Stephanie Gilmore surfs faster than a speeding bullet. Photo jimmicane

Editors Note: Dear & Yonder directors Tiffany Campbell and Andrea Lessler were awarded the Breakthrough Filmmaker of the Year Award at this year's Surfer Poll gala last week. We hope that very worthy honor will convince you to go check this film out. When you do I think you'll fall pretty hard for Lizzy Clark, one of today's most hardcore adventurist. In fact, you can read a lot more about Clark in the current issue of Surfer Magazine. We'll take this moment to congratulate Campbell and Lessler on a job well done. The text below is my reaction to the film after a screening in July. -- PG

When I was a grom, I had wonderful dreams about Paradise Island, which is not be confused with Fantasy Island, y'know, where Ricardo Montalban (RIP) and that little Tatoo guy (RIP) who used to always be searching for planes circling overhead. Anyway, Paradise Island is where Wonder Woman comes from. And well, as far as I was concerned back then, she was the hottest chick alive. Paradise Island is inhabited and ruled entirely by women. Incredible Amazon warrior women who were smart, beautiful, athletic, and yeah, really frickin' sexy. It was a lot for a 14-year old kid to handle. Go ahead, see for yourself.


Thing is, I'm pretty sure Paradise Island actually exist out there somewhere, and not just in the form of some Vegas strip club. When I saw a preview of the new chick flick, Dear and Yonder, which stars some of the hottest female surfers in the world, including Sofia Mulanovich, Stephanie Gilmore, Coco Ho, Kassia Meadore, Malia Manuel and the queen of wanderlust, Lizzy Clark, my faith in that belief was restored.

That this movie even exists is a bit of a dream come true for that kid in me. Packs of talented girls having fun together in bikinis while demonstrating their talent in perfect surf? Really, what's not to love? Yes, the whole thing is eye-candy, it's beautifully shot by Thomas and Tiffany Campbell, Sonny Miller, Dave Homcy and Scott Soens, and then put together nicely by Tiffany and Andria Lessler, utilizing some compelling hooks, from odes to the pioneers of women's surfing to modern day world champs, groovy artists, and exotic adventurist like Elizabeth "Lizzy" Clark, who has been sailing across the Pacific for the past couple of years in her 40' boat searching for waves. She will flat-out steal your heart in this film, and you'll wish you could jump on board with her.



Granted, it's a chick flick, but any theater showing this film stands a good chance of becoming its own little Paradise Island. And these aren't your average girls. These are Wonder Women. Do what you have to to get there.