WAY OF THE OCEAN

We’re one day closer to the long awaited release of the official trailer for WAY OF THE OCEAN : Australia, which is set to drop in September. While were gone for the weekend, have a poke around the site at some of the older posts and videos to pass the time.  New desktop wall papers, art and video on the way next week. stay tuned . . .

6am Northern NSW, Australia

There have been plenty of late nights and early mornings during the production of this movie. Heres one of the many sunrises that make getting up early well worth it even when you are tired.  Its true , the early bird gets the worm.

CYCLES is a collection of time lapse imagery shot by director Matt Kleiner on a down day during the making of WAY OF THE OCEAN. Filmed over the course of twenty-four hours in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast of Australia. Music by Trentemøller.

CYCLES from CIRCULATE on Vimeo.

The earliest evidence of human occupation yet found in Australia is in two rock-shelters in Arnhem Land. In the lowest layer of material at these sites there are used pieces of ochre ( a form of pigment) , evidence for paint used by artists 60,000 years ago. Ochre was the most important painting material used traditionally by Aboriginal people. It is mined from particular sites and is a crumbly to hard rock heavily coloured by iron oxide. The source material was traded extensively across Australia in the past, with some material traveling many hundreds or even thousands of kilometres from where it was mined to where it was used. It comes in a variety of colours from pale yellow to dark reddish-brown.

Aboriginal Australians traditionally used art as a means of communication or expression in different forms such as rock engravings, cave paintings and designs cut into trees, wooden articles such as boomerangs and on their bodies. The symbols of their artwork were expressions of their beliefs, the Dreamtime and Dreaming stories or in some cases were records of specific events. Whatever they drew, engraved or painted onto such surfaces as sand, earth, rock, trees or wood had significant meanings to them.

Today the tradition holds strong and the style of art has been passed on through countless generations. Below are some images of modern day Aboriginal art as seen in the Australian Center for Contemporary Arts.

In case you missed it, here’s another look at WAVE CLOUD SAND. A short film that was made on the off days while filming for WAY OF THE OCEAN. There are lots of updates coming this week and the count down to the official trailer begins. . .

Check out Josh Kerr and Asher Pacey carving some long clean walls in the newest episode of WAX LYRICAL. The legendary wave at Kirra point was once the jewel of Australia. After rocks were moved, sand was pumped and man interacted with the natural flow of erosion, the wave mutated into nothing more than a hyper speed close out. With the exception of a few swells a year the banks at Kirra are but a distant memory. The long draining stand up tubes that resembled the cartoon waves we sketched in our 8th grade notebooks dont happen often but a fun clean swell kept the boys content.

Production had been busy and internet time is scarce so here are a few photos from the road and there will be a full update coming very soon . . .

Australia’s ocean environments are as rich and varied as any on earth. They are linked to three of the world’s large ocean basins, the Pacific, Indian and Southern Oceans and encompass all five of the major climate zones, from tropical and subtropical through to southern temperate, subpolar and polar.

The ocean is in constant movement from heating and cooling and the influence of tides and winds which stir waves and currents. The main Australian ocean currents are the East Australian Current, which brings warm equatorial and Coral Sea water down the east coast, and the Leeuwin Current, which transports warm, low salinity water down the west coast. These meet the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the south. There is also the periodic influence of the wind-driven Southern Oscillation, known as El Niño which influences ocean surface temperatures with far-reaching effects on the weather.

At any one time conditions in the upper ocean are governed by many factors, such as solar radiation, rainfall, river flow, evaporation, sea-ice formation and tides. Occasional strong winds and storm surges can also have a major effect. Across the shallow continental shelf wind patterns largely determine the speed and direction of water currents and the resulting wind-driven waves are the major source of changing currents in most of Australia’s shelf waters. This includes the Great Barrier Reef, the New South Wales Shelf, Bass Strait, the Great Australian Bight and the North West Shelf.

Our recent journey saw us drifting up and down the east coast hunting some left handers to change things up a bit. With a solid forecast on the horizon we set out early and got a few fun days of surf before the swell was due.  The first few days were spent at a thumping beach break with a nice tube section on the take off winding down to a perfect ramp on the end section every time.  Changing up the scenery from time to time is a great way to recharge and look at the bigger picture.

Bobby Martinez, Jordy Smith, Kelly Slater and Asher Pacey getting loose in the small stuff on the Goldy.

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Finding solitude can be quite refreshing.

The surf had been solid for weeks now and we wanted to get away from the Gold Coast for a bit and find some different waves. While perfect point breaks are always on the top of the list, sometimes a wave that keeps you on your toes can be much more rewarding. There are many types of waves in Australia and reef slabs are all over this surf blessed country. Reefs come in all shapes and sizes and can bend and transform waves into all kinds of different forms. In this case the shape was round, sometimes almost square and somewhat below sea level. It wasn’t the biggest day but there were a few on offer and Asher Pacey and Josh Kerr traded barrels for an hour before the tide turned and the waves turned off.