Now Now Media, the team filming the FCS Go series, is dynamic duo Will Bendix and Alan Van Gysen. These surf media veterans turned their love of storytelling into a lifelong pursuit. We got hold of Alan long enough to quiz him about the trials and tribulations of planning his first film in Alaska.
Header Image : Will and Alan navigating the tricky waters of making a documentary. Photo by Scott Dickerson
Whose idea was this?
FCS reached out to us after the success of Riding the Sardine Run last year. FCS Go and adventure went really well and they're like, “where else could we do this?”
John Gowing, the head of FCS, wanted to go to Alaska, off the back of seeing that incredible tidal bore the Turnagain Arm. Alaska seems one of the furthest places in the world from what we’re used to. We were very surprised, and super excited to head out there.
Have you prior experience filming in conditions like this?
None. We thought it would be icy cold and wintry and full on snow. As it turns out, it was the most beautiful weather you could have asked for. Rare, unseasonably warm, it was just gorgeous. Alaska really showed us her most beautiful side, which was unexpected, and it definitely made our filming experience a lot easier.
Walk us through the production planning.
It's always very in-depth. The huge benefit was that this is nothing new for the Milo. Mike McCune, Wendy, his wife, and Scott Dickerson, the photographer, they've done this so many times. So planning production was a lot easier for us, a lot lighter. We indicated what we were looking for and wanted this great adventure. We told them we wanted to see whales. We also wanted to focus on fishing.
And whatever we could get our hands on from a surfing perspective. As much as one can plan, when it comes to surf, you can't force that, right? You can explore a lot of that coastline with paddle boards, and especially since we had such unusually good weather. It was really beautiful and when the swell was tiny and almost completely flat, then the ocean was really easy to paddle so we could go into those incredible caves on Unga Island. You could normally never access that because it's just too much swell action.
It was a pity we didn’t have more swell for the other spots, the setups are unbelievable.
Paddling through a rock arch in Alaska is something few will ever get the chance to experience. Photo by Scott Dickerson.
Did you have a specific itinerary or let the conditions dictate?
We did a very slow motor down south west from Homer and stopped in a whole bunch of spots and focused on islands where it's much more exposed and being out that far on a very, very small swell, we could have the most amount of swell that was in the ocean. Whatever the day brought, we made the most of it.
One of the best things about a boat trip is if you have taken enough equipment then on any given day, every day is a sea day. You’re not like “oh, bummed, there's no waves, I can’t surf, I'm going to sit and read my book in the cabin every day.” You’re like, “okay, let's go fishing. Let's go whale watching. Oh man, here's the orcas!”
Do you guys tackle logistics like a couple packing a dishwasher? One of you plays Tetris and the other looks like a squirrel hoarding for winter.
Will and I, we really do everything as a married couple! When we put unrealistic expectations on people and a day and a wave and even each other, we set ourselves up for disappointment. I've done so many trips over the last 30 years in Africa, especially in remote parts of Africa. I think we are quite adept at figuring things out on the go.
Will's the editor, and he's got an idea of what he's looking for. After the fact, he's like, “okay, now I've got these pieces, but like, oh, man, we're missing X, Y, and Z” and we'll just figure it out.
That's where collaborating with people helps a lot and also when really engaging and immersing yourself in a place is paramount. You come in as a foreigner already to a place that you got very little experience in, you need to rely on the people that you've called upon to help, the locals, and be open to whatever comes along.
Planning a surf trip usually means a group chat and a bunch of nonsense.
Mike definitely was the least serious. He was grand, I loved Mike. He's got such a great way about things. Incredible experience, 30, 40 years as a boat captain, a fishing captain out in Alaska. Now he's almost semi-retired with his wife on the Milo, living his best life. He's a little like a grom, he gets to any spot, and if it's half a foot, he's out there. Him and Wendy are just an incredible couple.
Dylan’s also very, very experienced, easy travelling guy, you've got Dylan and Mike.
Scott definitely was a bit more serious. He's one of those chiselled Alaskan outdoorsmen, He hunts bear in the winter and moose and he stocks up his freezer and he's got a rifle and he can fix any boat. He makes a lot of men probably feel quite small. If you wanted to survive in the wilderness, you'd ask Scott to survive with you. You’d put your life in his hands.
He keeps the ship focussed and can help in any situation.
Mike is so comfortable with the sea and the boat that it all seems pretty easy to him, but underneath it he’s got all this experience and he knows exactly what's happening at any point on his boat.
Captain Mike McCune and Photogrpaher Scott Dickerson in the place they love. Photo by Alan Van Gysen.
Were there moments where you thought the project might be DOA before you shot anything?
It happens all the time. I remember Dylan messaging me “hey, just want to let you know, it looks like it's dead flat for the whole time we're there” and I was just like, “ahhhhhh.”
And knowing there's nothing we can do about it. The dates have been set, everything's been paid. It wasn't like we were waiting 6 months to chase a specific wave and then you get that wave, hopefully. We didn't get any great swell, but we got so much more out of that trip than we ever would have imagined.
It's not always about the wave.
Out in that remote wilderness, you feel so tiny and insignificant. You realise how big the world is, how grand creation is, and it makes you think outside of your normal day to day. Even though we didn't get the surf, I felt like all of us learned and experienced something completely different, and that was much more profound than we thought.
Read more about making a film aboard the Milo in Part 2.