It’s increasingly difficult to go on a surf trip and score perfect waves without a crowd.
At least if you don’t know where to look.
In the first three episodes of “Maps to Nowhere”, Matt Rode and the O’Neill team have proven empty tropical perfection is still out there. It just takes a commitment to mastering storm tracks and Google Maps. And the willingness to travel 50 + hours on a wing and a prayer.
In the season finale, the “MTN” crew, including Jordy Smith and Soli Bailey, pivot from the tropics to the freezing cold, swapping out their boardshorts for a 5mil suit, boots and gloves. Oh, and a few more sharks, too.
“Remote. Off-grid. Uncomfortable. Far. This place was all that and more,” says O’Neill in the description for this episode, the Season 1 finale. “Even for diehard surf traveler/journalist Matt Rode, who’s spent the last 20 years getting as far away from other surfers as possible, it was a solid call. For his travel buddies Jordy Smith and Soli Bailey, it was a chance to step away from the everyday, and stretch their skills in some increasingly epic surf zones.
“In ‘Where The Road Ends’, the crew drives for days into the desert, camping on remote bluffs under the night sky and waking up to waves they’d hoped for, but never expected. Even for such a well-traveled bunch, it’s a surf camping trip like no other.”
While this episode is less dreamy than the previous 3 (we’re not sure how many surfers would be willing to travel here even if they had a map), it’s still an entertaining watch. And it’s impressive to see Smith and Bailey charge so hard, knowing they are days of driving away from the nearest hospital.
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