Watch: Filipe Toledo // Never Meant For Stillness
Another freesurfing clip from another stalled comp surfer.
This time it's Filipe with a ten-minute, two song romp interspersed with spoken word Filosophy - something about restless souls and movement.
If you ask me, there's something slightly awry about Fili out of a competition vest. Something lacking in his surfing. Something small but vital. That's not meant as a criticism, he's one of my favourite surfers to watch, yet only within the confines of a heat. You know, under the thumbscrew of a ticking clock, the pressure to perform in front of a crowd, an ideal stage for Fili's spontaneity and hit rate.
Take that away and he's just another good surfer with lots of time and a film editor. Enjoyable but not inspirational.
Comments
Stu....if you were to seek inspiration or enjoyment right now in any documented section of any surfer in any location from any period in history, who / where / when would it be ?
I recently saw a brief section on Luke Egan within a Stab mag guide to Newcastle which was just....wow. Only four waves but it drove home how hard he ripped . Couple that with a rewatch of the ‘97 G land comp the other day and now I want to go out and do Z grade imitations of 30 metre , on rail carves with quiet hands.
I'm not Stu, but I was impressed by this clip this morning...
Yep. Had the Margo binge a few weeks ago after he made WOTD on Swellnet . . His surfing in those JG flicks was incredible.
Inspiration or enjoyment..?
I recently watched a video from a session of a reef about ten minutes south of here. It was shot three years ago on a big clean SE swell, few pros and second-tier pros on the make, but mainly guys from this coast.
I'd seen it before yet for some reason it was the most enjoyable clip I'd seen in ages.
Funny thing is I went the other way. Nice to see him out of a comp vest.
Oh well.
The beauty of the internet is that we can share our opinions and they all have equal worth.
You're still wrong though.
Funniest thing I've read all week!!!!
I agree Stu he doesn't exude any real uniqueness or soul it almost seems mechanical unlike Italo. I have the same issue with Gabby. It seems that someone has put together a recipe on what is required to be a top surfer in todays comps and voila.
Margo throwing an 8’2 around like a 6’2
Fuck me dead man
Is he a big guy? Never seen him in the flesh
Yeah he's pretty big, lives nearby so get to see him surfing very often which is great to be amongst
Any mention of Margo brings that 20+ft Tweed Bar pic to mind
about same era as 8.2
footage
Where is that pic?
I went out there massive in sometime between '93 and '96 with mOccy, margs and another pro. it was fucking huge and perfect - I got 1 screamer- but they were animals on it - it was a framing off the barge, well above 12ft, glassy on the second day (mushy the and bigger day before) and severely barrelling. The sand was outrageous. the whole thing was insane.. I was stupid and shouldn't have been out..
would love to see pics of it going bananas A-framing off the barge.
Insane surfing.
A power surfer on a big spear in that size surf. Perfect.
(The Margo clip)
Could be wrong but I think the narration in Never Meant For Stillness is the first ever composed by A.I.
My feet will always find another path
Until the bright white sun
Blurs every vision of us
And gets so far so fast
That the memory of you
Could never catch up
My home
Is the deep
Eh? Eh?
Andy Irons wrote that?
Haha I was thinking some kind of awful Artificial Intelligence Bot...
I imagine Andy would probably write more sensible prose.
I dunno, maybe I just don't appreciate art.
I've seen so much insane surfing this winter in person at the local.
Fucking Rasta, Torryn Martyn, Joel Fitz, NPJnr, Dan Thomson, Conor O'Leary, Fanning, Mikey MCDonagh, Owen Wright, Leo Fioravanti and a whole heap of local blokes and gals of all ages.
Hahaha fucking Rasta
I meant that in the best possible way. seen him get some of the most insane tuberides this winter.
Reckon you might have nailed it Stu. The standout wave is J bay (4.30) in a coloured vest. Seemed more urgent than in any of the others.
Hey Stu how about a story on Clarrie
You know I'd really like to, but for one I'm just coming back from two weeks leave so the inbox is overflowing, and two, at this point I just don't know what to write.
I mean, I've got a lot to say about Clarrie, he was one of my very favourite people to chat to, always so gentle, gregarious, and even-handed, and he knew so much about this coast through his academic work and lived experience. But by the same token it's also very personal, and I'm not sure I could do justice to his memory without dipping into maudlin sentimentality.
Still a bit of a shock TBH.
Few months back I bumped into him outside King Street pharmacy and he told me the news. We didn't get much chance to talk after that. Then recently I saw him shooting again and I didn't go over and say g'day. Can't recall the reason why, but I was rushing somewhere, and that was the last time I saw him.
From chatting at the paddle out a lot of people had very similar experiences as me...so maybe that's a starting point?
shit, I didn't know (not on socials and moved)
What a loss.
RIP Clarrie Bouma