Surfing a new wave for the first time doesn't always turn out as you first imagined it. Whether the waves are absolutely pumping or just plain lousy. But with every surf story comes a travel story of being in a new place or something that happens along the way.
A White Winter Wave is about the sites and experiences and fun of being in a new place searching for that next wave to surf, even if it happens to be snowing in the middle of land locked Munich in Winter time.
Chad Jackson is a well known big wave bodyboarder finding and taking on some of the biggest slabs ever found in Western Australia. So when he told me he was coming to visit for Christmas I couldn't offer him massive slabs but instead a new challenge of surfing one of the coldest waves in the world and in a river, The Eisbach in Munich, Germany.
After going in the freezing cold water Chad rated it as one of the craziest things he has done. The cold water instantly stiffened his board so much he could barely maneuver it, and sapped his energy so fast he became dizzy. He battled the freezing conditions for half and hour and upon getting out said to me " I would never do it again, not even if you paid me"
While most people are nowadays opting to run with the ever evolving technology of HD video cameras, I imagined a different look. Influenced by the city of Munich itself, a city with a great history of film and beautiful old architecture. It was a perfect situation for black and white super 8 film.
I used a German made Braun Nizo 6080 super 8 camera shot at 54fps using Kodak Tri-x reversal film.
The processing was done at ANDEC Filmtechnik in Berlin and HD telecine at Uppsala Bildteknik in Sweden.
Edited in FCP and song by The Fleetfoxes - White Winter Hymnal.
A White Winter Wave from Nicholas Jackson on Vimeo.
