Braiden Maither is not over the hill. Photos: YouTube//Screenshot
Being a pro surfer is hard. Well, not if you’re one of the top professionals, but there are plenty of surfers out there that have reached some level of sponsorship, but surfing mostly just because they love surfing. Surfers like Braiden Maither, who certainly surfs at a pro level. Maither recently released the 10 minutes you see here, called Over the Hill.
“That’s something a friend said,” Maither explained in an email. “It’s referring to us as a group trying to still rip and get a clip or two with no real monetary sponsor backing happening. Like fuck, what are we doing? We’re so over the hill. It was funny to me because I never surfed for money, but bra it’s expensive trying to travel and pay filmers and buy new surfboards. Especially when you’re trying to rip to the highest level you can — but it’s not like I’m some CT-level surfer or even a Harry Bryant of the freesurf world.”
Maither, though, just has fun doing it. He’s going to be surfing anyway — he’s proven that he can overcome difficulties time-and-time again — and the film creation part is just a little more fun on top. This one, filmed on Maui and in Fiji over the last year, is a real bootstrap operation.
“Making these edits is so damn fun that I don’t mind going broke while doing it,” he said. “Utter passion projects. My sister, thank God, films most of the clips, especially on Maui. I pay her pennies on the dollar for how good her work is. I edit everything myself, and somehow built a somewhat successful businesses that allows me the freedom to travel and pay the bills.”
Maither calls it “relatable low-level pro surfing.” And while he might call it that, for most of us, the level of surfing here isn’t relatable — but the passion sure is.
