Ian Walsh has built a life around chasing down waves the size of three, four, five-story buildings. But for Ian, as with other big wave surfers, what the public often sees are the fruits of the pursuit – the record-breaking rides, maybe some heavy wipeouts. What they don’t see, though, is everything that goes into it. The training. Watching the swell models. Or even see what it’s like to sit out the back when the entire lineup sees a bomb and starts scratching out to see.
Ian’s new film, Distance Between Dreams, tries to give the viewer that experience behind the scenes for the first time. Vice Sports caught up with Ian to talk about the film, and his infatuation with surfing and wrangling monsters that would make most surfers shit their pants.
