In 2022 Torren Martyn and Aiyana Powell borrowed a 35ft sailing boat named ‘Calypte’ and despite only having a combined sailing experience of a few days, they set off from the East coast of Thailand on a year long expedition through Indonesia in search of waves.
Torren and filmer Ishka Folkwell documented the journey which featured ups, downs, challenges, adverse weather, stunning scenery and plenty of amazing waves. The crew at Needessentials have decided to release a short clip of one particular surf session from the film which features Torren scoring perfectly groomed empty right hand tubes. Check below to see what Torren had to say about that session.
What made that day stand out as the best surf of the Calypte voyage? Before the trip, I remember so clearly thinking how amazing it would be to just have one really memorable session with our little home bobbing away in the channel and how it would just be a dream come true. That was certainly the day, I couldn’t believe what was happening around me, the unridden perfect waves that were coming through and the fact we’d just landed ourselves in the right place at the right time, it was such a miracle.
Tell us about just how perfect those waves were. Yeah, no words really, it was mind boggling. I was pinching myself.
What did you do afterwards to celebrate or reflect on the experience? We sailed a couple of hours back to a safe anchorage, dropped the anchor and cracked a beer or maybe it was beer then sail then anchor then beer. We ate, cheers’d and slept well that night.
Ishka did an incredible job filming the day in what looked like challenging conditions. He really did! The morning started off very stormy and unruly. I hadn’t seen that wave before nor did I know the reefs around it, at the first couple of signs of surfable waves that steamed down the reef we had a look for a keyhole to drop Ishka to the beach and by the time we’d found a relatively safe little spot the ocean had cleaned itself up and I was in shambles to get out there and test the waters.
Did that day influence the rest of your voyage in any way or your approach to surfing in general? I remember that day as one of the best days of my life. It really fuelled my curiosity of surfing and searching for waves, I’m not sure if it was a blessing or curse to be honest.
The soundtrack song to this section is really catchy – those guys are Indonesian musicians ? Yeah I love that track, it’s just so funky! The band Ali are from Jakarta, Indonesia and the track is called ‘Downtown Strut’. I’m grateful that needessentials invested in such an epic range of music for the Calypte film.
How is fatherhood and do you have any future adventures planned? Fatherhood has been the greatest adventure yet, it’s a trip! As for future films and adventures, I don’t know if anything will compare to the whole Calypte experience but Ishka and I are planning a wild little sailing trip early next year, this time on a much smaller vessel(s).
Check out the full Calypte film below.
