I became friends with some of the river surfers —Jacob Hensley, Zach Gratton, and Kevin Brown — in Missoula, Montana at Strongwater Surf Shop. Over beers after work one night, we came up with the idea to put together a humorous short about river surfing.
I mainly shoot videos for fly fishing and timelapse in Montana so I had the gear and thought I understood approximately what these guys were doing. When we filmed on Brennan’s Wave in downtown Missoula, I was surprised at the athleticism it took to get up on the board, stay in the wave, and how far the wrecks would force the surfers downstream. Still, it wasn’t that daunting a task to get the camera into position and the whole crew seemed at ease. That all changed when we headed over to the Lochsa River to shoot and ride The Pipeline.
The power and wash of that rapid was intimidating, and every other boater went through with helmets, life jackets, and recovery straps. These crazy surfer guys were jumping into the chaos with nothing more than a board and some courage. When you are down in the hole with a camera the throbbing roar of the river is so loud is blows out the mic levels. One of the shots I wish we could have gotten was the big swims after a nasty wreck. They would be underwater for over 15 seconds at a time and then get washed so far downstream that they would have to crawl out of the river, hike the highway back, only to jump in again. It was a very cool group of guys and I am grateful they let me look into their world.
We had some fun with the catty women scene at Plonk Restaurant on the main drag in Missoula. Behind the scenes, the shirtless surfers and actresses playing the goldigger part had quite a back and forth that was funny and hopefully translated to the film.
This was fun shoot for the crew that I hope gives viewers laughs at lighthearted humor and a look into a version of surfing that is new and emerging as a fresh option on a board in the Rocky Mountains when you can’t make it to the ocean.
