On Saturday night, I headed down to a coastal town near here to watch 'Calpyte ', a film by Byron Bay film maker and surfer Torren Martyn, who is now quite well known in the world of surfing. He's no stranger to unconventional adventures and wave exploration. He's known for his graceful twin-fin surfing style, quite a soul surfer compared to some of the high-performance maneuvers you see on the pro circuit. His previous escapades include circumnavigating Australia in a Defender, travelling around New Zealand's coast on motorbikes, and traversing Europe in a 2008 Ford Transit - a film I watched recently to talk my husband into heading to Morrocco. You can watch that on Youtube - part 3 is below.

One of the cool things about this film is that it's sponsored by Need Essentials, a back to basics wetsuit company who refused to spend big money on advertising and merch as it ends up in landfill - no stickers, no bags, no hats. Instead he pours that budget into Torren's surfing adventures and most surfers have heard of Need via word of mouth.

He was there to introduce the film at it's screening on Saturday night, with his modesty and shy passion shining through in true soul surfer sprit.

With a desire to surf waves in remote corners the world, Torren Martin's surfing journey is not just about conquering breaks but soulfully entering the spirit of adventure and travel. Often his film also feature his best mate Ishka Folkwell, wh is also a film maker, and show nomadic lifestyle grounded in a love of adventure and an authentic connection with the surfing experience..

In "Calypte," Martyn takes his partner Aiyana Powell (who was also at the showing with their brand little baby) set sail on a 35-foot Endurance sailboat named Calypte, detailing their year-long odyssey from Thailand to Lombok in Indonesia. It's a blend of a surf story and a boat adventure - and for two people who haven't sailed before, it's certainly a challenge. Luckily they have some people who know what they're doing to join them and also film footage at various parts of the journey.

The adventure boat Calypte

Of course, as a surfer I was enamoured with the breathtaking footage of secluded perfect surfspots accessible only by boat. She is a good surfer in her own right - it was great to see a soul girl surfer adventuring with the best of them.

There's a few hair raising moments too, such as when they hit a reef and there's a possiblity of running aground, or heading across the open seas only to have the bilge take on more water than was safe. But on the whole I was envious of them eating fresh fish they'd caught themseles, diving into waters with turtles, seeing dolphins and whales, and enjoying their romantic time together - because in many ways, this is a love story - not just of the two of them, but also their love affair with the sea.

Martin pulling in

I came away hankering for an adventure, and worrying about just how many of the countries we're about to visit are land locked. I woke up to a very flat ocean and couldn't help but feel disappointed in my life this weekend - why aren't I on a boat in Indo somewhere?

All the proceeds of the night's filming were to go to SurfAid, an organisation whose mission is to improve the lives of families in isolated corners of the globe connected to us through surfing.