.E there is a difference in Reef and sand bottoms .Somtimes if the water is not to clear its fun to pull out front and spin around a bit like boogie boarders we use dual hand planes now and that gives enough lift to go through flat spots under or on top of the water. Or just cock them under you and speed on head 1st if the power is there all the way through the wave . The Movie will probably be finished in about 6 months. If anyone else wants me to E them a clip let me Know .I am heading up to Exmouth on Sunday leaving the bussiness world behind IE computers I will try to post some photos when I get back maybe my underwater sea turtle buddies wont be camera shy Ken
PS are there any tips on how to post PHOTOS i saw some on the thread

 

[noa]

Guys, the promo rocks ! Andy descibed it perfectly and you sould all seriously watch it. Ken mate, every time you post makes me so happy cause you have such a wealth of info. yes, you HAVE found your tribe with us (or should we say your pod). Seriously, i think just like you that there is much to be done with this and if we get a core group of "believers" like us, who get good images in the general and specialized press the results could be amazing. please do post some pics (can't help with any tips, have a look at the thread tools on the advanced posting section) they would be really helpfull for people to understand more. Ken, some more questions...where in WA are you based ? have you read earlier in this thread about some of us planning to meet in Hawaii this fall (spring for you) , could you make it over ? if not i wanna find a way to meet you and get to learn from you. maybe we should arrange to pop over to Sydney and subsurf with Andy. only bad thing is that Sydney waves are usually quite average. last but not least, what do you think of the name "subsurfing" ?
delphicly,
Noa

 

[waveken]

I live between Margret River Perth And Exmouth www.ecoplanet.com.au you can check out my place in Margret River on that site wavehouse . It gets rented alot bye Surf Companies and people making surf movies when they are in the area . I would love to host a Subsurf convention someday and could definitly arrange a water photographer .We have a studio that makes alot of the sound tracks for surf movies we just finished some stuff for a day in the life and the Blue Horizon.I could possibly make the hawaii gig whats the date I need to visit my mum in California my original home .As far as subsurfing name ? Jack Mcoy, Myself ,Laird Hamilton And Rasta are calling what we do Dolfining as its what dolphins do and unless you have feet like rasta you use fins .Laird is considered bye most people in the world to be the most respected all around waterman . You could not have a better celebrity doing it and giving it credibility .From the thread I am not exactly shure what everyones doing though so subsurfing might apply better I dont know.?

 

[crusty]

Waveken
I would be very keen to get a few waves with you some time i live in Perth but spent my youth ( 20 years ago ) surfing around Margs and Yallingup until the Crowds and Hasseling got to much me, i dabbled in Subsufing back then when the surf was puss but do a fair bit of it now ,would love to go south again and get into some of that Margrets power.
I also worked in Exmouth as a Dive instructor for a couple of years ( late 90ts)
so would been keen to get back up there to.
A subsurf convention down south would be Huge with the amount of waves around i think you would blow a few minds.
Drop me a line when you get back from Exmouth

Crusty

 

[noa]

Ken, it sounds like you have a pretty sweet setup over there. the reason i originally proposed Hawaii was because i wanted to go there again and we have Tom on Kauai who is keen on helping out with accomodation and stuff. maybe it could happen in Oz if you wanted it, let me know and i'll ask the rest of the guys who are interested. now in regards to the name, if you check the posts we all gave our suggestions and came to this conclusion. yes dolfining is a good name but the only hang up some guys and i have is that it has a kind of cheesyness to it by wanting to portray us as suposed dolphins. subsurfing on the other hand descibes in a more technical and perhaps realistic way our sport, which is surfing below the surface (hence the sub). we do the exact same thing as you, i guess we just have to all agree on a name so we don't confuse the public. talking about Laird, what's his position in the whole deal. with the notoriety that he carries, he has the ability to turn any water activity into "the next big thing". is he activly involved and practicing the sport ? does he have any plans to promote it ? Ken, one last question (for this post that is) where you featured a few years back (around 2001) in a magazine called "Coastal Style" ? ok, let me know about all this, and yeah, have your vote on the poll i started. talk soon boys...
delphicly,
Noa

 

[bluh2o]

Australia sounds good to me! I haven't been further south than 19 north lat.
I've got to get around more,
Tom

 

[waveken]

Yes that was my house in Coastal Style Magazine. As far as I know Laird is pretty focused on riding the biggest waves in the world the footage of Him in the movie was promted bye Jack Mcoy while they where hanging around Tahiti waiting for a big swell . Most of these Guys tend to do it as a secondary or third thing when the surfs not good a bit of a fluke. Thats how I started Its windy in wa alot and underwater that dosent matter. As my rides got longer I was one over.I told Greenough about it and Gave him a mask while he was making his Dolphin movie. I would say every surfer feels like hes done it but there not pulling 40 to 50 meter rides and kicking out the back like Dolphins .As far as the name thing Jack Mcoy Likes to talk about it at his Movies he is probably the one person who could promote it in peoples imaginations more then anyone .I will see if i can get him to join in on this thread he probably dosent know you guys are out there. Going to Exmouth now Talk in a week

 

[noa]

Ken, mate this is one hell of a "coincidence". when i read that article back then, you mentioned being involved in underwater bodysurfing (that was the name used if my memory serves me right). as soon as i read that, i jumped up and said "YES, i've found someone else who does this, he will understand me, we can share ideas... gotta contact him asap !". so i got in touch with the editor who had written the article to see if she could pass on an e-mail to you. she promissed to help and even though i frequently chassed her up on it, there was never any result. so i eventually stopped trying but always had a strong feeling of unfinished business. now i start this thread and you pop up, out of the blue (litterally). i don't want to sound too cheesy here, but i'm getting the impression that the time is now right, for this to happen. in regards to Jack Mcoy, it would be the absolute best thing if he could join in and give us some of his input and opinion. if you want to check out the posts where we discuss the name issue, they start on page 4 with post 59. the Laird footage subsurfing, from the movie "Laird" is what i first ever saw on film about this sport. as i said in an older post, i walked into the Rip Curl shop in Manly (a Sydney beach for non Australians) holding my monofin after a subsurfing session. as one of the guys working there started to ask me what i do with that fin, i looked up and saw Laird on the screen subing Teahupoo. "that's exactly what i do with this fin" was my reply wich pretty much amazed them. i'll never forget that little moment, making me walk out after having a good chat with these now, really curious surfers (cause if Laird did it, it had to be cool) thinking to myself "i'm onto something here, i'm wanna see how far this can go". so there you go, now slowly but surely the pieces are coming together.
Hi Tom, i hope you don't feel that i'm now turning around and saying i'm not keen on Kauai anymore. i still really am. However, Ken having appeared, and seeing how much involvement he already has with the whole sport (let alone the little story i mentioned above), i personnaly really want to meet him and learn what i can, while giving back whatever i can give. thats why, if you guys are interested, we could look into that option too. lets see what he has to say when back from Exmouth.
delphicly,
Noa

 

[The111]

Just saw the video, thanks DeepThought. Very cool stuff!

 

[noa]

Hello everyone,
Ken are you back, did you read my last post ? what are all you other guys up to ?
dephicly,
Noa

 

[JPPLAY]

After falling this thread for sometime I must jump in. I like subsurfing as a name but you guys all seem to want to make this a popular sport. I don't think it ever will be because of one simple thing people have to hold there breaths for a much longer period then they feel they are capable of. There is also the danger of blacks, and drowning, blackouts being the main thing. Unless there is someway for people to take a miniature scuba gear (no gear I know of would work) with them I don't see this sport becoming big.
I feel that the sport getting documented at its earlier stages is great and I am looking forward to experimenting with subsurfing but remember how many mothers are going to let their sons and daughters subsurf when the news talks about deaths because of subsurfing.
Thought I could be totally wrong and subsurfing could become major but why doesn't everything have to become big. Having a smaller community where allot of the people know each other is great.

 

[laminar]

Hi Noa and others,

The main thing for me right now is to explore subsurfing or whatever we're calling it with similarly enthused people. If it attracts much attention or none at all, so be it.

If we seek attention let's ask ourselves why. Does it contribute to the enjoyment of surfing under the waves on one breath? If not, then let's let it go.

Realistically, I'm happy to subsurf in small waves so that I can try a lot of the techniques suggested an imagined on this thread and be in relatively safe (low stress) conditions while I do it.

Media outreach and promotion takes considerable energy, energy that I'd rather spend in the water freediving, subsurfing, laughing with friends, and dreaming up new adventures that will thrill us and hopefully not kill us.

I think we're all excited about finding others who share similar interests but I guess not all of us share the same expectations and motivations.

I just want to play and explore underwater. Just happens that deep freediving and long underwater wave riding is my idea of fun.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[laminar]

By the way, where are we on a possible meeting? Is Hawaii still a possibility? That is definitely more doable for me rather than Australia.

Pete

 

[waveken]

Hi all and Noa I just got back from Exmouth I had some epic days up there long rides and nice glassy conditions I also got to swim along side the elusive whale sharks off a friends charter boat .Awesom creatures we got some good footage of it to put in the Movie .The footage you see of Rasta in the Movie was shot in Kaui I used to go there surfing . The last time i was there with Tom Curren epic place and it would be more accesible i think for all to get there . Anyones welcome here anytime West Oz is really along way from any where .When where you thinking of having this convention I would love to go there and be part of the 1st underwater fest I think it would be good to Film it if it was planned right and we had some backgound on everyone we might be able to get a sponsor and some magazines interested to document it at least for historical purposes and our selves also invite Laird and Rasta and get anyone along thats interested one celebrity would clinch that. Peter Garret from Midnight OIL is really into Bodysurfing someone like that . It would take alot of Planning and effort to do it outside of the just having fun level

Ken

 

[JPPLAY]

We could always have the convention up here in Canada in the winter storm season if we want some big waves plus then I can make it as I would just have to drive out. I can't afford the costs of the trip to Hawaii just yet in my life.
Laminar would you be intrested in doing some subsurfing in August?

 

[The111]

Laminar:

I don't think the desire is so much for attention as it is for more participants (which comes with attention).

I think we're all excited about finding others who share similar interests

Bingo. One reason I rarely freedive anymore is because I don't have many buddies and got sick of doing it alone.

 

[noa]

Hello everyone,
sorry to have disapeared, i had some matters of the heart to devote myself to. well i'm happy to see some new and some old friends join back. Ok to start from the begining, i don't want to make this popular at all costs. the main reason we do it is known. love of the ocean, waves, surfing, the feeling and much more. i do however have many future plans in regards to this sport and to develop they require some promotion, publicity, etc. right now however the most important aspect for me is to build a solid core community of subsurfers who ride together whenever possible and help each other progress and write the begining history of the sport. out of this initial group i'd then like to create a team of riders from the most interested and involved subsurfers who will act as the first official ambasadors for the sport. we'll take it a step at a time and see what happens. Ken, good to hear from you as i was also waiting to see what you had to say about the location. Kauai seems to suit more people, so lets make that official, right here and now. the period i suggest is anytime between November to January. lets see what Tom over in Kauai says and how he can help arrange a house as he had previously suggested. Ken, i'm all for filming, documenting, getting coverage... let me know what i can do and it will be done. as far as inviting Laird and Rasta to participate that would be unreal, see what you can do mate. how about J. Mc Coy, has he seen this thread yet, would he be interested in filming us in Kauai ? great great great, this is all moving again. Ken, Tom and all the rest, give me your input so we can get the ball rolling.
delphicly,
Noa

 

[noa]

Hey guys, give me some feedback on the previous message. thanks and hope you're all well.
delphicly,
Noa