Need a distraction this weekend at home? Check out #BayAreaRevelations! It looks at the history, evolution & mavericks of surfing. Whether you catch 40 ft. or 2 ft. waves, it’s a show for everyone.
WATCH: #BayAreaRevelations: Riding the Waves”, Saturday, 10 p.m. @nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/mFseBQzOAK
— Bay Area Revelations (@RevelationsNBC) April 7, 2020
The subject matter may be well trodden by the surfing world: Ocean Beach, Maverick’s, Sant Cruz, wetsuit history, but that isn’t stopping the NBC affiliate in San Francisco from taking a deep dive with a local spin into the heritage that is Bay Area surfing – a chilly, rugged endeavor if there ever was one.
“Riding the Waves” is part of NBC Bay Area’s (KNTV) documentary series Bay Area Revelations, which has also looked at subjects like Bay Area female sports icons, the wine country, and the video game revolution (presumably spearheaded by Silicon Valley tech heads) among others.
Surfers can expect a cast of the usual characters like Bianca Valenti, Grant Washburn, Jeff Clark etc., but NBC execs were hoping to ride a wave of surfing nostalgia being that it was an Olympic year for the sport, which the Coronavirus pandemic has since shifted to 2021.
“Surfing is a sport like no other, and as it enters the realm of Olympic competition, we wanted to take a deep dive into its roots right here in the Bay Area,” Stacy Owen, president and general manager of NBC Bay Area, told the Mercury News. “In ‘Riding the Waves,’ you get swept up in the passion and determination it takes to face the unforgiving conditions of our waters, and the special breed of men and women who ride mountains.”
The documentary is narrated by Peter Coyote, another San Franciscan whose pipes have become synonymous with quality docs. He’s voiced the work of Ken Burns, including the Emmy Award-winning, The Vietnam War. The series airs Saturday April 11 at 10 p.m. PST. NBC Bay Area has posted some of the docs to its vast YouTube page. We’ll post here if and when that happens.
