two days with gerry Lopez
On a Monday night in May, Josh Ku sent me a message: “Hey brother I might have another epic job for you,” then followed it up with “Gerry Lopez in Mexico.” My brain went into hyper mode with questions and excitement, without thinking at all that in less than 12 hours I’d be on a plane to Mexico.
I only had a few free days before leaving for Florida for another job. To make the timing more complicated, I was on my way to downtown LA for a Lakers game. After a few vague texts with Gerry on WhatsApp during an exciting, down to the buzzer game, I knew I couldn’t risk missing the opportunity to meet him down in Mexico. I booked what was essentially the next flight out of San Diego while sitting in traffic trying to escape the after-game rush in LA. Now, all I needed was to get directions to Gerry’s undisclosed location.
Everything miraculously came together.
I landed in Mexico 16 hours after the first text — Twenty minutes later I found myself in an office at the airport filling out mounds of paperwork and paying taxes on the extra camera gear that was not allowed. Six hundred dollars later I was free. I grabbed a rental car, and was on the road. On my way I got one text from Gerry, “Watch out for cows and donkeys.”
I made it without hitting anything. Pulled up in front of Gerry’s house, camera in hand, and ready for the unknown. I was nervous, excited, feeling the pressure of filming, directing and mostly just hanging with Gerry. He was alone at his house, we chatted briefly and then, without hesitation, said “it's time to foil.” I hopped in my car and he loaded up his ATV and we rattled down the dirt road to the break. We pulled up and were greeted by a nice mushy point break with just a few locals in the line up. Gerry rigged up his foil, put his wetsuit and sunscreen on while I filmed the process, making some small talk along the way.
It was quite the surreal experience going from the late night before, making it to the airport, being hassled for cash, to hanging with a multi-generational legend at a remote, pristine point break. Part of that surreal experience is meeting someone in person you have heard about your whole life, seen on screen, and listened to stories about from surfers, foilers, etc. But once he got foiling and I got filming everything sort of clicked into place and I re-entered the present.
I started off with my long lens on a tripod, the sun was setting fast and I wanted to get at least some of Gerry’s full rides and something under my belt. I quickly got some good initial footage, so I ran down to set up my water housing. Gerry gave me some advice on current and how to avoid the sea urchins before he went out for session number two. Good tips that I kept front of mind.
This was the crux, in the line up, water housing in hand, filming an icon. I wanted to be in the right spot, but not in the way, communicate what I wanted without asking him to change his routine, and of course not just get the right shots, but to capture Gerry in his element. He caught lots of waves, checking in now and again where I was floating asking how it was going and if he needed to do anything in particular. Ever concerned for me and my process… It was all good.
There were a few other locals foiling and surfing, but mostly it was just Gerry and myself. The water was clear and perfect. After a hectic day, being in such a perfect setting was a treat.
Before I knew it, the sun was getting low and we were changing back on the beach. We chatted a bit about the waves and some dinner options before deciding to head back to his house. I offered to interview him the next morning. I wanted to be flexible. But with about 30 mins of light left in the day he said he’d rather just bang it out right now. I grabbed my tripod and mics and we headed to his back porch.
Interviewing people has quickly become one of my favorite parts of my work. I like going into it with few to no questions written down, just a mental guide and short list of topics I want to hit. This was a simple production, no artificial lighting, no multi-cameras, two mics, and that was that, leaning into the fact it’s really just two people conversing. For me, having specific questions prepared in advance tends to disrupt the flow of a more natural conversation, running the risk of a preconceived path taking us both away from a more natural dialog. It also tends to distract me from listening as intently as I’d like and the natural curiosity that comes within the context of the conversation. Being too focused on the next question or some planned agenda kills the vibe.
Handling the camera setup and conducting interviews always comes with a bit of awkwardness. Just the way it is. In this case I grabbed a chair, sat down, and plunged in with “Have you ever been interviewed before?” He laughed a bit and gave me a nod… and on we went.
Gerry is amazing (of course). The conversation came easy. We chatted for about twenty minutes. As the light faded I adjusted my settings. We talked about being ahead or behind the curve, surfing in the 70s compared to now, exploring new places and new technology, how he got into foiling and where he thought the sport was going. I asked what his favorite thing to do was. And finally, about surf etiquette. He was humble, thoughtful, well spoken, and inspiring. He was relaxed and answered effortlessly, but clearly he cared about his responses.
We wrapped the interview and headed in for Gerry’s homemade tofu stir fry. He showed me his favorite prints hanging in his house, and I asked him about how he worked with photographers and videographers in his career. I could have gone on and on, but Gerry likes to wake up early, at about 4:45am, so we turned in. Same drill as the day before, we hit the dirt road to the point breaks. I only had until about 11am before I needed to leave for the airport. Dawn was breaking when we got to the beach and Gerry was immediately inspired to surf. He grabbed a big board bag from the roof of his ATV and pulled out a long mid-length with his famous lightning bolt logo. That was cool. He paddled out, I stayed on the beach filming.
Gerry is unhurried. After fifteen or twenty minutes a big set comes and of course, he’s on it, right place, right time, drops into a seemingly big mushy wave that turns into the perfect ride that he takes all the way to the sand (the last wave of the film, and the only wave I shot with him on a traditional board). He walks up the beach, says that it’s perfect foiling conditions and swaps his ride.
I now jump on the ATV, he points the way and I drive a couple hundred yards south to get a better angle for another wave. He explains this wave rarely breaks like this and it’s a special opportunity. It’s glassy, sunny, clear water… a perfect left break. These were the best waves of the trip, and it sounded like the best waves for anyone down here in a while. It seemed like he caught endless numbers of waves, trading with just a few other foilers.
For this trip being completely last minute, unplanned around any forecast, and as short as it was, the conditions were as good as you get. He came in only once to swap batteries in his foil drive. I hid in the shade all morning, taking only a quick swim between sets to cool off. Finally, he comes in, around 10am. I ask him a few more questions on camera. We agree we nailed it and that it's a wrap. We head back to his house for a smoothie and a quick pack up. I shamelessly ask for a selfie — I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t — We thank each other, fist bump, he heads inside to rest up for another session, and I speed off to the airport.
This was one of those experiences that you can’t really anticipate. A surreal few hours, locked in my memory and footage. Many, many things had to go right for this to work out and pretty much all of them did.
A few hurdles to end the trip. I paid double for my baggage because of highly questionable airline service, got sick on my way home, and in a delirious state of exhaustion combined with an unrecommended big dose of DayQuil, I grabbed someone else’s nearly identical bag from the Tijuana baggage claim. Ignoring my internal thought that my bag got a lot heavier in transit, I made it all the way across the border before five missed calls from “Tijuana” triggered me to open it up and inspect it, quickly discovering someone else’s belongings. A few phone calls and a security escort back across the border made for a pretty clumsy exit from Mexico, but in light of everything going so perfectly with Gerry, this was a small price to pay.
I want to thank Gerry for his time, thoughtfulness, and hospitality. Josh Ku and FoilDrive for trusting me to capture and tell this story. And I want to thank my ever supportive (tolerant) girlfriend, Sydney, for listening to me go back and forth about waiting a week to film Gerry when I'd have more time… ultimately teaching me the lesson there's no time like the present and to just go make it happen!
Words and Imagery by Quinn Wilson
Gerry Lopez | Driven by Foil Drive