SAN DIEGO — When people think about surfing, they think of Hawaii, but a new film that is out titled "Wade in the Water" takes a different look at Black aquatic and surfing history.
David Mesfin is the Director of Wade in the Water and found that surfing history also goes back to Africa.
"What is our connection to surfing, what is our connection to aquatic culture," Mesfin said.
"We reviewed the overlooked water history of Black surfing and aquatic culture from Africa to the Americas with the intention to inspire the next generation of Black surfers," Mesfin said.
Mesin is a surfer who immigrated from Ethiopia to Florida in 1988 and then came to California.
"I had the opportunity to meet more Black surfers such as the Black Surfers Collective and I really wanted to tell their story," he said.
The film shares the first known reports of surfing in Africa.
"The first account of surfing was on the coast of Ghana in 1649 by German explorer Michael Emerson. Whereas Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii in 1777," Mesfin said.
The documentary takes the audience on a journey of what it took for the pioneers of Black surfing to be in the line-up today.
"Really putting a spotlight on individuals such as Nick Gavelson, Tony Corelly, Black Surfers Collective and organizations that are teaching kids to surf for free," he said.
The documentary doesn't shy away from the struggles Black surfers had just to be on the beach.
"The Jim Crow era and what happened in Southern California. The challenges such as Ebony Beach Club, Even Manhattan Beach that used to be a facility built in the 40's," Mesfin said.
For Mesfin, the project came from the tragedy of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.
"When you go out into the ocean, Mother Ocean, it has such an impact on your life. I knew from the ocean and my community; I knew there was a way I could heal and heal my community," Mesfin said.
And that is what the film does as well as looking at surfing from a completely different perspective while motivating the future of Black Surfing.
"The objective is to inspire the next generation of Black surfers. I wanted to end it with some young surfers that are up and coming," he said.
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