Breaking Ice

My computer is covered in orange post-its, dosed in black permanent sharpie. My sink is full of dishes and my apartment is in a hurricane of confusion and filth. In a strange and unexplainable way I’m now in my happy place. It’s the final turn in my final edit for Breaking Ice, the long cut.

I’ve veered from the blog for almost a week. A week that included a stint of 30 hours without sleep, being lost in the woods in Tantallon and watching over sized muscle-heads beat each other senseless. I even got paid for it. An interesting career I’ve chosen indeed. And after finishing these unorthodox assignments it’s been back to my layer of creative confusion I call home to go to war with surf on film. That being said I am happy to announce that within two weeks Breaking Ice will be heading to a post house for final color correction, final audio mix and then hopefully I can put this beast to rest. Never question my commitment to the cause, the culture that some of us are trying to preserve. The east coast surf culture that I was welcomed into almost three years ago. This is my gift back to you, so enjoy. I’ll see you in the water.

You may be wondering over the last week or so what happened to breakingice.ca? Where are the daily posts? Is Mike on vacation? Has he been kidnapped by vigilante locals, unhappy with his articles? Have they decided to seek justice through dark and violent means? Or has he flown the coup and left for a warmer climate? Is he now living on a beach with bikini girls and an endless supply of Jamaican rum? All relevant questions but alas, my life isn’t that exciting. Here’s my problem:

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The snow is still falling, the roads are icy and unsafe and the elderly are in the throws of terrible fits of arthritis. The beginning of spring has come and graced the Maritimes with it’s sunny disposition. But the blustery conditions may hold for a decent swell at White Point tomorrow for the Billabong Nor’Easter Surf Classic. That’s right. It’s a go. Obvious by the green traffic light cutout glowing proudly on the SANS website.

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photograph Cam Scott and www.coastalbc.com

I’ve been catching up on some past articles dealing with localism in places like Santa Cruz, Jordan River and the Hawaii Islands. I started to think about all of the stories I’ve heard about localism here in Nova Scotia. First it was the local fishermen in the 60′s and 70′s looking to scare off the first generation of Nova Scotia surfers. They stayed, bought up land and settled in. This place has been growing ever since.

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I’m up late again, neglecting my usual four hours of solid sack time. My coffee consumption is hitting an all time high and my eyes occasionally lose focus. Not a good thing when your main source of income comes from looking through a camera lens. Then again any project worth doing is at least worth driving yourself to the brink of insanity in the process. And there is a light at the end of the tunnel, the extended version of “Breaking Ice”.

We’re aiming at a forty-four minute version of what began as an eighteen and a half minute short documentary. And I can’t wait for you all to see some of the great treasures we came across on our journey. I know there are still quite a few of you who haven’t seen the original, and there will be opportunity to see it again. But the extended version will be stacked! More insight on this unique culture of ours told by those people who’ve shaped it, more great music by local surfers and more surf footage that will knock your booties off! Stay tuned and thanks to all of you that have taken an interest in preserving and growing our culture. I hope you’re as excited as I am.

Be sure to look for these upcoming stories on breakingice.ca:

1. Nova Scotia’s next big surf band Andrew Hunter & the Gatherers

2. Scott Forbes, one of Nova Scotia’s most versatile surf artists

3. Announcements about the Canadian ISA world surf teams

and if you have any story ideas, let me know. I’ll try and make them happen

Cheers

Mike