Not California (and not really German?)

Last Saturday morning saw me make a trip to the centre of the Badlands for an SAS Board Meeting. There I was pleased to pick up a copy of fellow board member Richard Gregory's excellent slice of Brighton surfing life, Not California. A friend had previously given me the film on video, but Richard has just re-released it on DVD. Its official release is tomorrow night at Walkabout in Brighton, with the shindig being co-presented by Richard's WAVEDREAMER enterprise and the good folk who host this blog, A1surf.

Richard, a former Brighton resident who will, I'm sure, be stoked to be back in town for tomorrow's bash, had this to say about Not California: "The film is a revealing portrait of surfing in and around Brighton. It explores the five main breaks in the area and vividly expresses the different vibe of each place, with the footage throughout sustained by an amazingly eclectic Brighton-based soundtrack." He also credited Brighton's surfers for the role they played, saying "It was their enthusiasm that got this done - and it shows!"

The Brighton area is clearly a unique place to surf, requiring a special commitment and oodles of local knowledge. My son Harry watched Not California with me with a fair degree of scepticism, announcing "Dad, there's no surf in Brighton" (Brighton surfers, please forgive him - he's only 13, and he's growing up surfing Sennen and Gwenver), but once the film was over he concluded that actually, there were some pretty decent waves to be had. Moreover, the new bonus footage, some of which was of our local breaks, is superb, so we were two satisfied viewers after this film. I'm sure Brighton surfers who attend the Walkabout tomorrow night will be, too.

Meanwhile, is Marlon Lipke German? A Surfer's Village alert came through today and as I skimmed through it, I saw the words 'German still in contention for the World Tour.' I nearly fell off my chair. Who could this German surfer be? Closer reading revealed that it is indeed Lipke, the current ASP WQS No. 14. He's at Sunset Beach right now and is very much in contention to qualify for next year's ASP World Tour. To be honest, I didn't know he was German. In fact, I didn't know where he was from but knew that he ripped. It turns out that his parents are German, but that Lipke grew up surfing in... Portugal.

Which, I guess, puts him somewhat in the Martin Potter category. Did we really have a British champion when Pottz won the title? Likewise, is Lipke really a product of Germany's increasingly developed surf culture?

And does it matter? Over at SurfTwisted Towers, a wise man reminds me of the words of the legendary Balin, a craftsman encountered at a remote but very good (on its day) West Cornwall reef break: "I don't like names for things", said Balin. "As soon we give something a name, we corrupt it." So it is, perhaps, with ascriptions of nationhood.

For more information about the A1Surf Movie & Party Night please contact David Somerville on 01273 837733 or email david@a1surf.com.

Comments

[Niegà]

As iam sure that plenty of your british readership knows, Marlon Liopke is the son of Dago Lipke, a German who moved to the Algarve many years ago and know runs one of the better known surf camps in Southern Portugal. Marlon -along with his younger brother Melvin- was born and raised in Portugal and only used his German citizenship because it suited best his profile in order to attract better sponsorship deals.

Niegà