End of the Year Reflections
This time I was going to go into how surfing really got rolling in the 50’s in Malibu and north LA County. But I’m going change tracks and reflect on where this film and newsletter have been this year. I want to end this year with a few stories that “keep me going” forward.
Whenever we try something that is extremely difficult, unless you are gifted as a Kelly Slater, the process of getting good at something requires that you push through the failures and disappointments and keep going until you get it right. Doing Addicted to Joy and Wood Water Soul has been no different.
Early on, when we were screening the film at The Board Room in Santa Cruz to about 75 people, the film was an hour and 24 minutes. I had included a section with Nick Palandrani, owner of Source Surfboards in Santa Cruz, shaping a foam board from beginning to end in time lapse. The process of shaping was reduced to 90 seconds, here’s the video. Nick was there with his son who was sitting on the floor between his legs. When the section of Nick shaping came on the screen, his son looked up at him and said “DAD….that’s YOU”. I saw Nick smile with pride. The next day I spoke with Nick and he told me his son was so excited when he came home - all he wanted to talk about was the ocean, big trees and wood. It took a while to calm him down but he finally went to sleep. When he woke up the next morning he came into the bedroom and said, “Dad….can we make a surfboard together?” That story affects me to this day to know I touched such a precious soul so deeply.
About 2 years later at at a screening at The Board Club in Newport Beach, we showed the film in it’s present form. The film is now 59:24, so a vast amount of editing went into the project to tighten it up and still not loose the message. The screening went well and we did a short Q&A at the end. A fellow stood up in the back of the room and related this story - I’m sorry I didn’t get his name.
“I saw this film at SHACC about 2 years ago” he started “ and it really inspired me to want to build a wooden surf board.” I worked on it for about 4 weeks until I had something that I thought was OK. I’m an iron worker by trade and go on location for 3-4 weeks at a time. My wife called me when I had been gone for about two weeks and told me this about my daughter. My wife said she had found my daughter just sitting in the room where the board I had made was sitting and was staring at it. My wife asked why she was there, and she said “I was just to be near Daddy.” I almost broke down in front of the room. The story touched me so deeply that he had been motivated to try something very difficult such as making a wooden board and the depth of the relationship with his daughter. If all I ever touch with this film is these souls, I feel successful. Paul Strauch Jr and I had a discussion about success and he said these sage words to me,
“If you leave people with a smile, you have done your job”. Thank you Paul. Next time, Malibu and Gidget, I promise.
I wish you all success and joy in the New Year, aloha.
In this picture from The Board Club Screening is Tom Morey RIP (the older gentleman in the front). Tom invented the Morey Boogie Board, and it was huge honor to have him there along with Jim Phillips, Spencer Crowl and Larry Fuller. Tom passed shortly after this photo.
I’d like to thank you all for reading Wood Water and Soul. We’d like to announce we have moved Addicted to Joy to a new streaming service, and now when you rent or buy Addicted to Joy you also get full length interviews with Paul Strauch Jr., Patti Paniccia, and Kathy Kohner. This is great for holiday entertainment, please share it with a friend. All the best for the holidays, see you in 2024.