BEYOND THE BREAK

From chasing surf glory to confronting grief on screen, Byron Bay filmmaker Johnny Abegg has carved a raw, personal path through cinema and climate activism.

By Chris Ashton

Johnny Abegg was broke, burnt out, and chasing waves on borrowed time when he first picked up a Handycam. What started as a desperate attempt to document a dying dream became the beginning of something else entirely.

After years chasing the World Surf League Qualifying Circuit, the self-described “mad-keen” surfer from Byron Bay realised his career was at a crossroads. Deep in credit card debt yet still clinging to the pro-surfing dream, he started filming – not the glossy life of a sponsored athlete, but the raw, unvarnished reality of a struggler on the road.

The result, the introspective and aptly titled On Credit (2006), set his life on a new path.

“I didn’t have any filmmaking background or experience,” Johnny admits. “I just sort of winged it – turning the camera on myself and my mates. I had a story in mind and taught myself how to edit and all that stuff when I got home. And that sort of steered me out of surfing gracefully.”

With five independent films now behind him, alongside a variety of short films and commercial work, the father of three remains deeply connected to the sea and our relationship with it. That connection led him to co-found the not-for-profit Surfers for Climate five years ago.

But it was his latest film, Fragments of a Half Life (2024), that pushed him further than ever before.

Born from the grief of losing his father, whose two-decade health decline began with a heart attack and moved through Parkinson’s and dementia, the abstract production delves into the storm of emotion that followed. The ocean serves as metaphor: waves of shock, denial, anger, and acceptance rolling in sets, as Abegg balances loss and healing while honouring his father’s memory.

“In a way, I think I’d been grieving the loss of him for two decades. As a person, as a father. But when he eventually passed, I didn’t expect the wave of emotions that I went through. I don’t think anyone can really summarise what it feels like.”

It was Johnny’s mother who encouraged him to process that pain through film. Together, they found clarity and acceptance in their shared loss.

“Mum recounts a lot of the linear story of Dad’s life and I interweave with the emotional response to the grief. I think the two of us bouncing off each other in that journey was really healthy for her too. She has been able to move through losing her partner really beautifully.”

Johnny directed, produced and edited the entire project himself, weaving together new and archival footage over a three-year period. And, to his surprise, despite its deeply personal subject matter, the film found universal resonance and led to surprising connections with festival audiences. 

“I find it quite emotionally draining to put the film on, if I’m being completely honest. It can be difficult to put yourself out there… to sort of hold that space. But when people come up after a screening and say how they related to it, or how they saw themselves in the film rather than it being about me, it leads to the most beautiful conversations.”

Out of that reflection came a renewed sense of purpose for Abegg – a need to protect the very ocean that had carried him through both joy and loss.

A year on from Fragments’ premiere at the Byron Bay International Film Festival, Johnny has shifted focus toward Surfers for Climate (SFC)—the “sea roots” movement he co-founded with long-time friend and Patagonia surf ambassador Belinda Baggs, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year.

Inspired during an environmental summit on Heron Island, SFC aims to educate, inspire and mobilise surfers to take positive climate action — rallying against coastal and offshore fossil fuel projects, with board riders at the forefront of these campaigns.

“At the time, it felt like there wasn’t a direct conversation around climate action and advocacy in surfing,” Johnny explains. “I had a feeling of what was going on, but didn’t know the science behind it, and I think a lot of people were the same.”

The idea and name for SFC began to take shape on the flight home. Soon after teaming up with Baggs, it grew from a spark into a movement.

SFC’s biggest victory came in 2024, when it secured bipartisan support to halt offshore oil and gas mining in New South Wales. The campaign was fuelled by the surf community and grounded in honest, personal advocacy from its CEO, Josh Kirkman.

Riding that momentum, SFC is now pushing to ban sea mining Australia-wide. It’s also leading the charge to secure UNESCO World Heritage status for the Great Australian Bight, where offshore mining has paused but could resume if companies regain permits.

“We’re pushing to get the whole area of the Great Australian Bight and parts of the Nullarbor protected under the Fight for the Bight campaign,” Johnny says, “in partnership with other organisations.”

“I feel the strength of our movement is its inclusivity, bringing together people and voices of all ages, genders, and backgrounds from across the surf community. Doesn’t matter what you ride or where you surf, you can get on board and help make a difference.”

Whether behind the lens or in front of the next wave, Johnny Abegg is still searching… for meaning, for connection, and for a better way forward. The ocean, as always, keeps calling.

surfersforclimate.org.au | johnnyabegg.com