[ Nikita ]The modern world offers me no free choice,
because marketing experts and authors of clever books decide for me.
So, my life is a cliсhé.
My reactions aren't completely mine,
but those I have appropriated.
[ Nikita ]Only surfing lets me be myself,
because I'm fully responsible for what happens.
When I ride a wave, I can't follow someone else's rules.
Only myself and the wave exist.
That moment when your soul is silent lets you live in the now.
That's why it makes me free to be myself.
[ Arseniy ]I've been into extreme sports for about 10 years:
snowboarding, wakeboarding, skateboarding.
They make me feel free and alive.
[ Arseniy ]I dreamt of conquering every mountain and surfing in every ocean.
I dreamt that I got on a plane.
My eyes were covered with a white cloth, and we took off.
I clearly heard the engines,
people talking in the cabin.
We flew there, landed.
I left the airplane and saw
an amazing sunset, happy people.
'Why am I here?' I thought, 'I should be somewhere else.'
I realised something was wrong,
got back on the plane and flew back.
[ Arseniy ]For the first few days after I came round,
I didn't know where I was: in a hospital, in another country,
or an abandoned house in a forest where I was being tortured.
Then, in the dark, I noticed one leg under the blanket,
and, instead of the other, just a space.
[ Nadezhda ]He spent a month in intensive care.
After surgery, his heart failed.
Then, his kidneys failed.
He had 5 more operations.
They kept removing bone and muscle because it had rotted.
One doctor said they doubted he'd survive or be mobile again.
I keep saying, 'You have to walk!'
He'll answer, 'I'm not disabled!'
I agree. We don't even say the word.
I say, 'You will walk! Absolutely!'
That's the thought... it's all we think about.
It's so hard to watch.
Sorry.
[ Arseniy ]One fine morning I was riding my motorbike to work.
A car pulled out suddenly to my left.
Everything went spinning, then abruptly stopped.
My whole life flashed before my eyes.
[ Nikita ]Just relax!
Guys, both of you, when you get up...
...don't push off, pull yourselves forward, ok?
That way, your board will stay on course.
I'd been surfing long before I came to Bali.
Of course, I came here to surf,
then I found my vocation, so now I teach.
- Got it now? - Yes, thanks.
[ Nikita ]We try to do surfing as it should be done.
It should make you feel good!
Paddling yourself to death is no good.
Either you love the process, or leave it be.
Don't flap your arms! Relax!
Relax!
We love you, Yuri!
[ Nikita ]We teach them to relax, have fun, enjoy themselves,
because there's even pleasure in the effort involved.
The reason is you're alive,
proving your own existence to the world,
at this point in time and space.
Not by reposting a wise saying of Plato,
but acquiring, here and now, your own authentic experience.
This liquid, biting, sharp, strong-tasting, brightly-coloured, brilliant thing.
[ Nikita ]So, kings of the waves, how did you find it?
All beginners think they can control everything...
...until the moment when they get mixed in with water, sand and fish.
Guys, you don't actually need to control
the board, the waves or the course.
There's no need.
Because there's no control in this world.
Smile, Yuri, be harmonious!
I am smiling, as best I can.
- I did it, remember? - Yes!
- But I didn't know how. - Thank God!
Because you stopped controlling it.
[ Nikita ]My mum gave me a book in 1988, 'The Drama of the Ocean'.
Apart from photos of breaking waves and sea life,
there was a double page spread of a surfer.
Imagine me seeing that in 1988...
A man with no sail riding an ocean wave.
That was it. I realised I could do it.
It was on the Black Sea, during storms,
without a board, without a wave...
...without my right mind - but I did it.
At times, it would hurt to do something.
[ Arseniy ]At times, I would fail.
To start my day properly,
I'd have to get up, make coffee and breakfast,
but I couldn't even do that.
As I think of myself as a strong person
and don't like being taken care of all the time,
I became really indignant.
I always wanted to do things on my own.
Pull fast, release slowly.
I'll do it.
I know... but you're doing it wrong!
Fast down, smoothly up.
You should pull down sharply...
Pull, then smooth. Pull, then smooth.
Got it? 'I'll do it'!
Of course you will.
[ Arseniy ]Many times, I thought I'd give up,
because I'd had enough and it was very hard.
But a moment later I'd pull myself together,
continue fighting and get on with it.
When do you plan to stay until?
The 22nd.
[ Arseniy ]When I went to Bali for the first time,
I stayed for just over a month and learnt to surf.
Now I'd like to repeat the experience,
going to Bali with one leg,
and learning to surf in my new life.
[ Nadezhda ]He just announced it: 'I'm going away.'
- 'But how?' - 'I can do everything.'
[ Arseniy ]I know Nikita as the author of 'Surf Tales',
and cool stories about the ocean and surfing.
He agreed to help me train,
and to tell me interesting stories about surfing and the island.
Hi!
Hi, welcome! How are you?
Great, you?
I'm fine, let's go to the school...
...and have a chat.
- Do you remember surfing? - Of course.
Nothing's changed here,
but now we have hammocks.
Cool!
What board did you use? 8 or 9?
I don't remember, maybe a 9.
A 9. Like these...
These are 9s.
We made them made recently for big guys.
I think we'll take an 8.6.
- Maybe the big one first? - We'll see.
But you have experience, and can almost catch waves.
It's been a while.
Come on! It's like riding a bike,
you never forget how to do it.
[ Nikita ]Together, we're going to develop
a strategy for getting on the board.
Without me prompting you, try to find the best position.
And always look forward. Look here.
And stretch your hips.
Yes, good. Weight on both arms is important.
What would you do next?
You shift your weight and move your leg.
So, that's comfortable.
And the other way? If you pull in the other leg?
If you pull in the right hip, not the left?
Try it. Do you see what I mean?
- I have no leverage. - Press up.
- There's no leverage. - Use your hip?
- Can you? - No.
[ Nikita ]You can't... ok.
Can you put your knee here and sit up?
Press up all the way.
That's it! Well done!
Again, again! You'll do it.
Lie down.
This is good for weight loss, too!
I'm skinny!
Really? I'm as tiny as a mite, then.
Come on. Let's go...
[ Arseniy ]Of the extreme sports surfing had the most mystery,
and was the one I most wanted to try.
I tried it last of all.
Before that I'd tried all other board sports, on snow and on water.
My shoulders are hurting like hell.
Your shoulders? We're almost there.
Come on, come on.
[ Nikita ]I had a very good friend as a boy.
Well, I was about 13.
I was already into windsurfing.
He had a problem with his leg.
His leg started to wither after a bike crash.
I helped him to swim in the waves,
because he simply couldn't on his own.
He was embarrassed. His leg was this thin.
He wore satin trousers to hide it.
So I helped him to swim in the waves.
There were foam boards, like in a kids' pool.
So I put him on one,
and it carried him 5 metres along the Black Sea coast.
But he was so happy, it was a festival of movement!
The idea stayed with me.
At various times I tried to develop it,
now finally it's worked out.
One more time?
Yes, I'll try to pull my leg in?
Yes. I hoped you'd do it the first time!
Tired?
- Just for the moment. - Of course.
When the wave takes you,
try to pull your leg in right away.
I'm just feeling crazy...
- ...very emotional. - That's ok.
That's why we came here.
Not so much to get up and surf,
but to get over the turmoil of emotions.
[ Arseniy ]For some reason, I have an association:
as a boy, I loved my mum and grandma's fairy-tales.
They had a children's magic to me.
Talking to Nikita makes me feel the same.
For me, Nikita is the embodiment of a perfect surfer's life:
riding waves, writing stories.
I think it's really cool.
[ Nikita ]I'm a tiny speck...
not even a grain of sand against the ocean.
The addition of my bead of feeling to its necklace won't be noticed,
but I know that the little I give with my board
helps to return the love it needs so much.
[ Nikita ]Surf tales are about water, people...
the magic of surfing, let's say.
It's mythology, if you will,
and I'm the one who created it.
Any ideology has to have a myth, right?
So I created this myth, in 12 novellas.
Why?
I wanted to, and I can.
[ Nikita ]The air can see me, the coast can see me,
I'm looking at the sun.
I'm the child of each:
nourished by each, suffused by each,
and endlessly grateful to each.
[ Nikita ]Of course, I had certain wishes, like huge waves.
Then I calmed down: a teacher must teach.
My waves are here now.
Running around...
...and waiting for me in surf school.
Hear the wave roll in?
For lunch, you know what I had?
- Sandwiches! - Sandwiches?
When I'm the first to sit down at the table,
all the boys swoop down on me.
No doubt because you're incredibly beautiful?
Then I sit with the girls, but they swoop down again.
It's not my fault.
No? Ok, then.
It's like every Crimean house has a cypress tree.
Daddy!
I'm here!
[ Dilara ]Nikita is an artist first and foremost.
And artists are peculiar,
because they stake everything on their art.
That's what makes him a dictator. You can see it.
Daddy's art is quiet.
Daddy hides in his corner and doesn't bother anyone.
- Really? - Yes, just don't bother Daddy.
Just don't enter the house, make any noise or touch the walls!
With dirty hands.
Art doesn't come easily.
It's a nervous process.
The creative process requires devotion,
effort and the baring of nerves, right Sofia?
- No? - Yes.
Yes, that's why high art isn't always easy for the family.
So we get it in the neck.
- How did you meet? - In the Dominican Republic.
It's an awful story.
He tried to teach me to surf, but the conditions were terrible.
Now he tells everyone I was his least talented student,
so, to hide the disgrace, he had to marry me.
That's his theory.
You paddle, get going...
...get up and go.
Imagine you have no left leg.
I'm trying.
You paddle, get going...
Here's the problem!
You're being carried this way?
- The other arm. - The other arm...
[ Arseniy ]In the first lesson, it wasn't clear what to do with my full leg.
It's intact but I can't stand on it.
So I needed to come up with a way of
sitting or getting up, so to speak.
[ Nikita ]What did you do? Pressed with your arms,
then pulled in your leg? That's it.
That's it! Then you can control it.
[ Arseniy ]When we tried various ways on dry land,
it seemed really easy:
press up on your arms, pull in your leg and go.
But on the waves it was very different,
because you have less than a second before you start,
and you have to think, act and move fast.
It doesn't always work out how you want.
Where'd you go?
Long wave! Move on!
To the left! Go on!
Is he going left?
Well done! He's going left!
[ Nikita ]Honestly, what's hard for me is
our weight categories are very different.
It's tough for me physically, but I'm managing.
Knowing how the wave works helps me deal with it.
[ Arseniy ]I've always tended to be full of figure.
That's why I'm so handsome, strong and kind.
My weight constantly fluctuates within a range.
If I do nothing, I gain weight.
If I train actively, the weight goes away,
which makes me sad.
Say no to fatigue and yes to surfing!
[ Arseniy ]Sometimes it feels like a dream.
But when I actually surf, I realise it's real.
All the challenges and difficulties that I've had to face are real.
I don't want to complain that it's hard or that it hurts.
Some moments are great, others less so.
Day 2 was much better than Day 1, right?
Day 1 was a warm up, Day 2 was training.
Yes, now you know more or less what to do.
I caught over 10 waves, thanks to Nikita.
You know, I think you'll manage to pull your leg all the way in.
Of course.
You'll manage. No other way.
It won't be surfing if I don't.
But we're catching waves, not foam.
Will I do it?
No, I didn't.
Come on! There's the towel.
Where's Maria?
[ Sofia ]He's happy working at the school but he gets tired,
and at home he shouts all the time.
That's how he is at home.
'Why do you always take so long?'
'Let's go to bed earlier!'
'Because I'm tired.'
He shouldn't just work all the time and give us money,
but take a break with the family, go to the beach...
He doesn't do that.
I say, 'Daddy, let's go to the beach!'
'No, it's like going to work.'
I say, 'Daddy, pretend I'm a student.
I'll give you money, I have some.'
But he still won't.
I don't know why.
Somehow, his students are more important than me.
[ Nikita ]In a way, all my time is dedicated to the kids,
because I earn money to provide for them.
I don't spend time on relaxing,
nightclubs or amusements.
I don't just go surfing.
All my time is spent on the family.
Some hours I spend with them,
and some hours, the majority, I spend
not in direct contact with them, but to provide for them.
You clutched the board!
We're not there yet, no big deal.
- I'm so tired. - We'll try again, for sure.
There's a wave, a man, and a board.
He has to ride it and find harmony.
Great, breaking right! Go on!
The lesson went well.
There are no bad waves, just bad surfers.
Today we were good surfers, though he can do better.
Jump in!
I'll give you all a ride!
[ Arseniy ]I remember catching my first wave.
It was unforgettable.
I wanted to jump like a little girl and shout, 'Hurrah!'
But I also felt some pride that I'd managed it
and I was thinking, 'It's so cool!'
[ Nikita ]Arseny hasn't given up.
I have all my limbs in place.
But I meet situations in life,
or I myself create them,
that make your soul feel amputated.
So you just give up.
You wrap yourself up in a little bedsheet,
and hide yourself away in a burrow somewhere.
Maybe I have a midlife crisis, it's probably time.
But it happens.
But here's an example of a man not giving up against the odds.
If he isn't giving up,
a young, healthy, handsome man, who lost almost an entire leg,
then why should I,
a healthy, strong, youthful, for the time being, man?
Were anything to happen to me,
I should keep ploughing ahead.