Movie chronicles globe-trotting surfer's African trek

2013-11-08 13:09:22

A longtime surf buddy of San Clemente's Dane Gudauskas had a proposition.

“It's going to be a really hard-core mission,” Kepa Acero said in a phone call. “It could be really, really gnarly.”

As Acero described the perfect left-hand breaks virtually untouched by anyone in the African nation of Angola, the surfer known for taking on any challenge signed on. But he had no idea where the unexpected turns of this “Endless Summer”-style surf adventure would take him.

The journey in April was documented by San Clemente filmmaker Kevin Voegtlin. The movie, “Under Desert Sun,” will premiere tonight at Molly Bloom's in San Clemente.

Gudauskas is no stranger to traveling to remote surf breaks around the world; he spends nine months a year chasing waves.

But this trip was different.

When Gudauskas talks about it, he doesn't start with the size of the waves, and he doesn't tell stories of getting barreled or breaking boards. He starts his story in Texas, where Angola has a consulate that issues visas. Travelers going to the country must have a business or individual there vouch for them – a connection Acero had. Gudauskas didn't want to take any chances, so he swapped his board shorts and T-shirt for a tie, collared shirt and cowboy hat for an in-person interview.

“They rejected us,” he said. “We were devastated.”

They got on the phone with their Angola connection and again tried to sway the consulate employee. Finally, five minutes before closing the office, she gave them the approval stamp they needed.

Going into the trip, Gudauskas knew little about Angola. He knew about its oil and diamond production but also knew it is one of the poorest nations in the world. He learned it had had a long civil war and was unsure whether they were going into hostile territory.

So he spray-painted a big happy face on his tent.

“The only message I could send if they were going to kill me was that I was happy,” he said. “I'm not there to throw bad vibes.”

Gudauskas and Acero landed in the capital, Luanda, a bustling city with crowds staring as they clutched board bags and tried to figure out how to get to the coast, on the Atlantic Ocean. They ended up taking a 14-hour bus ride to an area where the surf was supposed to be pumping.

“The bus ride was an accident – it was our only option, and we didn't think it was a good one,” Gudauskas said. “But it ended up being a lifetime memory.”

On the bus Gudauskas encountered a random act of kindness he'll never forget. Between flights and trying to get to the bus on time, he didn't get a chance to eat. His mouth started getting dry and chalky. Out of nowhere, a woman handed him an orange.

“It was literally the best-tasting orange ever,” he recalled. “These people don't have much. That was compassion.”

Finally, they got to their first stop and set up camp on the beach. They found the left-hand break they were looking for and surfed for a couple of hours. It was just them in the water.

Gudauskas knows they weren't the first surfers in the country, but most locals had never seen a surfboard.

“The curiosity was overwhelming. When you take off on a wave, they're jumping up and down crazy on the beach, cheering,” he said. “While you're waxing your board, there are 25 hands reaching down at it.”

They ate rice and tomato paste for meals, and one night they went into town and bartered for a fish. One day they pulled mussels from the rocks.

“We were eating mussels straight from the surf spot,” Gudauskas said. “That meal was so simple, but one of the most amazing experiences. That's basically the essence of the whole trip.”

Just this year, Gudauskas has traveled to snow-covered Norway, made his way through Central America and surfed off Japan, Australia and Alaska. But none of the trips stuck with him the way Angola has.

“It had that cultural aspect of it, where you really felt like you were experiencing something in a primitive area,” he said. “It's hard to find places in the world that are unaffected by social media or technology. It's really fun to pop into places like that. I have never experienced anything like that.

“In Africa, nothing is easy. It makes you appreciate any kind of existence.”

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