It turns out, there’s a lot more to creating a good surf brand than drawing a nice logo and churning out some clothes.

You’ve got to have a purpose, a solid origin story and of course, excel at the underrated art of assembling a team of shredders to make your gear sing.  

Back in the day, that involved scooping up as many top-level comp surfers as possible, with the biggest brands of the '90s and naughts measuring their success by the size of their team riders’ trophy cabinets. 

Since then, smaller independent brands have forged their own path, setting out to assemble more eclectic crews of free surfers, shapers, artists and alt board enthusiasts to represent their brands. 

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be sharing some of our favourite free to watch surf films, featuring the most entertaining modern day surf teams.

First up, it’s Vissla’s Pedro’s Bay:

Part surf flick, part fantasy adventure story, Pedro’s Bay takes viewers on a journey to a magical island where big blue wedges and long spinning points abound.

While the island itself may be fictional, there’s a vivid veracity to the featured locations, which sport the sort of waves and scenery we’d all like to stumble across on a surf trip, making the film not only an exciting action romp but also a powerful impetus for exotic surf travel.

The film features many of the Vissla team’s finest, with a wide array of complementary skillsets on show, including high-performance fireworks and expert tube wrangling from Eric Geiselman, Cam Richards and Brendon Gibbens and more low-fi, but delightfully stylish lines served up by Derrick Disney and Bryce Young on a variety of fishes, logs and gliders. 

Enjoy!

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