Summer wishes, winter dreams

From All Movie Guide: “Shot on location in California and Australia, Crystal Voyager (1975) follows American surfer, filmmaker, and inventor George Greenough on his search for the perfect wave. This documentary focuses specifically on Greenough's attempts to build a camera that would capture the majesty of surfing. The film follows Greenough's several abortive attempts to build a camera light enough to sit on a surfboard. The film also discusses Greenough's other innovations, such as the flexible fin which made surfing "in the tube" possible. The film builds to the final, famous 23-minute "Echoes" sequence comprised of footage shot by Greenough from his board. Stunningly majestic, the footage allows the viewer to experience the ocean as never before and occupies the middle ground between early Lumiere films and today's IMAX, all to the music of Pink Floyd. A major critical, popular, and experimental success, Crystal Voyager was lauded at Cannes and by American critics. Greenough went on to work on a number of later surf films including John Milius' Big Wednesday.”

George Greenough on surfing: “You might be in there for only a few seconds — in real time — but in your head it goes on for hours. It is an experience that's hard to describe, riding inside of a big, grinding wave. Often you're riding so deep inside the tube, you don't make it out. You take a terrible wipe out. What matters is when you're in there, it's the time interval when you're inside the wave. Time enters space, a zone of its own. The only reality is what's happening right then.”

An excerpt from Crystal Voyager set to Pink Floyd’s “Echoes”:

Part One: 9:28


Part Two: 5:35


Part Three: 7:24