About a year ago while traveling for business I was stuck in a series of long airline delays. Luckily I had a bunch of surf DVDs with me, a laptop, and internet access, so I had something to help me make it through the 10 hours of delays I had to endure. One of these videos was “First Chapter”, featuring Dane Reynolds. Holy crap he can surf; up until the point I saw this movie, I had only seen him presented as an “up-and-coming” grom coming of age in some magazine pictures and short video clips online. Watching this film made me realize he was no longer an up-and-comer, but someone who had become ther here-and-now of progressive surfing.
Because this video left such an impression, when Brent and I started talking about posting some product and video reviews on the website, doing a review of First Chapter immediately came to mind despite the fact it is over a year old now. In my opinion, this footage is still as fresh as ever. I've never seen so many airs launched, rotated, and landed in so many ways, except in Taj Burrow’s feature, Montaj (which I will probably review for you soon). Some of the stuff Reynolds does also rivals the wild air wizardry of Taj Burrow, in my opinion. Some crazy stuff, especially considering that half the airs were done in head high to overhead surf. Overall, he has a really loose, creative technique, and you can see some power in his turns and carves.