THE SOUTH TO SIAN JOURNALS – CHAPTER 4
When International Director of Deus Surf, award winning photographer and hobbyist filmmaker Dustin Humphrey brought a hair-brained scheme to childhood mates, surf and bike enthusiasts Harrison Roach and Zye Norris, there were two things that they couldn’t comprehend: first, the good fortune that had graced them with such a life-changing opportunity and second, the sheer magnitude of the modern-day odyssey they were about to undertake. But without so much as a second thought, they offered their resounding assent. The idea was to journey by land and sea, bike, boat and board up almost the entire length of the Indonesian archipelago and, with a stable of boards, a pair of bikes and other bare essentials loaded into a decrepit Land Rover, their quest South to Sian began…
Harrison Roach presents a weekly ten-part blog series taking us behind the scenes of Deus ex Machina’s South To Sian, directed by Dustin Humphrey.
South To Sian: The Movie
Post volcano-playground dirt bike session in the Balinese mountains, our crew wore a thick layer of dust. We’d been bouncing around in the Land Rover for over a month and I think a slight reprieve from the road was in order. Plus, we all needed a good rinse off in the ocean.
Canggu’s Deus Temple Of Enthusiasm drew us in. It’s unnerving how nice a proper bed can feel after sleeping in tents and on Warung floors. Once we’d rested up and satisfied our long dreamt of hunger cravings, we put the bikes and car in for a tune up and decided to sample the area’s waves of lesser consequence.
In West Bali, much of the surf is over a sand bottom or relatively flat reef. Small peaks run up and down the beach and crowds are low. It was an opportunity for us to test-ride the different boards on the roof and work with the Temple shapers on a few more in the bay. We ran into our Californian friend Jared Mell, who’d been hunting the peaks for a couple of weeks and he let us in on his secret banks. In the water, Jared is the kind of guy whose enthusiasm is contagious. He’s also got that “you never know what’s coming next” surfing style: one minute he’s laying back in a tube on his backhand – the next he’s doing the same thing riding forehand.
We had a chance to get out on our longboards and even a few sessions body surfing. There’s a wedge there that people consider to be too big on proper swells, but for us it’s the perfect body surfing bowl. It was true that we eventually swapped the dust in our hair for a thick mat of sand.
And finally, as so many surfers have done over the years during their stays in Bali, we had a big night with friends to send us off back onto the road.
READ CHAPTER 3 OF THE SOUTH TO SIAN JOURNALSREAD CHAPTER 5 OF THE SOUTH TO SIAN JOURNALS
Written BY HARRISON ROACH
All photos: @anthonydodds
South to Sian
Premiering internationally
May & June ‘16
World Premiere:
May 19th – Sound Museum Vision, Shibuya in association with Deus Residence of Impermanence, Harajuku
May 21st/22nd - The Green Room Festival – visit The Green Room Festival
Official Release Date: 1 July 2016
