In advance of the European Premiere of Woodshed Films latest release, ‘Come Hell or High Water‘ Chris Nelson caught up with legendary waterman Keith Malloy to discuss his directorial debut.

The feature ran on surfer’s daily digest Magicseaweed and has been read in excess of 58,000 times.

Chris Nelson: What drew you to waveriding as a child?

Keith Malloy: Being in the water and then riding waves at the same time was the most fun thing I could think of doing as a kid.  For me waveriding has always been about having as much fun as possible!

CN: Where you inspired by having brothers who surfed, did this push you to surf harder?

KM: Yeah, my Dad and Brothers all surfed so it was a big part of our lives.  As a kid it wasn’t a competition, it was just having fun.  As we got older we did compete against each other, but it wasn’t a big deal.  I think there are other sets of brothers in the surf world who are way more competitive then we are.  I guess we always just felt lucky to be doing it together.

CN: You spent time on the WQS and the WCT. What was it that inspired you to take to the tour? Were you a naturally competitive person?

KM: I did the contest for a while and fun with it, but in the end I realized competition was not the reason I wanted to surf or be a surfer.

CN: When you left the tour did you have a clear idea of what you wanted to do next and a clear path?

KM: Yeah, I knew I wanted to go back to surfing, travel and surf good waves.  It was a nice relief from competition.  Competition changes your surfing and consumes your life and I wanted to look for new surf destinations and absorb the cultures in the places I was travelling.

CN:What drew you to pick up a movie camera?

KM: I have been involved with my brother’s films over the past 15 years.  I have always enjoyed the process of making films. In the case of this movie I felt like Bodysurfing was worthy of documentation and something I loved and enjoyed.

CN: How did you find the process of making your first feature – how did it differ from what you expected?

KM: It is a lot of hard work. We had 100 hours of footage to go through.  One of my personal challenges was editing that down.  Also, my wife just had a baby so that was a super challenge to balance it all.  Finishing the film was very hard because you can always continue to make changes, at some point you just have to say it is done!! … Cont.

This article was first published on Magicseaweed.com. To read the full interview on line click here.

Many thanks to talented lenseman Chris Burkard for providing the photography that accompanies the piece.