RHYTHM & FRIENDS PRESENTS

A Short Surf Flick, With Minimal Waves

 

Featuring Hudson Richie
Filmed by Luke Pilbeam

 

Join Hudson and Luke on an expedition for waves up the west coast of California. Watch the essence a surf trip unfold as they laugh and find small moments of magic while battling weather and navigating the reality of life on the road.



Hey Hudson!
Hey! Let me go close my hangar door, you gotta come over and check this hangar out soon!
 
I know how is it, you’re in there right now?
Yeah here look, I’ll turn my video around. It’s great it’s a big space, we should definitely shoot something in here. It’s like a dream in the morning or evening with the light, airports are so flat so you get so much light.
 
For sure, so you’re going to be around for a bit?
Yeah I’m around, I just spent 10 days in Nicaragua actually. It was amazing, it was pumping like everyday. Just punchy hollow beach breaks that are friendly but intimidating in the best way. But anyways, should we talk about this video?

That sounds ideal. Yeah let’s talk about the film or we’ll talk about Nicaragua the whole time. It was a pretty last-minute road trip up the coast, right?

Yeah, there wasn’t much swell at the time and honestly it wasn’t looking like a super good time to go on a camping trip up North. We got so much rain and weather last winter and there was a bad system right when we were trying to leave, which is the worst trying to pack a car full of camping gear in pouring rain. I remember we were in a coffee shop considering what to do looking at where the weather systems were heading but eventually stopped overthinking it and just left. We just wanted to camp and make our way up to the Santa Cruz area.
 
I feel like those last minute trips end up being the best.
Yeah definitely, it was exactly that, just a last minute decision. Drive up through the storm and see what happens on the other side of it. We were driving up to San Louis Obispo right in the middle of the storm, and when it finally passed the wind switched 180 degrees straight offshore right before sunset. It was 30 minutes before dark and this random beach break was absolutely going off.

Most people can relate to that road trip experience trying to find waves.
Yeah and also I’m not like a Noah Deane or Craig Anderson who is just getting insane waves and doing insane surfing which is hard to relate to. The reality of it is I’m driving up the coast, stopping where I want to stop to look at something cool and enjoying the time with friends. It’s what most people do, most of a surf road trip is just driving around anyways.
 
Still looks like you had a few fun sessions.
Yeah 100%, we had some really fun sessions. But man it was cold, so cold. Especially up in Santa Cruz, and I am so bad about surfing with booties on so I kept trying to surf without them. I had some very cold moments, it was like surfing with cinderblocks for feet, it was the worst haha.
 
Haha, any other highlights from the trip?
Oh man, we laughed the whole time. We were just laughing at nothing by the end of it. Ohh, Luke did end up getting completely eaten alive in a sleeping bag I lent him, he woke up in Big Sur with like 50+ bug bites. I was completely fine but he was spooning with a mosquito or something in his sleeping bag. He was itching and looking for some sort of ointment for the rest of the trip.
 
That sleeping bag is cursed. Any upcoming plans for the rest of the year?
Yeah, I should probably burn it. Luke and I definitely have some other ideas up our sleeve, we’d like to make a proper surf film and have a few other ideas. This summer I’m just working, instructing and flying a lot. So I’m busy but loving it, loving the work. I’ll be surfing Malibu and then probably try to get back down to Nicaragua or Salina Cruz.
 
Sounds great, thanks Hudson, we’re excited to share this!
Thanks for the call!