As the sun rises over a wild and woolly sea, a man in a heavy-duty inflatable boat braces himself against the bow and lifts a heavy camera onto his shoulder and trains it at a surfer dropping endlessly down the face of a monster wave.
It’s cold, it’s uncomfortable, it’s downright dangerous. Welcome to Tim Bonython’s world.
Now in his sixties, Adelaide-born Bonython has lost none of the boldness and bravado that catapulted him into the surf movie scene 40 years ago, and saw him eventually become the world’s leading big wave filmer, producing, directing and filming Biggest Wednesday in 1998, which documented the largest swell to have been ridden in Hawaii.
Since then, Bonython has rarely missed a “Code Red” swell anywhere in the world, and his fascination with the monster waves that push into Nazar¨¦, midway between Lisbon and Porto on the Atlantic coast of Portugal, each winter has helped turn the quiet fishing port into a bustling tourist magnet. Just a couple of months ago, police were called to break up the large crowd that had squeezed shoulder to shoulder onto the lookout platform above the break, flouting Covid social distancing rules, to watch the surfers defy death on the biggest known waves in the world.
But Tim Bonython wasn’t there. The pandemic had kept him at home with his family on Sydney’s northern beaches, and to stave off the depression of missing out on the spectacle, he spent long hours in the home editing suite, compiling perhaps his best-ever collection of big wave thrills and spills. The result is Swell Chasers, a collection of five short films that make up the 14th edition of his amaysim Australian Surf Movie Festival, screening at Noosa Cinemas this week.
The footage records some of the most ground-breaking scenes in recent big wave surfing memory. These include pioneering big wave surfer Kai Lenny riding the futuristic foil surfboard in gigantic surf at Jaws, and fellow big wave rider Rodrigo Koxa breaking the world record for the biggest wave ever ridden.
“To see these big wave gladiators charging down monster waves is just the most exciting thing,” says Bonython. The first film features big wave surfers at Nazar¨¦, the second at Mullaghmore in Ireland; the third at Teahupo’o in Tahiti; the fourth at The Right in Western Australia; and the fifth at Cloudbreak in Fiji.
Says Bonython: “Swell Chasers offers viewers the chance to forget about the current world crisis and completely immerse themselves in the raw power of the ocean, along with the stories of the surfers brave enough to push the limits of what is possible. And seeing big waves on the big screen is an unbeatable combination.”
The Australian Surf Film Festival screens at Noosa Event Cinema Thursday 17th and Friday 18th at 6.30pm. Visit www.ASMF.net.au for a booking link.
