Maps to Nowhere Episode 1: The Lost Atoll

An original video series by Surfline x​ O'Neill.

Diehard surf traveler and journalist, Matt Rode, had heard rumors of a certain wave. A machine-like lefthander, that on its day, funneled flawlessly for over 200 yards over shallow, live coral around a reef pass off an atoll somewhere in a sea of other atolls. Through his contacts on the ground and photos/vid he’d collected over the years, the time was now to pull the trigger on a very promising swell. Promising…but with locations this remote, always a risk.

Rode invited pro surfers Ian Crane, Brett Barley and Winter Vincent to see what some of the best surfers in the world could do with this left. And over two days of travel later, they found themselves at the translucent natural wavepool which had certainly turned ON.

Well…everyone but Brett Barley found themselves there. Missing a connection or two en route, Brett was stranded on an island halfway to destination. But after a couple harrowing boat rides that replaced a cancelled flight, jumped straight into the lineup and washed the travels off with eight hours of tube-time. The following few days served the crew countless barrels with no-one else out, a particularly close-call with the reef, and a bounty of fresh-caught fish (when they weren’t being stolen by the men in grey suits).

*Note: This is a series about the lengths surfers will go to surf perfect, empty waves. The waves you are about to see are not new discoveries -- but they are (nearly) perfect, and they are empty. The locations are not disclosed because our belief is that the journey is at least half the fun -- and sometimes, over half of the travel time. We thank the many local community members that helped make our adventures a success.

“Maps to Nowhere” Release Dates:
Ep#1, “The Lost Atoll”, March 15th: featuring Ian Crane, Brett Barley, Winter Vincent.
Ep#2, “The Accidental Treasure,” coming April 5th, featuring Cory Lopez, Brett Barley, Torrey Meister, Eli Beukes.
Ep#3, “Timing is Everything,” coming April 26th: featuring Anne Dos Santos, Soli Bailey, Ian Crane.
Ep#4, “Where The Road Ends,” coming May 17th: featuring Jordy Smith and Soli Bailey.

Music credits:
The rage of becoming instrumental by Benjamin James (mb)
Infinite by tony Anderson (mb)
Music Bed SyncID: MB01QX6EXSW4NTW

Young Sounds
-----------------------------------
Subscribe:


Become a Surfline Premium Member:
----------------------------------

[Surfline]

Don't forget to subscribe to the channel and to receiving notifications! You don't want to miss the next episodes coming very soon! Thanks all for watching!

[ryanlowe]

At 49 years old and 1000s of surf vids deep I was honestly really excited to watch this. I waited to get home to watch on the big screen. I absolutely loved it. So excited for the rest of the series. Super stoked on all of O'Neill's and Surfline's content lately 🤗😎🤙🏼

[paultannenbaum]

I've surfed this wave, and it is as incredible as portrayed in the video. Kudos to Surfline and the Matt Rode for not giving any major clues away and still making a rad video.

[ponzuprince]

Congrats to all who made this video. Easily one of the best surf video series ever and it's only the first episode. Bravo O'neill...

[WjB_]

Incredible piece! This is the essence of stoke for me! Always dreamt of travel but i never seem to get off of this crowded island. And now at 50 with huge responsibilities my only travel is done vicariously. Thank you for sharing your adventure! Looking forward to more! Aloha!

[KdubseaTV]

What dreams are made of, well if it was a right. Seriously though this is the perfect example of a well planned trip to discover uncharted waves. The filming was on point and the crew ripped. Well done!

[warrenwilson]

Brett is hands down one of the best surfers

[charliedillon]

Shout out to Brett Barley. Dude has duckdived a trillion cold, murky, grinding OBX waves in his life, and it's cool to see him in another seascape. Dude is a barrel riding machine.

[livid_experience]

Such a heavy crew. Brett and Ian and are two of surfing's best underground characters. The grom is gnarly, I'd like to watch him surf some of the Manly slabs sometime. Matt is cool and I'll have to look up some of his work. This is great. Cheers Surfline.

[mls]

2:02 "It had to be the right crew. Surfers that can handle the journey, appreciate the experience, and..." sponsored by O'Neill.

[coreyrice]

This was gold. Old school surf flicks vibes were epic

[nexrace]

Brett shrreding & fish flying out of the wave at 9:55, he had everything at this point! :)

[sebastiaocarneiro]

This is the real surf culture.

Keep this path, its surfing watch this episodes.

Respect and peace.

[hardoff]

Thank you so much for making this. In a world increasingly obsessed with content and grabbing shorter and shorter attention spans, it's great to see something come out of this era with the heart and soul and just pure stoke that is beyond time. I can safely admit that I'll never surf waves like this and that super shallow reef would make it a complete no for me to actually ride those waves there, but this has inspired me to go find waves in my own area more and just surf.

[jpc]

So sick. Kinda just wish we could've seen at least one takeoff. Would have been nice to see the full wave.

[sallyskiera]

Great job, Matt! Can’t wait for the next episode!

[global_zoo]

That was pretty epic! Didn't expect that wave at 8:45 to grow so much down the line

[SoccerVan]

Loving the concept of this series. Subscribed. Props for keeping this spot nameless. Sure, there are plenty of guys out there that know where this is but please don't feel like you need to prove it to the world by posting in the comments. Let's keep a little bit of mystery in this ever-shrinking world.

[marcmelpo]

I lived there for 6 months back in 2000 (on the main island, not on the islet facing the wave, which was unhinabited at the time, but for a hut and a traditional fish trap contraption).
I was working in one of the only 2 dive centers there back then.
What a dream job and à dream life that was...

[brennansnow]

More of this, please! Thank you, Surfline!