In 2014, a friend of mine from New Zealand contacted me about a board he’d come across that a friend of his had refurbished. Turned out that once they stripped the old glass off this board that had washed ashore in Nelson, it revealed a Peter Way logo. Peter was New Zealand’s first surfing national champion in 1963.
My friend and I talked for months about doing a documentary on getting the board back to Peter, but neither of us were sold on a road trip with a longboard and surfers from the past. So we did some digging and started realizing the connection that Peter had through the small surfing world of New Zealand. So after a couple years of failed fundraising, we just bit the bullet and did it ourselves. We surfed spots Peter surfed as a young man, connected with a bunch of Kiwi pros and got their stories on making it in this vast world of surfing and how hard it has been, and still is, for them.
If you’re from a small country and are trying to make it to the world stage, things can be ultra-difficult. That’s pretty much what The Way, is about, a play off Peter’s name. It tells the story of a handful of surfers from New Zealand who have made surfing their lives and careers. It all started when that old surfboard washed ashore in Nelson, shaped by Peter. Peter was known for his antics in and out of the water, but it was his mark on surfboard shaping, competitive surfing and surf lifestyle that has influenced a generation of Kiwi surfers who have come after him. Current pros Paige Hareb, Billy Stairmand and Ricardo Christie weigh in on what has driven them to success, and powered them through the hard times. Maz Quinn takes us through becoming the first ever Kiwi to make the world tour and we’re taken on a journey through the North Island of New Zealand to return the old board to the legend who made it, Peter Way.
The full-length feature will be released in late 2017 and the film will have done a run throughout North America, Europe and New Zealand and Australia by early 2018 if all goes well. Thanks for watching.
