To tie in with the release of Waveriders in the USA, I was invited as the film’s writer, along with Gabe (who stars in the movie) and the Director, Joel to attend surf night at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, where Waveriders was the headline movie. Two weeks in the California sunshine, a green carpet première, meetings in Hollywood and many occasions to dress up in my new Quiksilver Women outfits - how could I say no….?!


Gabe and I flew out a week early to LA to make the most of the occasion. We spent a few days with our great friend Pat O’Connell in Laguna, surfing Trestles daily with a very friendly pod of dolphins and a fun day at Universal Studios (in the name of movie research of course!)

We then travelled north to San Luis Obispo, which is in the heart of the Californian wine region, in perfect time for the St Patrick’s Day party and wine tasting. Our film is set largely in Ireland so we were the party’s special guests.  St. Patrick’s Day is a huge occasion in the USA. So much so that drinking in San Luis began at 6am. We joined in late in the day with the wine tasting but we let the Irish side down when it came to achieving complete intoxication! The local wines were great but we had to be sensible as we had work to do.

The following day we had a live radio interview about the festival and lunch with the festival organisers, sponsors and Dana Cummings who runs Ampsurf. This is an inspirational organisation encouraging amputees to take up surfing through their surf clinics. Ampsurf were sharing our premiere night and, after meeting Dana who is himself an amputee, and watching their emotional film depicting what they achieve at their clinics, I was delighted part of the proceeds of the Waveriders evening were being donated to Ampsurf. I hoped the promotion would further help their cause that literally changes lives.  (www.ampsurf.org)

I was as nervous for surf night as I was for the first ever screening of Waveriders. Every audience is different in their reaction and one never knows how many people will turn up. The festival is a great event, however and the passionate organisers Wendy and Tim Eidson assured us the night would be a great success.

We were picked up in a vintage woody surf car, which really befitted the occasion and a very Irish green carpet greeted us at the door of the beautiful Fremont Theatre dating from the 1940s, as did (thankfully) a queue of cinemagoers stretching down the street and around the corner!  Legendary surfers Peter Mel and Kalani Robb joined us as special guests with Peter acting as MC for the Q&A.  We ate popcorn, we watched the film, we held our breaths at the end, the crowd erupted and I didn’t fall over in my very high heels as we took to the stage for the Q&A! It was a fantastic evening and one I hope to repeat with future films.  Here is a link to photos from the night:

http://www.unconfinedmind.com/2010_Surfnite/surfnite/


After the glitz and glamour, I am now back home at my desk writing the last chapters of my new novel, which I hope to complete very soon.  I’m in the home stretch and loving the characters and the storyline and I am actually really happy to get back to it after my travels.  The champagne is on ice for ‘The End’!