Oh, to go back in time! Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Of all the waves in Indonesia, a few stand out above the rest. Uluwatu is likely the first one you think of, with Padang Padang (the wave so nice they named it twice) coming in a close second. They’re world class, amazing waves. Waves you’d doodle in your notebook. But these days, they’re also crowded. Back in 1975, however, they were not. And in this unseen footage, shot by the legendary image maker Dick Hoole, the viewer is afforded a glimpse into a time we’d all love to have experienced.
Hoole, who made such films as Tubular Swells, Storm Riders, and Asian Paradise, left all the footage you see in this video on the cutting room floor. Luckily, The Surf Film Archive is doing God’s work.
“At The Surf Film Archive we spent the last three years finding, scanning and restoring Australia and New Zealand’s lost surf films,” the creators explained. “All the footage you will see was originally shot on film, and has been scanned from the highest possible copy we could find, sometimes even the camera reels. Everything is scanned and shared with permission by the original filmmakers or their families. We hope The Surf Film Archive will become a comprehensive resource for generations to come, and once completed we will gift the original scanned files to an Australian Museum or institution for safe keeping.”
