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[funky surf music playing]

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

[mellow music playing]

[Frank] Surfing, to some... Some humans on this planet,

is absolutely necessary, vital, important,

an analogy for everything else.

Now, there's some people who don't need it, who are never gonna see it.

It's never going to exist for them.

And I feel kind of sorry for them.

But for those of us who found it, uh, we need it.

[surf music playing]

Who is Frank Paine?

-Frank's not dead, is he? -[woman] No, no, no.

-Frank's just a vibe. -Amazing.

One of my idols.

The mayor of South Bay.

The social butterfly.

Father to some, a mentor to many.

The myth, the legend,

and just the kindest, sweetest man I think I know.

Frank and I surf together every day.

He's one of my best friends.

Like, I just feel like I want to get out on the water with him.

He was the first guy to welcome me and say,

"Hey, I'm glad to surf with you, and I'm glad you're here."

One of my favorite humans.

-Tan, mustachioed. -Just a heater of love.

The glue that holds everyone together.

The person that everybody wants to grow up to be.

I am Frank Paine, and I have the soul of a clown

and the feet of a woman twice my size.

Frank Paine cracks me up.

[Frank] I'm Frank Paine. I'm a surfer.

A lot of people know me as the Professor.

I surf Hermosa Beach almost every day.

And my friends are better than yours.

I've been surfing for 58 years.

When I first started, we didn't have wet suits.

And I don't think my nipples have ever fully recovered.

I remember my first wave.

I had this nice left, Topaz Street.

I ran home to tell my dad that I had just caught a wave, and to come down and watch me.

Of course, he came down, and I didn't catch a wave for the rest of the time.

To say it's a habit would be much too simple.

I am certain in my own life that, you know, touching that ocean every day,

touching the water, touching the sand, the earth,

is really important to life. Stuff in your body changes.

Your aura, not that I... I'm not sure I have an aura.

I think I burned my aura out in 1973, but...

It almost insists that you be in the moment,

that you be present, that you're aware of what's going on.

Ah! Voilàà.

That's Nemo.

Would you like a PBR?

Tiki Bar started out being a gardening shed,

and it was all full of the dullest tools in the South Bay.

And I got rid of all those tools and I told my wife,

"I'm gonna make this into an artist studio

so I can draw and paint and do what I wanna do."

And that lasted about two years.

Oh, the first time I saw The Endless Summer

was in like '63 or '64, whenever it came out.

The soundtrack was a reel-to-reel...

uh, recorder, tape recorder.

Bruce Brown would turn it on,

it would play over the speaker system,

and then he narrated it live.

It was magic, you know? It was really magical

the way he strung that all together.

Let's see.

This is my brief stint as a cowboy.

It was me and Sam Elliott.

And Sam Elliott outdrew me and killed me.

Early hippie year, 1969.

"'People always ask me how long I'm gonna keep doing this,' Paine says.

'I say, I don't know. I'm going out Saturday.

I'm not thinking much beyond that.'"

Boy, that was a few Saturdays ago.

If you look at all of the photographs in the old surfer magazines,

everybody had a smile. That's what it's about.

I don't think it's about shredding, lacerating, you know, air...

Well, you know, airs can be fun. All that stuff can be fun.

But I think it's about having a good time,

finding your inner child and saying,

"Okay, buddy, run loose.

Come on, Frankie, just run loose.

Have a good time. Enjoy yourself."

And when I see all that other stuff,

it really makes me sad

because I don't think people are getting the whole thing of it.

You know, I don't think they're understanding what it can be.

I think the best thing about surfing is the people, and it always has been.

I had really bad agoraphobia for about ten years.

I had trouble leaving the house.

It was hard for me to go surfing 'cause I'd be afraid to be out there.

And people said, "Hey, let me hang with you.

Let's do this. Let's do that."

And it was like, "Whoa, I'm not alone.

I... I've got people who care about me."

That was really poignant for me, you know,

that, yeah, I'm not alone.

The Surf Familia is a family who care about each other,

who can't wait to see each other.

We laugh so much.

The Surf Familia are the luckiest people on the planet.

We not only have surfing, but we have each other.

Okay, so I'm gonna do the "Surf Report" this morning.

Surf and culture...

report.

Started with about 15 people,

and then now it's 93. So...

Today's calendar gets a red hibiscus flower

because we went surfing.

And I keep track of the surfing days that I do.

We usually average about 200 days a year.

It's really a... It's really kind of a blessing.

It's really a beautiful thing, I think.

I have as much fun...

almost as much fun, watching other people surf as I do surfing myself.

We've taken a lot of people out.

You know, there are a lot of people who just kind of suffer

from not being the best at something or not being capable at something,

but we need to encourage them too.

We need to, you know, to make them feel like,

"Okay, let me get out here and do this."

It's fun to share it with them.

It's fun to see the stoke on their face.

Oh, that's hot.

-[Frank] Sole Surfer. -[woman] Sole Surfer?

-With pinto and... -Burrito?

-Yeah, burrito. -With pinto beans...

And, uh... It's got avocado. Yeah, just the pinto.

[Frank] You keep the threads of your community together

by being as authentic as you can be.

We have a little kid who's surfing with us now.

Joking around, I said to her,

"Millie, why are you hanging around with all these old people?"

And she says, "You guys are inspirational,

and I can learn stuff from you guys."

Part of the Familia is raising our children, raising each other,

to learn the ways of good surfers, of good people,

to be conscious of something bigger than themselves.

I think we have to realize that once we start to behave

like there's something important about what we do,

we create our own traditions.

We're surfing for Halloween.

It can be very powerful.

You know, there's a little bit of magic in it.

These people have come together for a reason I can't understand.

I don't know why this is like it is,

but I am so thankful every day that it is.

Am I lucky man, or what?

[inspiring music playing]

My surf community means to me... identity.

When somebody asks me who I am, that's who I am.

I get up because, like, I'm afraid that it's gonna go on without me, and I...

You know, I wanna be part of it.

[surf music playing]

[surf music playing]

[waves crashing]

[man in Portuguese]

[Cho] Mozambique as a surfing culture is growing,

but there's a lot that Mozambique had to do to build up to where it is now.

There's so much more potential in Mozambique,

and so now that the Mozambicans are leading the charge,

I think a lot of the world will start to see what we have to offer.

[upbeat music playing]

[narrator] In 1992, one of Africa's longest conflicts

came to an abrupt end in Mozambique.

Soon after, small bands of surfers started to explore the tropical frontier

that had been off-limits for decades.

But finding paradise never comes easy.

When I came here in '88, you couldn't travel out of Maputo.

There was only one road in and out,

and there were, like, fucking trucks burning on those roads in those days.

And you had no idea who's a soldier, and everybody was under the same oppression.

Soldiers, bandits... You got no idea who's who.

It was a destabilization of the country.

People had no money, but they looked after us,

where they shared the best food that they had with total strangers.

That's the thing that blew me away about Mozambique more than anything.

End of '92, I was on Inhaca, they declared peace.

So, bang, like that, in one day, suddenly there's peace.

Now you can drive anywhere you wanted to. You can do anything you want now.

So, okay, let's go and explore.

[upbeat music playing]

I don't think any of the waves that I surfed had ever been surfed before.

Frankie would have come while I was there on Inhaca,

but I never surfed that wave, because I had no access to it.

We just heard there's waves in Mozambique, so went for a look.

That's what we used to do on the search.

You just go over, and we were just looking for surf, and we hit our luck.

We ended up getting a yacht from Richards Bay.

But the night we wanted to leave, there was a big cyclone, giant surf.

So we left at 1 in the morning. And then, uh, I woke up.

There was waves coming through my cabin like this:

[whistles]

Out... [whistles]

I look that side.

I just check waves going through their cabin.

Everyone is puking. I was holding on to railings.

I thought we were gonna die. I thought, "That's it, boys. We're going down."

[mimics crash]

Everyone's hanging on to the railings.

We're just dying. Agh!

We got through the night, some miracle.

Next day, same thing. It's just, ach, up and down.

No one said one word. We were still in the same spot.

'Cause there's a cyclone eastly, so we couldn't get past.

And then eventually, a westie came, shoo,

turned, and then we started going forward.

Then we were sailing down, big swells. And then that's how we found Inhaca.

We were just cruising to the first bay that went in.

It looked like a long reef, so we thought, "Hey, that looks like a good wave."

So we just went into the bay there, slept for the night,

and then the wind turned around offshore the next day.

And then we came around the corner the next day, like, cooking.

Best waves ever seen.

Like, solid six- to eight-foot double-up, blowout...

It's brilliant. Cooking.

Yeah, so, yeah, we didn't... I didn't...

We didn't expect anything. We just went for a look.

[narrator] A few years later, a specialty surf contest was held at Ponta do Ouro,

just beyond the South African border,

and proved beyond a doubt that Mozambique was holding world-class waves.

[high-energy music playing]

[narrator] Yet despite these early glimpses of perfection,

the flow of surfers to post-war Mozambique remained a slow trickle.

The whole of Mozambique was just land mines everywhere, bro.

So they had to clear that whole area first.

Ponta was land mines full up, bro.

Like, if you went off the path a little bit... you'd be blown up, bro.

But now it's like another world now.

But the thing is, it's very fickle, eh?

A lot of east wind howling, like, days and days,

and it's flat, and it's windy and hot.

But when you hear this Madagascan cyclone,

then you know you're gonna get it.

Bink's the man for that. He's pretty sharp. He's always on it when it's up there.

[mellow music playing]

[Ribbink] The first I started hearing about waves in Mozambique was,

you know, with that first Gotcha Experiencia.

A little bit before that, I did a trip up to a place called Xai-Xai.

And then from there, it was like, "All right, what's next?"

The roads were ridiculous.

Just mud tracks through the biggest pothole you can ever imagine.

And you'd never drive straight on a road.

You were always... You were doing this.

You were zigzagging the whole way to Mozam on one fricking road.

That was an absolute nightmare.

But, yeah, skunked a couple of times,

hey, but, hey, I had it as well. Proper.

From there on, it'd become an addiction,

where it can be awesome, and it can be the most fickle place ever.

I think that's what captured me, eh, just the potential of that really, really good day.

[mellow music continues]

It's trial and error.

That's where the hard work comes in.

Hold your breath, boys.

It's not about the surf. That's just hot.

Mozambique has grown. Surfing has grown.

There was, like, a small surfing culture,

but in the last seven or eight years, it's really taken off.

My name is Sung Min Cho, but I'm locally known as Mini Cho,

and I'm from Tofo, Mozambique.

[jazzy music playing]

I am the first and currently the only Mozambican professional surfer

that's representing Mozambique.

I only started surfing when I was 14.

I used to hang on the beach with my brothers, play football.

I always used to watch the surfers and always wanted to surf,

but my parents couldn't afford for us to learn how to surf, to get the equipment.

And then one day somebody gave me a surfboard, and that's how it started.

I had no coaching, no guidance. I kind of learned for myself.

I was surfing the bay. It's a very soft, mushy wave,

and then one day there was a really good shore break,

and I took off, and it was a closeout shore break, probably like half a second,

but I got that first vision of a barrel,

and that's what pushed me to surf.

I was so consumed by it.

I just did it every day, every hour, whenever I could.

[jazzy music continues]

At the time when I was learning how to surf,

they were the first core group of Mozambican surfers,

but they were a very small group, and the level of surfing was still pretty low.

You know, they weren't pushing to be professional or anything,

so it was hard to look within the surf community for inspiration and to be pushed,

and so I always had to look outside.

Jordy comes here a lot, and I drew inspiration from Jordy's surfing

'cause he's so powerful. He makes surfing just look beautiful.

The first time I went to Mozambique was around 2006 or 2007.

I did a trip with Surfer mag, um, and myself,

Travis Logie, Royden Bryson and Ricky Basnett.

Drove across the border, we went to Ponta, and, yeah, we scored some really fun waves.

And then around 2011 or '12,

I started venturing a little further.

And basically how it came about was my wife.

My wife, Lyndall, her and her family, growing up, were really, really big campers

and really into going to the bush and kind of discovering new places.

And she would always say to me, "Oh, babe, you know, I think there's these waves down there.

You know, we should take a trip there sometime

and go check it out, and you can surf."

And I was always like, "Yeah. You know, I'm sure there's waves.

It's probably like some pussy little longboard thing."

And I'd heard of guys kind of going there and trying to get waves

but never really scoring great stuff.

But one year we decided, "Okay, let's go for a trip. Let's go down there."

Ryan Ribbink had actually driven up from Durban to help us.

And sure enough, showed up to some of these waves,

and it was just, like, this out-of-body experience.

[energetic music playing]

I remember coming over the dune. We drove over the dune,

and I just started absolutely freaking out.

[whooping] Okay, we gotta go, we gotta go.

-Which way do we go? -[man] That way.

Come on, get these boards off.

That was the first time I'd ever seen African Kirra.

When I first started going to Mozam,

there weren't too many Mozambican surfers,

and, um, they haven't had the best facilities,

and it wasn't exactly on a silver platter for them

to be able to perform and really get better.

And so in the short space of time that they've had, they've really excelled.

[upbeat music playing]

Oh, local boy just got such a nice nug.

As far as the local scene goes, it's really grown,

especially throughout the last ten years,

and, um, especially in Tofinho.

There's a lot of talent starting to kind of come out of that area.

[in Portuguese]

Mini is now the guy that a lot of the young kids look up to.

He's got a really positive outlook on life,

a definite hardworking mentality.

And there's no better breeding ground, I don't think.

For me, I didn't want to be the first and only.

I wanted to be the first of many.

And so that's why I started the Tofo Surf Club, to grow surfing.

I want to see Mozambique on the world stage, you know,

representing in the ISA World Games, the Olympics.

And I want to see many more Mozambican kids surfing. I don't want to be the only one.

[mellow music playing]

This is the Tofo Surf Club.

The club basically is a diversion program,

and what we're really, really trying to do

is it's a way to keep kids engaged in the ocean life but also keep kids in school.

You don't have to pay anything. Basically, all they have to do is just go to school.

And if kids can't do that, we try and help them.

The club will try and pay for the kids' school fees, bags, uniforms.

So we want to keep kids in school, educate them,

teach them about more of their own self-worth, self-value,

and for them to realize their full potential.

So the club, surfing, and keeping them in school all works together here.

On a day-to-day basis, what we do is, the kids come in around 2:00,

and then at around 2:30, we start our nutritional program.

So we have a nutritional program where we feed the kids a nice fresh fruit smoothie every day,

just to kind of give them that energy. It's very hot here in Mozambique.

And then we get the kids all ready to go down to the beach.

So you can see they get all their boards,

and then we line up in the front, and we go down to the beach.

[mellow music continues]

[man] Yeah!

[Cho] It's amazing to see kids from all different types of backgrounds,

different religions and different ethnicities, and also lots of female surfing.

We have surfers like Julia.

Julia is the first female surfer,

and she's a big inspiration to a lot of kids.

[smooth music playing]

[Cho] Sometimes Julia will catch a wave,

and she'll ask if we saw the wave.

And we'll be like, "No, but we heard it,"

because she always goes down the wave hooting and screaming, going way down the point.

So that's our joke. We're always like, "No, we didn't see a wave, but we heard it." [laughs]

[in Portuguese]

[Cho] Here in Tofo, you can see the communities rising up,

realizing their self-worth and their place in Mozambique.

But there's a lot that Mozambique had to do to build up to where it is now.

Whenever you surf the point, you can actually see the monument.

It was put there to represent the fight for independence,

and it's such an iconic sign of power and strength.

There's so much more potential in Mozambique,

and so now that the Mozambicans are leading the charge,

I think a lot of the world will start to see what we have to offer.

[Gysen] Hm.

Got some swell.

And we've got a neap tide.

Which is actually good because if it was springs, we wouldn't be able to cross.

But, uh, yeah, but definitely the swell pushing the water in, eh, more than actually the tide.

Which is a great sign.

Definitely.

A few years after surfing Namibia at Skeleton Bay,

we started to hear about a right-hand version on the east coast of Africa.

But it would only work on very, very specific cyclones, specific directions.

And guys would go there often in the early years and not get anything.

And, um, it became this kind of unicorn.

Everyone thought it was just, you know, an empty flat sandbar.

Eventually, Jordy and the crew got it on a couple of really good swells,

and they named it the African Kirra.

And it kind of set the benchmark for what's still out there in Mozambique.

But even if a cyclone comes into the channel,

you never know what you're gonna get there until you actually get to the beach.

Wow.

[in English]

[mellow music playing]

Wow, that was a crazy one. I pulled into that one, and it just kept going

and going and going. Damn!

Your gut wants you to stall for the barrel, but you kind of just gotta pump.

It's actually what I was telling Mikey and Saxton. When you take off

on a wave, just pump it, and then it'll start giving. Local knowledge. [laughs]

[high-energy music playing]

[man] Go, go, go.

Punch through. Punch through. Punch through!

No!

It's really fast and really thick and all out.

It's like, you know, next-level heavy.

As soon as you're pretty much in the barrel, you're just, like, doing these pumps.

'Cause you just... It just goes, [whistles] As soon as it hits that bank,

the bottom bank especially just goes.

[music continues]

Paddling into it, you just can't get in 'cause it's so steep,

and then trying to pull out and getting sucked over.

Once you're in, then you're... Heh. Then you're good to go.

It's a different concept when you're out there to when you're watching it on the beach.

It's so fast that it's actually over quite quickly.

Plus, the distance you've traveled is super amazing.

It changes a lot through the day.

But there's always gonna be someone that gets that gem. It just depends on who gets it.

[intense music playing]

[music]

[man] On your last wave, everyone was clapping, bro.

You are stoked, eh? I was waiting for one of those last ones.

What's the wave like?

It's amazing. It's insane.

It's super fast, but, I don't know,

every now and again, like, a bigger one comes and really, like,

I don't know, runs along the bank really nicely.

But it's an incredible wave.

It's nice to surf a right like this. Yeah.

[Cho] This place, this little tiny bit of peninsula, is magical.

But I think there's so much more potential in Mozambique.

And so I think now that the Mozambicans are leading the charge for surf tourism,

surf exploration, the future of Mozambican surfing is looking great.

[Nick] I think I wanted to share the waves.

Big mistake.

We all think we're doing the right thing.

And the end of the day, you're gonna regret it.

I don't think we've seen it at its full potential yet.

And hopefully, one day, we'll get it as good as it can be.

This country's got a lot to offer.

The people are amazing. And there are more waves there.

The rest of Mozambique is just huge question marks on what else is out there.

[mellow music playing]

[man] Oh, my barrel-boys rolls. Oh, my barrel-boys rolls.

That was the one, bro.

As he bottom-turned, the thing already spat, oof.

Pulled in for about five seconds, six seconds.

Thing spat.

Then he came out slowly.

Then he vied in again, another five, six seconds.

[mimics explosion] Again.

Came out just his nose, like a... It was like a... Like a TV game.

It was four or five barrels he got in a row,

but they were all ten-pointers.

He got like a 50-point wave, bro.

[laughs]

[upbeat music playing]

[mellow music playing]

[Izzy] The thing that binds Surfers Healing is the surfing.

That's kind of the connection.

That's what we're doing, is this water therapy.

To do something that is so unique with autism, you know, the water.

The water is where it's at.

And these children, once they get in the water,

something magic, something profound, happens.

You know, as divers call it, that mammalian reflex.

You know, you feel calm, and your heart rate goes down.

[sighs]

You know, you breathe through it,

breathe through that anxiety.

You know, once being a professional surfer,

I could write on paper who I wish would be a part of Surfers Healing.

And I got those guys, and I didn't have to beg them.

When I asked them, the response is "Thank you for picking me."

And all these surfers who, uh, create this Ministry of Surf,

that's us, that's who we are.

But it's the water that is really something that is physiologic change,

that is therapeutic, but that water, it's that same effect.

It's healing, it helps, you know, calms the nerves.

I mean, it's so hard to take 100,000 children out,

but it's a must.

You know, it's sensory.

It's these little sensory beings that feel...

I don't know, maybe whole in the water.

[mellow music continues]

[Rob] As their tagline says, it's just one perfect day.

It was such a safe space for us

early in Harry's diagnosis,

at a time where we were really getting used to being a family in the autistic community.

And we came out here, and for once,

our kids were the star of the show.

Um, nobody looked at them funny.

It was... They rolled out a lunch for us.

They welcomed his grandparents, the family,

and we had an incredibly, uh, you know, perfect day.

Here comes Harry now.

Harry, come on in.

[Harry] Dad, time to go surfing.

Is it time to go surfing, bud?

Sit on your lap.

-Are you ready to do it? -Yeah.

Then surfing will be over.

We'll go surfing and maybe catch a ride on our own.

You think you'll stand up on your own today?

Yeah.

-Do you like doing the surfing? -Yeah.

What's it like when you're out there?

Ooh.

[Izzy] I don't want to rest on our laurels.

You know, it's all what we're going to do.

If I can just slip in another 25 years and maybe another 100,000 children...

And it's just so amazing to be out here today,

seeing the kids in the water

and how much it, you know, really affects these parents and changes their lives.

And seeing the looks on the parents' faces

is almost just as rewarding as seeing how stoked the kids are to be out there.

[upbeat music playing]

[Ashton] My name's Ashton Pignat.

I'm from Sunshine Coast, Australia.

I share the same path with Izzy

'cause I have an autistic brother, as well.

I can relate to that in a way

and see how special those moments are with other people, as well.

To see the kids have that "I did it," as well,

and then watching, like, the stoke come out of them 'cause they did it.

As soon as we get them out there and get them in a wave,

I, like, really am really stoked to see how happy they are

after getting the wave and enjoying that time on the wave.

The ocean, I think, has a lot to do with that.

Like, I feel like it heals a lot of people.

[Izzy] This surf therapy,

this unique, incredibly difficult charity,

this mission, this mission from God,

having my son, and having him for that reason.

And it took me a long time to figure it out, you know, but I figured it out.

I figured it out.

That's... That's who he is, and I love him for who he is.

I wish I could talk to him, but talking's overrated.

But then it's more than just that, you know. It's more than just that.

Once somebody rides and the first wave is ridden,

you know, it's just, it's a zone of just excitement,

you know, and everyone just starts to kind of ramp up,

and the surfers catch waves and...

I don't know, I always said it was kind of like extreme special ed

'cause it's something pretty, pretty radical.

This is me, and this me and this is my life, and this is my destiny.

And, uh, all I gotta do is take out as many autistic children as I can,

you know, until I can't anymore.

[inspiring music playing]

[all singing]

I had a great day.

And I went ten miles per hour.

[speaking in Hawaiian]

[waves crashing]

[surf music playing]

[Eddie in Indonesian]

[children laughing]

[water rumbling]

[in English]

[in Indonesian]

[in English]

[in Indonesian]

[Ruzi in Indonesian]

[Eddie in Indonesian]

[Ruzi]

[upbeat music playing]

[Varun in English]

[Rizal in Indonesian]

[Eddie]

My name is Varun Tandjung.

I'm 19 years old. I'm from Bali, Indonesia.

And we're here in Sumatra on the Bono River,

looking for the longest wave you could possibly find here.

The first time I came here, I was 11 years old.

Now this time, with my dad.

-Eight years ago, huh? -Yeah, eight years ago.

-It's changed, for sure. -Changed a lot.

[Varun] When I came here eight years ago,

none of the locals really knew what surfing was.

And now seeing all these kids surfing, it's incredible,

'cause you never know, you might see the next world champ of surfing

here in Indonesia.

[in English]

[man in Indonesian]

Eddie!

Having Eddie, the local guide, here, local knowledge.

He knows this river very well, and feel much safer with him for sure.

[Rizal in English]

[Varun] The first time I saw the waves coming from super far out, I just couldn't believe it.

Everyone doesn't believe it at first.

That's why they call it the Bono.

"Bono" means "it's true."

And, yeah, it's true. [laughs]

[mellow music playing]

[Eddie in Indonesian]

[Ruzi]

[Varun] Yeah, it was epic times here with my dad.

And all of a sudden, I see, like, all these little kids waiting with their boards,

waiting for the wave to come.

And we all ended up party-waving the same wave.

[Rizal in English]

Bono! Bono! Bono!

Yeah, a lot of the locals say they used to run away from the Bono,

but now they're chasing it.

The more people care about a place, the more they're gonna try to protect it,

so I hope this wave will be here forever

and people will take care of it.

[Rizal]

[Ruzi in Indonesian]

[Eddie]

[inspiring music playing]

[surf music playing]

[helicopter whirring]

-Oh, my God, look at all that. -My God.

It's horrible.

Oh, my God.

[melancholy music playing]

-[child] Problem. -[Bully] Problem.

-Ocean. -Ocean.

-Coral. -Coral.

-Plastic. -Plastic.

-Rubbish. -Yup.

All right.

-"Horizon"? -Yeah.

-You know what a horizon is? -Oh, "horizon."

Anybody know what horizon is?

-Nope. -Okay.

Do you see where the ocean meets the sky?

-Yeah. -That is the horizon.

Ahh.

[Bully] And all of your balance...

When you look at the horizon, you have good balance.

And if you look down or you look up, you lose balance.

-Okay. -Okay.

Try this one.

-Place. -Place.

-Sunset. -Sunset.

-Beach. -Beach.

[Bully] I don't wanna hear them tell me that they don't have their pencil or paper,

'cause, you know, that's part of the program.

You know, the surf is the reward part of it.

[Bully] There you go. That's good.

[Bully] Being around other kids and getting to surf,

and a lot of it is just getting out of their whole little situation.

People don't come to Maui and expect to see homeless.

[Bully] Let's go here.

[Bully] But these kids, they're hidden right in plain sight.

Try to sound it out.

[Bully] And somebody needs to step up, especially now.

Okay. All right.

Before we go, let's do a little bit of exercise.

[Bully] You know, you get to see this freedom.

When they go down to the beach, they just get to be kids.

Ten more. Eleven, 12...

[Bully] Everyone is equal when they go down to the beach.

16, 17, 18, 19, 20.

Bring it in. Bring it in.

This is the best part of my day, you know?

I mean, to see their faces and when they come running up and, "Uncle Bully!"

Oh, man.

Just fills my heart with so much joy.

All right. Yeah, good morning. What's up, boys?

Yes, yes, yes. All right, you guys sleep good?

Nice, nice. Let's go. We've got a big day.

The surf's awesome.

Okay, you got your board, got your pack.

Hi, good morning, you guys. Aw.

Check it out. What's your name, dog? Jack?

They call me Bull. How you doing, bro?

It's gonna be rad waves out here, man.

Hey, what's up, little man? What's your name?

-Grayson. -Grayson. My name's Uncle Bully.

Give me some. Yeah, love it.

Shoots. There it is, bro.

[mellow music playing]

Aloha. Good morning.

Get a lot of good wax on that board.

Make it all sticky.

[Bully] A surf instructor, when I first started, it was a job.

It was a way of making money, and I actually did pretty darn good.

But, yeah, COVID, it hit everybody.

Thank you, guys.

We're gonna have another row back here too.

Thank you, guys.

[Bully] Well, it was ironic because all the tourism died,

but for me, I looked at this as an opportunity to grow,

to cultivate, to build something out of nothing.

Come on over, guys.

Let's all kind of round up to our boards.

All right, this is the perfect wave setup.

And when you guys catch waves, you should be catching the wave here at the peak,

and you wanna be looking all the way across this area here

and this area here.

That is your targeted surf area for going across the wave.

So I'm trying to implement an old school, an old way, of bringing back community.

And the Number 1 is this guy, 'cause he's closest to the peak.

Number 2, 3, and 4, 5, stay over here and wait.

It's very focused on Earth and conscientious, sustainable practices in the water.

You know, humility and respect and consideration.

If Number 1 doesn't want the wave,

Number 2, 3, 4 and 5 can take it.

People in the lineup will respect that.

And then they'll start respecting you in the lineup.

You know, supporting other people.

If you need to help another person who's struggling.

You know, you'll see kids picking up trash.

And you'll see kids supporting one another, you know, and showing love and aloha,

which is something that we could really use in these times, especially, yeah?

We're gonna do a quick little warm-up, you guys.

Right here on the line.

We're gonna wanna warm up our body just like every morning.

I can see some of us are tired.

And that's okay, 'cause I get it.

We've been working hard out here and surfing a lot. Water's gonna rejuvenate us.

Shoulder rolls. Wake up the shoulders.

Yup. 'Cause we're gonna do a lot of paddling.

Okay, now one arm forward, one arm backwards.

It's trippy, right?

Excellent.

This is how surfboards are steered, by swinging the body side to side.

It didn't matter your status.

It didn't matter how much money you have or didn't have.

You know, COVID was an opportunity for kids to get put on the wrong path.

They could be influenced by the wrong people, stuck indoors.

You know, kids need to move. They need to be outdoors.

They need to be around other kids.

Eight. Two more. Nine.

Excellent job. Shake that out a little bit.

Chest all the way off the sand. We're gonna fly, superheroes.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Pop up. Count of three. One, two, three.

Let's all go to our surfboards, get our leashes on,

and we're gonna paddle down together.

Please, let's all go down together, okay?

Yeah. Excellent job.

[clapping]

All right.

All right, let's do it. You can hold your own, right?

-Yeah. -Cool.

I'm ready.

All right, we're almost at our little surf spot, Dorothy.

See it? Let's try it.

Breathing and relaxing your mind.

Looking back at the wave to catch it.

Once the wave gets close, arch up your chest.

Away we go. All the way up. Yes.

All right, bump it for speed and stand upright.

Oh, there it is.

Scooch back on the tail for control.

Finishing down on the board.

Excellent job right there.

Very nice.

Come on back for another.

Okay.

And let's take a ride, son.

Lift up.

Come on, you wave.

You got that. Lean back on your fin.

That's right, son.

Well done.

Down on the board to finish.

Now, as we paddle out here, you guys can see some shallower coral.

That's where the wave is gonna lift up and give us energy to catch it.

Corals are so important for us too.

They give us 70 percent of the air we breathe.

I always thought the trees did it.

All right, come on to the side a bit.

And let's go ahead and sit up and get ready for waves.

When I first met Violet,

she was very introverted and quiet.

She wouldn't look me in the eye.

When I first met her, she said maybe a handful of words.

You know, it was like... I know she was scared.

You know, and I... And that's understandable,

because surfing can be a scary place, in the ocean.

See, the wave is starting to approach.

Let's get ready.

If you wanna paddle through it, you can paddle through it. You don't have to go.

I wanna go.

Okay, you almost had that one, Violet.

If you feel like the nose is coming into the water,

grab behind your ribcage here, and then lift really high up

so that you guys don't spear that board in the water.

Here comes the wave. See it?

Wait for it before you go.

Breathe and relax your mind.

Yeah.

All right. Let's go ahead and time it.

Go.

Lift up.

Stand up. All the way up.

Yes.

Lean back on your fin when it gets steeper.

Here comes the steeper.

Well done. Excellent job.

And two hands on the board to finish.

Well done. Excellent job.

Outstanding.

Becoming one with the ocean,

letting yourself feel what you need to feel

and then working through it.

She came out of her shell. It was a whole different person.

And it was fun to see the light come on within her,

to see this transformation.

Because it starts off as just a surf lesson,

but it ends up a life lesson.

[Bully] I came here when I was 8 years old in 1973,

and as soon as I was introduced to the ocean, I was hooked.

And, man, surf every day.

And the water was so blue,

and the sand felt like this powdered sugar.

And the barreling waves,

every day, these barreling waves, man.

It connected with me right away.

I mean, I found my... My happy place.

Yeah, it's epic here.

But it can be tough too.

Yeah, this last year, everything changed.

This has been a trial period for many people.

Not everybody made it through.

There's still people that are struggling to get up

and get on with it, you know?

Maybe the struggles that I went through

had prepared me for this.

Maybe I've been training my whole life for this.

There's a reason why they call me what they call me.

It's a warrior nation.

You know, Hawaii is built on that.

So yeah, growing up here, as blond-haired, blue-eyed, I was fighting a lot.

Every school I went to, I got into fights.

I can remember every bully's name that I ever had to be confronted with.

Taking care of myself a lot, I had a lot of freedom to do what I want,

or not a lot of parental supervision.

So I could go and hang out.

And trying to be "cool,"

you know, I partied a lot.

I got into drinking and harder illicit drugs too.

And there wasn't a lot of guidance, you know?

There was a lot of freedom.

And that freedom put me on Front Street

and took me down some darker paths, you know,

that I'm not very proud of,

but they were all learning lessons.

It was an evolution that I'm still working on,

still today, to, you know, keep focused

and be on the right path.

But I've come a long way from where I used to be.

There was... scars from upbringing

that carried over into grown-up life

but I didn't have the coping skills to deal with.

And the pain was so powerful

that I just wanted to get away from it,

but I didn't know how.

So I turned to drugs and alcohol to alleviate the pain.

You know, I was married with three children at the time,

so I wanted to be a better person, better father.

I was just tired of being tired.

You know, waking up hungover, in a strange place, you know?

It was...

I just had enough, you know?

But after I started helping people, and the feeling I get that...

when I'm changing someone's life, it was...

It was a high like I've never felt.

You know, the alcohol didn't do that.

Neither did the other drugs. This feeling was pure.

For me to bring people into a better light

and to expose them to a positive energy

that just reinforces confidence

and instills, like, ambition and enthusiasm,

these energies are very addicting.

And the gift of giving?

I've never felt so much love when I give.

Look at that wave right there, bro.

Spin. Spin on it.

I'm coming with you.

Come on, just paddle.

I got you.

Stand up and surf.

All right, let's go.

That's right, pump it.

Go right through.

That's it, drive it through.

Yeah!

Whoo! Bro, that was sick.

Excellent first try.

[inspiring music playing]

It was exciting, and people were listening to me.

You know, they were listening to my every word.

And people was opening up their hearts to me.

You know, no other job I've ever done

where people give themselves completely to you.

So that feeling, I'm hooked.

I'm hooked. It's... It's a lifelong project for me.

That's all I think about.

That's all I think about, is the children and "How can I help?"

You know, the need is here.

Maui is a very unique place, you know?

For some folks who have money and resources, yeah, it is paradise.

But for others who don't, it's a struggle.

You don't see a lot of the darker side of it.

The kids who are in need, where they don't have resources,

especially now that COVID had hit.

You know, there's a new influx of homelessness.

You know, kids out on the street, living in their cars.

You know, where are they gonna get their next meal?

To some of these kids, every day is a struggle.

So first I met Isaiah, and Isaiah lived in the park where I teach surf lessons.

When I surfed over there and I saw this encampment,

he would be sitting there all day by himself, eight, ten, 12 hours.

No parental supervision.

He was probably 7 at the time.

I just asked him, you know, if he surfed

and if he would wanna come and join in with the camps that we were doing.

That's how I met some of the other boys, Tyten, Josiah.

You know, he was best friends with those kids.

All right, bro.

All of them, really shining stars.

You know, considering their backgrounds

and where they've grown up and their influences,

it's amazing to see how kind and wonderful and loving these kids really are.

Yeah, boys.

All right, good morning, good morning.

Whoa. Fumble. Come on in here.

What's up?

Good job. All right, you guys ready for surf?

-Yeah. -Let's get after it, man.

We got a busy day out there, lots of kids coming down.

All right, all right.

Come on, we gotta rally up.

And you know, what really got me is that Isaiah didn't...

At 9 years old, he couldn't really read.

You know, when we'd go to lunch, the door would say "push,"

and he would try to pull it.

And I'd say, "Can't you see what it says there?"

Every day, he kept trying to pull it.

And then he told me, "Uncle, I couldn't read."

And that's where it kind of evolved.

[Bully] Now, can you write your name?

-Yup. -All right.

Yeah, me too.

[Bully] It's important to be able to spell your name.

[boy] What's up, Isaiah?

-How's it going, dog? -Good.

Bang.

[in English]

[Bully] Given their situation, they're like these diamonds in the rough, you know?

And I believe, with a little bit of help, man, and direction, they can go places.

They can go far.

And they can get themselves out of the situation that they're in.

And by coming to the water and using Hawaiian culture

and bringing Hawaiiana back to these young generational kids,

it's gonna be something that's gonna be a lifelong effect

in putting them in a positive direction, you know?

I grew up on the streets out here too.

And it's really easy to get caught up in the street.

Front Street is real easy to get...

When there's not other things going on.

So keeping these kids entertained and stuff

is gonna keep them off the street here too, as well, you know?

-Now M, who knows M? -I do.

-A big M. -Okay.

-Can you do big M too? -Yup.

Write it in the sand. Show me.

It looks like mountains.

There you go.

Very good.

You guys excited about surfing today?

-Yeah. -Yeah? Okay.

I didn't know those come in and out.

[Bully] And what really is cool about this whole thing is the diversity.

And we want you guys to understand that

so you can teach the next generation too, you know?

[speaks in Hawaiian]

[Bully] And there's no judgment, you know?

The kids all accept one another.

They don't look at each other as, "Oh, this kid's rich.

He's got the best board."

You know, "Oh, this kid's got no board at all."

You know, everybody here is equal.

And look at how we make friends with our kaiaulu, in our community, you know?

All new friends, new surfing,

sharing all of this together, you know?

It's a very precious thing that we have going here, yeah?

Cool?

So let's get ourselves on our boards and let's start getting ourselves ready.

And I feel like if a lot of grown-ups could see

how these kids act towards one another,

it would be a much better place, you know?

Being kind and not judgmental and respecting one another.

It just really lit me up.

[mellow surf music playing]

Please don't break. Please don't break.

This is where the action comes in.

Oh, a turtle right behind us.

A turtle. That's our family, our friend.

And every time you see a turtle, there's waves.

Whoa! He scores.

He makes it. Oh, my God, right inside. Let's go.

Keep your eyes up now.

Look where you wanna ride, bro. Yeah, dude, we went sideways.

Yeah, Isaiah.

Whoo!

Let's go manifest some waves.

Breathing and believing.

God, I just love it.

[music fades]

[Bully] I've been thinking a lot about Isaiah.

So he hasn't showed up in the water for a couple weeks now.

And it's got me worried.

And we had a couple of times we were supposed to go surfing and skating,

and for him not to show up, that's just not like him.

The people that are in his family circle are struggling.

And how is that affecting him?

He's only 11.

And my heart is wondering.

He's a gift.

And he needs to know that.

It's all tucked away in the trees.

There's literally structures, homes.

This is people's homes.

So I haven't heard from him in about ten days, maybe two weeks now.

And I tried to call him today, but his phone is shut off again.

My hope for Isaiah...

You know, I wanna see him go to school.

I wanna see him have an education.

I wanna see him read and write and learn. He loves math.

He has all this talent, and he really does.

Do you know that he's the most giving kid I've ever seen?

He has nothing, and he gives.

We were walking down the street with me and Grayson.

It was raining and cold.

Isaiah gave him the shirt off his back to keep little Grayson warm.

And when Grayson is around Isaiah, he's a better kid.

He's more polite.

He has a positive influence on other children.

This is another place he'll hang out.

So it's a hit and miss sometimes here.

We'll go up this way.

The park is usually packed in on Fridays, and this is where I'll find the boys.

Yeah.

Sometimes they're here, sometimes they're not.

I didn't find them this time.

But I'll keep searching. I'm always gonna keep searching for the boys.

I've had such an influence on them already, and they've had an influence on me, you know?

It's amazing that kids can teach you a lot if you're really listening.

Oh! [laughs]

[mellow music playing]

[Bully] We were so close to burning in our car.

You know, we made it out with maybe a minute or two to spare.

[woman] This is where we live. There's our street.

[Bully] I went back to the beach at Breakwall,

where I got married, where I met my wife.

That's where I taught those first surf camps during COVID

with all those kids.

It was hard.

And we looked out to the waves,

and the waves were just blue and perfect

and, I mean, incredible.

It was firing.

It's like you never see Breakwall with nobody out.

Behind me was all the rubble of our lives.

And in front of me, another set of waves come firing through.

And in that moment, I realized: Keep looking forward.

The horizon,

balance,

and this positive energy is right in front of you.

[inspiring music playing]

[Bully] Kids are very resilient,

so it may not seem like it's affecting them,

but deep down inside, their body is storing these emotions.

Yeah.

Look how good the waves are.

Come on, Felix. Let's go. Come on.

Bringing them to the ocean is a part of therapy. It's a healing process.

When things get hard and there are struggles,

the ocean is a moment of being present.

And you're not thinking about the fire.

You're not thinking about what you've lost.

You're only in the moment, and this is the place we need to go back to.

[people cheering]

[horn blowing]

[Bully] When I looked around, I realized the power of this energy

that was coming together collectively.

This is what love and aloha looks like.

Amidst all of this tragedy,

there was this feeling of hope.

And I felt this powerful connection to Maui and the people in it

that I've never felt anywhere, in any experience I've ever had before.

You know, when I look around, I wonder if people see what I see.

You know, if we can harness this energy,

aim this and focus this towards our Hawaiian kids,

it's amazing that this is what comes out of the ashes.

Tragedy has to happen to bring people together.

It, like, wakes people up out of this coma.

And then they realize we need each other.

Yeah, I thought local kids were living it tough before.

Now...

you know, it's not hidden anymore.

The little they had was those opportunities to go to the beach,

to walk through the park, to hang out together.

All that's gone.

You know, they need role models.

They need us to be present.

And that's where the change happens.

Just by showing up is how you make a difference.

And that's where I'm going.

♪ Hold tight hold on ♪

♪ Stand up or fall ♪

♪ So many changes We can't explain ♪

♪ Might be afraid And that's okay ♪

♪ Hold tight hold on ♪

Okay. Let's stand up.

♪ So uncertain But I'm learning ♪

♪ Every dark day was worth it ♪

♪ To be standing here Right now ♪

♪ Here right now ♪

♪ Here right now ♪

♪ I'm here right now ♪

♪ Got everything we need And more ♪

♪ Can take a broken soul ♪

♪To make a heart of gold ♪

♪ So many ways we can't change ♪

♪ Face the pain, oh ♪

♪ Got everything you need And more ♪

♪ So uncertain But I'm learning ♪

♪ Every dark day was worth it ♪

♪ To be standing here Right now ♪

♪ Here right now ♪

♪ Here right now ♪

♪ I'm here right now ♪

♪ I'm here right now ♪