Although he’s still in his 20s and potentially not even halfway through a stellar surfing career, Noosa’s Harrison Roach has absolutely nothing left to prove.
During his many years with the Deus Ex Machina brand, he left pro longboarding behind to focus on surfing and filming incredible adventures around the world, producing memorable videos of small groups of friends taking on some of the world’s most remote and challenging waves on all manner of surfcraft. Among my personal favourites is Harry and Bryce Young channeling the Morning Of The Earth Bali sequence 45 years on by drawing magical lines on retro shorties across a dreamy Uluwatu swell, but we’ve also seen him getting seriously pitted in waves of consequence from Hawaii to Morocco and points in between.
So, as I say, Harry has nothing left to prove, but it appears that despite the pressure of studying for a business degree, he just can’t say no to something truly out there, which is what new sponsor Roark proposed just before Covid kicked in.
When I was offered a trip to the Azores a couple of years ago, all I knew about the mid-Atlantic island group was contained in a dirty limerick from my youth. Harry was much the same when his sponsor proposed a journey of surf discovery to the Aleutian Islands. “I’ll admit I had no idea where they were,” he told me this week. “But it soon became clear that it was going to be about leaving comfort and certainty behind and experiencing wild weather and landscapes in pursuit of surf solitude.”
My only surfing connection with the Aleutians, a long chain of mystical islands that reach across from the tip of Alaska halfway to the coast of Russia and separate the Bering Sea from the Pacific Ocean, was that I once owned a beautiful seven-six swallow tail Aleutian Juice surfboard, shaped by Dave Parmenter and cast off in my general direction by Jeff Hakman.
Dave still makes boards under that label because, like many surfers of his generation, he was drawn to the theory that the monster north swells of winter are born in the Arctic zone, and first smash the Aleutians with ferocious impact before hitting Hawaii a day or so later. Harrison and friends were going to the frontline of proper waves.
Home to about 8000 people, the Aleutian Arc islands are part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, the largest refuge in the United States, and are also an important stopping point for migrating birds. The northernmost point of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the islands have 57 volcanos. Under the hammering of constant Aleutian Lows for much of the year, the waters of the Bering Sea are said to be among the most dangerous in the world.
Says Harrison: “In the preparation process I realised that having the right equipment would make the difference of whether I’d be able to actually pull it off. There’s no farting around in that part of the world. We had to have everything we needed, and nothing more – head to toe wet weather gear, insulation layers and sleeping bags for negative temps, high quality 6mm wetsuits with hoods, booties and gloves, insulated gum boots, goggles, water-proof bags, and surfboards, of course.
“Even with all of the gear we were still uncomfortable, but at least we were able to manage. On that kind of trip, where you’re in really remote locations, you start to weigh up risks. Some of the waves we surfed were really dangerous, and on top of that we were on an island that is so remote and so governed by the natural elements that it’s regularly inaccessible. Medical help, should we have needed it, was a long way away, and waves I might normally not have blinked twice at, started to look quite daunting.
“One of the waves was legitimately gnarly too, a slab that broke on dry reef. And that’s not even taking into account the sea life below the surface. My two friends and I were regularly harassed by the local sea lions.”
Would he be rushing back? “It’s hard to explain, but the Aleutian Islands felt both idyllic and perilous at the same time. When we were there last November, air temperature ranged from 4 C to -3C, and the water went from very cold to [expletives deleted] cold.” I think that’s a maybe.
The Arc of Aleutia, filmed by Chris Burkard and Bel Weiland, and featuring the surfing of Harrison Roach, Parker Coffin and Nate Zoller, is a beautiful and sometimes astounding documentary of a surf trip to a place that few of us will ever get to see. The surfing, much of it in extreme conditions, will blow your mind, but this is so much more than a surf film.
The Arc of Aleutia’s Australian premiere will be held on Saturday, November 7, from 5pm at the Apollonian Hotel, Boreen Point. It’s a family friendly event, open to the public with music, prizes, food and beverage available. It’s not the Aleutians, but the screening will be outdoors so you are advised to bring a blanket.
