Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown - Biography of a Surfing Pioneer & Sailplane Inventor | Perfect for Surf Enthusiasts and Aviation History Buffs

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Product Description Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown, is an hour-long documentary on a remarkable legend in the worlds of surfing, sailing and soaring. Maui resident, Woody Brown, (who passed away at age 96 in 2008) not only lived a life full of extraordinary adventure and accomplishment including inventing the modern catamaran, setting world gliding records, and surfing Hawaii's 25-foot surf in the early 1940s but he did so with a kind of selflessness and generosity that have made him an inspiring role model for four generations of Hawaiians, especially surfers and sailors. The documentary captures Woody s unique blend of enthusiasm, wisdom and spirituality that makes him a truly inspirational figure for everyone who has met him. Born to great wealth in New York City, Woody ran away from the life of privilege to become a protégé of Lindbergh at age 16. The film captures his journey to become a world record glider pilot, then a surfing pioneer before the tragic death of his first wife in childbirth. Of Wind and Waves explores Woody s life in his own words and from the perspectives of his family and friends who have shared his journey, along with surfing and soaring historians. The film also features a remarkably rich archive of film and photography from every stage of Woody s long life to complement coverage of his contemporary life as an amazingly lively elder. It won the Inspiration Award at the 2006 Mountainfilm in Telluride, Best Surfing Film at 2006 Byron Bay Film Festival and the Adventure Award at the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival. It was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Documentary in 2008. Review Surf s still up for Woody Brown 'Of Wind and Waves' is a surfing film that aims to inspire nonsurfers as well By Burl Burlingame [email protected] Not only has Woody Brown been around longer than most of us can remember, he's been a fixture on Hawaii's beaches longer than our parents can remember. But as the memorable new documentary Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown explains -- often heartbreakingly -- Woody's life in Hawaii was actually his third attempt at finding himself. He began as the pampered son of upper-crust New York City rajahs, horrified at the idea of living in concrete canyons; then became an acolyte of aviator Charles Lindbergh and the thrills of flying, moving to rural Southern California with a wife and stepdaughter he adored, so he could spend his days teaching gliding. There, he discovered surfing. Then, his wife died in childbirth. Overcome with grief and dangerously suicidal, Brown put his stepdaughter and baby up for adoption and fled to Hawaii to live on the beach. He was already in his 30s and unaware that his life was just beginning. Brown became a legendary Hawaii waterman, riding the big waves when few others dared -- and along the way seemingly befriended everyone he met. He was the other man in the soup when Dickie Cross was swallowed alive by monster combers at Waimea in 1943, an event that scared off big-wave surfers for more than a decade. Inspired by twin-hull canoes he saw in the South Pacific during World War II, and armed with aeronautical engineering and lightweight construction know-how, Brown invented the first modern catamaran in 1947. The Manu Kai was not only the fastest sailboat in the world, it was a design revelation that not only inspired a generation of sailors, it is one of Hawaii's true historic vessels. Surfer Hobie Alter was so impressed by the Manu Kai that he reinvented the concept as the Hobie Cat, and Alter is listed today as the inventor of the catamaran in sources as authoritative as Wikipedia. But we know better. It seems that Brown was having too much fun selling rides aboard Manu Kai to Waikiki tourists to bother with patents. A life of fun -- joie de vivre -- colors Brown's life, and this is reflected in the film by David Brown (no relation, although he seems to be the only one in the film who isn't a relation). Brown earlier filmed Brown (!) for his award-winning documentary Surfing for Life. Today, Brown the Elder, at 94, is still gliding, surfing, swimming, making new friends and -- memorably -- climbing trees for fresh fruit. Woody was one of 10 surfers in 'Surfing for Life,' but his life was so full and interesting we just had to do a full feature film on him, said Brown the filmmaker, long-distance in his California office. Many of the fans said Woody was their favorite character in 'Life,' and that was the catalyst. It took six years. One source of archival surfing footage came from, naturally, filmmaker Bud Brown (documentarians Bruce Brown and DeSoto Brown also figure in). It's a common name, but there seem to be a lot of Browns involved in surfing, said David Brown. We think it will be popular in Hawaii, naturally, but we think there will be broad interest internationally and should be shown, say, on PBS. It's a pretty rich and resonant story for surfers and nonsurfers alike. It embodies a lot of themes, such as the concept of following your bliss, about fractured families, reconciliation and, to a certain extent, redemption. --Honolulu Star-BulletinFilm A bigger, better wave A new documentary tells the life story of surfer Woody Brown Stuart Coleman Aug 2, 2006 Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown Woody rides: Woody Brown doing what he does best. Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown / Epic stories usually involve some dramatic encounter with death. But for surfing pioneer Woody Brown, the Grim Reaper was like a shark always hovering just beneath the surface, threatening to strike again and again. In the new documentary Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown, the old daredevil laughs away the pain, saying, I always wanted to challenge death. I loved to get just as close to death as I could possibly get and yet dodge it. That was my thrill in life. And what a thrilling life he has had, full of adventure and tragedy. Born into a wealthy family in New York, Brown was expected to inherit his father s business. But the free-spirited boy decided to run away at 16 and become a glider pilot. After training with his hero Charles Lindbergh, the young man left New York with his young wife and stepdaughter and moved to Southern California. On the shores of La Jolla, he designed his own planes and later set the world record for gliding. He also built one of the first hollow wooden surfboards and took the fledgling sport to new levels. Brown found happiness gliding and surfing his days away while tending to his family. But then his wife suddenly died in childbirth, and his whole life came crashing to the ground. Unable to cope with the tragic loss of his wife, he left his newly born son and stepdaughter with relatives and moved to Hawai i. Wandering around O ahu in a dazed depression for two years, Brown surfed and lived with local families who took him in and shared their culture with the muscular yet kind-hearted haole. Then, Brown met his second wife, a Hawaiian hula dancer who became known as Mama Brown. They moved to Waikiki, had two kids and basically raised their children on the beach. In the early 1940s, Brown joined surfing pioneer Wally Froiseth and began surfing pristine waves in remote places like Makaha and the North Shore. Sharks were often their only companions. In 1943, he and his pal Dickie Cross got caught in rising surf at Sunset beach and paddled down the coast looking for a lull in the massive waves. They ended up at Waimea, where the bay was closing out with sets as big as 20-30 feet. Cross went over the falls of one wave and was never seen again. Naked and barely alive, Woody crawled up in the beach in the darkness. Spooked by the disappearance of Cross, big-wave riders would wait a decade before trying to tackle Waimea Bay again. Once again, Brown took his suffering to the sea to recover from the loss of his friend. Along with surfing, he began sailing. After experiencing the thrill of riding on a double-hulled Polynesian sailing canoe, he decided to design his own modern version. He created the first catamaran called the Mauna Kai, and for years, it was considered the fastest sailboat in the world. His friend Hobie Alter copied the design and later became a millionaire, selling Hobie Catamarans. It would be hard to imagine a more epic life, and it s a good thing that award-winning filmmaker David Brown was there to put the pieces together in a new one-hour documentary. Although they share the same last name, there is no relation between the 90-something surfer and the 50-something filmmaker. Yet in the process of making the film, David has become like a member of Woody s family and has been able to witness and even help engineer some of the great events and reunions in his life. Working with his daughter Mary Sue, David helped arrange a reunion with Woody s long-lost children from his first marriage, whom he hadn t seen since their mother died almost seven decades before. It's a bizarre yet moving scene. --Honululu Weekly About the Director David L. Brown is an Emmy Award-winning San Francisco documentary filmmaker who has produced, written and directed over 80 productions and 11 broadcast documentaries on social, nuclear, environmental, health, engineering, technology, peace and justice issues. His documentaries have received over 80 international awards, include three Emmy Awards, and have been broadcast on PBS and in fifteen countries. Recent work includes: The Bridge So Far: A Suspense Story, a comedic 56-minute documentary on the troubled 16-year history of the new east span of the S.F.-Oakland Bay Bridge that received two Emmy Awards (Best Documentary and Best Graphics and Animation in a Program) and aired on national PBS; Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown;, an hour-long profile of legendary 94-year-old surfer, Woody Brown (Emmy nomination for Best Documentary, Inspiration Award at Mountainfilm in Telluride) that aired on national PBS; A Span in Time, a half-hour film on the Labor Day weekend closure of the S.F-Oakland Bay Bridge to replace a huge bridge segment (Emmy Award for Best Graphics and Animation, Emmy nomination for Best Documentary) that aired on national PBS; Amazing: The Rebuilding of the MacArthur Maze, a half-hour film on the fiery collapse and speedy rebuilding of Oakland s MacArthur Maze (Emmy nomination for Best Graphics and Animation) that aired on national PBS; Seniors for Peace, a 26-minute portrait of a group of articulate and passionate senior peace activists (average age 85) which aired on national PBS; and Surfing for Life, an inspirational one hour documentary on older surfers as models of healthy aging. It screened theatrically in 40 cities, was broadcast on over 140 PBS stations, won 15 international awards (including the Golden Maile for Best Documentary at the Hawai'i International Film Festival), and was profiled in The New York Times Magazine, Parade Magazine, on National Public Radio and ABC s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. The San Francisco Chronicle called it a treasure, perhaps the most intelligent treatment of surfing ever captured on film. Brown produced several films on nuclear and environmental issues culminating in Bound by the Wind, a moving documentary on the global legacy of nuclear weapons testing and the plight of the world s downwinders. It won 20 international awards and has been broadcast on PBS and in 14 countries. The Boston Globe called it far and away the best film on the nuclear legacy. Brown teaches Documentary Filmmaking at City College of San Francisco, Digital Filmmaking at UC Berkeley Extension and the Documentary Filmmaking at S.F. Film Society. His current projects in production include a feature-length documentary on 63-year-old drummer, Barbara Borden, entitled Keeper of the Beat and a feature-length documentary on survivors of traumatic brain injury. See more