Legends Of Surf Make Swell Break On Screen

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday October 3, 2006

with Amy Edwards and Michael Gadd

RARE old school footage of surfing legend Mark Richards features in the epic Surfing Safaris Tour which hits Newcastle Panthers on Friday.

Surfing Safaris is a film and a festival, complete with live music from British rockers The Cubical.

The film element comes from internationally renown surf filmmakers Matt Gye and Simon "Shagga" Saffigna.

A combination of new and old footage runs the gamut of world surf culture and captures some of its most spectacular moments.

There's free-surfing off Guam, Hawaii and Bali while in Australia the cinematographer Saffinga captures a 12-metre swell off Western Australia, the best in 30 years say locals, and shares rare 1970s footage of Michael Peterson, Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew and Richards.

"Surfing Safaris [has] the most high performance surfing I have ever used in a film," says director, producer and editor Gye. "[It's] definitely the best film we've produced to date, I reckon we've nailed it."

The Surfing Safaris Tour will have visited 44 towns in 62 days by mid-November.

Gye and Saffinga have picked up a swag of awards since their big break filming Gold Coast mates Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Dean Morrison, who are among surfing's best riders.

Visit surfingoptions.com for details.

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home