Winning the inaugural Innersection contest was a life-changing experience for me. It was an absolute dream-come-true to be in a film coordinated by Taylor Steele.
Immediately after winning the inaugural contest, I learned that I would automatically have a section in the 2011 Innersection film. Normally, that would be great news except for the fact that I had injured my knee and basically missed the whole winter. Therefore, I had zero clips. As more time passed and my knee was still in pretty bad shape, I decided that I probably wouldn’t submit a section. It took a while, but I finally started getting back in the water with the help of a knee brace. By October 2011, I had finally gathered a few clips.
I wanted to have something special to follow up my win. I knew my clips were not optimum due to my injury. One of my good friends on Maui is Lukas Nelson. We were hanging out at my mom’s house one night, and he played some songs for me that were going to be on his next record. When he played “If I Was The Ocean” I knew right away that it would be my song for my Innersection. I still thought my section needed something more to be really memorable. We were all sitting around the kitchen table trying to figure out a good opening.
The Nelson’s and the Harrelson’s live on Maui and have always been supportive of my career. Willie and Woody are really into poker, and we thought it would be pretty funny if I tried to get a game going with them with my big check. Luckily, Willie and Woody were up for it.
Because of everyone’s crazy schedules, we had to film the next day or miss the opportunity. We decided to throw Albee and Hank in there too, as they were the other Maui surfers who had qualified to be in Innersection. I also wanted my sister, Lily, in there.
I had already seen Albee’s section and I knew he had a good chance of winning. We were initially going to film the opening with him having the winning hand, but we thought that might be too presumptuous. Otherwise, it was a great experience, and people seem to enjoy it.
The section pretty much chronicled my year. It starts with a trip to Sumbawa then an expedition to France and finishes at my home break on Maui. I’m looking forward to more collaboration with Lukas and his band, Promise Of The Real. He’s a prolific songwriter and an incredible musician. And If you’re looking for new music, you should check them out to at promiseofthereal.com.
I hope you enjoy.
