Watch: Mikey February // Sonic Souveniers - Côte d'Ivoire
Welcome to the second instalment of Sonic Souveniers, Mikey February's post-CT gig, where he gets to indulge in lo-fi surf equipment while wandering about the perimeter of Africa seeking the surf/music crossover.
This time the destination is the Ivory Coast, or Côte d'Ivoire, a West African nation with a coastline facing south into the Atlantic Ocean. At one end of the coast are the long straight beaches around the capital, Abidjan, and at the other end numerous granite-topped points not unlike the south-east coast of Sri Lanka. It's here where the best surfing in the film is done.
Comments
Mikey February and Alex Knost
What could possibly go wrong?
Board choice?
Just quietly, I reckon Alex was on the wrong board.
I'm with you there. Looked like he was fighting it.
Having a ball doing so nonetheless.
Pretty sure I saw it on the hire rack at Nomad's Noosa the other day
Great flick thanks, love his surfing and nice to see Lee Ann in it as well.
Nice delicate touch by February.
Any Knost fans out there? Care to explain the appeal to me? I don’t get it.
One of the world's great mysteries.
I reckon you need to watch his log surfing and then try and do it yourself. He's a genius on a longboard, but I reckon he tries way too hard on anything under 9ft to the point of detraction. His positioning and wave reading is pretty incredible when he slows down, though.
I reckon I need that like I need a holiday to Ukraine.
Classic. Fair enough.
Nah me neither.
I think a hipster box ticking exercise if I had to guess.
Boy those slums looked fun to roam around at night.......not.
Wonder how much local security they hired?
M-Feb ripping the bags out of it.
Mikey Shredding
A.K. stuff farkn garbage..
Mikey February: Natural style and flow.
Alex Knost: Contrived and manufactured.
Why is Alex Knost in surf movies?
Mr Feb is so good to watch , love the loose approach to his surfing .Highlite was 15:05 to 15: 20 . . . sick turns .
PS , dont ever buy an Alex Knost shaped board . One of my mates somehow obtained one . Lets just say its a "challenge" to ride .
Knost is surfings wannabe Warhole
who is Alex Knost and what is his claim to fame - or have I been down in Tas for too long ?
Alex Knost?
If I’d wanted to see a stiff surfer with a multi-stage cutback I’d have taken a vid of myself.
Cool to see some West Africa, must be some untapped surf on that coast , dangerous enough to stay uncrowded for a while yet.
Not sure what the white guy with the Jack Robbo haircut was doing in there? But trying to throw a wobbly soul arch at every camera he saw was annoying, I guess trying to look casual/ natural while surfing around MF might be difficult.
Lee Ann got saddled with her Dads mug thats for sure...
I was supposed to go over to Ghana (next door to Côte d'Ivoire) pre-COVID for work. I thought it seemed suss as, but, was informed that it's virtually no different to anywhere else. The more I looked into it there was plenty of opportunity to get waves, too. Really lovely people who love their music by the sounds of it. Have met a few people from Ghana since and all they want to do is have a good time. Head to neighbouring countries (like Côte d'Ivoire) and you might find a little more strife, though.
Unfortunately Ghana has turned into a dumping ground for the rest of the worlds' fast fashion...
Any chances of still going over to Ghana?
I believe Mikey's last clip Nu Ritmo was filmed in Ghana.
Could possibly be on the cards in the future, I'm sure. Would have been a great adventure.
Was going to be documenting (photographing) the new harvesting programs for sustainable Cacao farming which were virtually on the coast. Wasn't sure how I was going to go talking them into letting me take a triple board bag.
Have a poke around an area called the Cape Coast, Stu. Looks to be a few setups around there and word is a couple of British expats have surfed in that area for a little while. Surely someone else here knows something about surf over there?
Fickle, but Keta is where you want to score ~~~~~>~
I hope you get to do the trip!
https://www.momondo.com.au/discover/surfing-in-ghana-world-class-waves-w...
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That Momondo article includes a chapter 'how it all began' yet makes no mention of Mike Hynson and Robert August stopping over.
Fortunately this guy knows his surf movie history. Even found the 'head rope coiler' alive and well fifty years after his scene-stealing moment in The Endless Summer.
I don't like hating on people online - but I am so glad someone has asked the AK question.
While the rest of us go to work. Bullllllshit!
Jeez I would love to go. Spent a lot of time in Morocco but didn't continue south. Many people who lived in vans also warned me they found it more dangerous than the drive from Europe to India (through Iran, Pakistan etc...). A lot of French also drove down to Mali and sold their cars there. They were getting some good money due to the shortage of cars in the regions (usually coming with shit, cheap cars they bought back home).
Bugger me, AK's mid-length surfing in this just makes Torren look so much better. Not even surf movie worthy IMHO.
A long time ago we took on a young kid from the Ivory Coast as a kitchen hand. He'd been brought out to Oz by the church. Apparently he was picked up after fleeing when both parents had died at the end of machetes. He was found wandering aimlessly in the middle of nowhere. Luckily our head chef spoke fluent French so we could communicate with him.
He was a good kid but hard to fathom the unbelievable trauma he must have experienced.
Makes you think twice how fortunate we are to live in the countries we do.
Apart from this movie, does anyone know where to find Steven Amoikin's music online?
are there any details of Mikey's board the yellow fish? looks nice
never mind I found it. Its called the CI Fish. or it could be the fishbeard. Very nice