VACATION – A Surf Film ft. Eithan Osborne, Ian Crane, Shaun Manners, Jaleesa Vincent, and more

In contrast, this trip was meant to be straight out of the Kai Neville* playbook — really good surfers in really good waves, a few funny moments in between, catchy tunes on top, aaaaand cut. 

Everything was on track for a seamless production.

We had a top-tier cast, five filmers on deck, and the location was a guaranteed score (famous last words).

Cue the worst Ments forecast of the season, our main filmer’s RED crashing upon arrival, and one of our marquee surfers pulling out at the last minute. 

As Danny J told us, surf films are hard. But this was some Murphy’s Law type shit.  

Of course, the remaining surfers couldn’t have cared less. This trip was the reward for winning their respective Stab Highway series in Australia and California. And in their minds, lounging around at a tropical resort, deleting beers, spearing fish, and surfing when it suited was hardly a dilemma. 

But, it also wouldn’t make for a compelling piece of content. 

So our production team started scheming. Conspiring. Coconut-rumming. And when the surfers were properly lubricated, we pitched them on a slightly different type of film. One that relied less on world-class waves and feats of aquatic excellence, more on…vacation things. Sunbathing, super yachts, existential introspection. Maybe a high-stakes relay race or two. 

I’m not sure if the surfers ever fully agreed with our pivot, but they went along with our stupid ideas for 10 days with very little push-back — and for that, we’re grateful. 

The resulting surf film is goofy and satirical, of course, but it’s also a fairly accurate depiction of our stay at Kandui Resort. There’s some surfing, plenty of drinking, a whole lot of laughs, and all of it flanked by a shameless wannabe trying to convince pro surfers to play his silly games.

So thanks to our surfers (Jaleesa Vincent, Shaun Manners, Wade Goodall, Coby Perkovich, Eric Geiselman, Eithan Osborne, Ian Crane, Ivy Miller, Noah Wegrich, and Balaram Stack) for having a hell time and indulging our very worst ideas, filmers (Mikey Mal, Ben Judkins, Fede Vanno and the Kandui crew) for putting in the long hours, our editor (Will Stiles) for putting in the work and making sense of this helter skelter hard drive, and of course Monster and Kandui Resort, without whom none of this would have been possible.

‘Vacation’ presented by Monster Energy mightn’t the hi-fi surf film we’d promised, but we hope that this taste of Stab Highway makes you nostalgic for series past and excited for what’s to come — Monster has just confirmed that we’re back on in 2023, and this time we’re heading to Europe!