“A thrilling journey South of the border to Baja, Mexico with 14 old choppers and a ’64 Ford F100 turned into an adventure filled with camaraderie, and encounters of the unknown collided. With open roads, remote skate spots, empty surf breaks, and unexpected hurdles, we discovered great people, rich culture, authentic food, and uncharted territory. Baja can be the best or worst trip of your life—just don’t go looking for trouble.”
This was as good an excuse as any to pick up the phone and chat with our old friend Chippa Wilson. Following the release of Brixton‘s latest short film 50w BAJA, we wanted to get a little more insight from time spent on the road whilst shooting the thing. Pull back the curtain below…
Chippa, what’s happening?
G’day Cobber, sorry I just got through security.
Glad we caught you before you go offline for a couple weeks then… Where are you heading? Who’s on the roster?
We’re heading to Mandiri in Indonesia with the gang to film. The annual pilgrimage with Dion, Jaleesa, Creedo, Spon, Jackson and Benny Howard. Taj is coming this year too which is sick!
Jealous of that! So we’re actually here to talk about Brixton’s latest film project ‘50w BAJA’ which you were recently part of… Can you talk us through the concept of the piece?
We came up with the concept about a year ago when my mate Dayten (Likeness) got us all hyped to do a trip with the lads. A couple of us tested it out last year riding from Oceanside north to San Francisco, which was kind of the blueprint for this one… see if it was possible, see if the bikes were up to it and see if our bodies would hold up as well (laughs). That went well and we started planning where was next. This year we decided the same starting point but heading south; so over the border, past Tijuana and rode through Baja Mexico, which was something…
Where did you guys get the bikes from in the US? How many do you own and do you keep bikes over there too?
So everyone’s got their own bikes. I couldn’t tell you how many bikes I have to my name, I’ve got too many… but over there I’ve just got a purple 66 fm pan head chopper Dayton built for me – that’s my California bike.
Was there much tinkering on the road to keep them turning?
It was a really lucky trip… there was fuck all to be done actually. One of the lads, Matty Gadsby was on a very jolty bike and we thought the thing would fall apart after a couple of hours but miraculously it lasted the whole trip. No breakdowns apart for the support truck, which was a late 50s Ford F100 and it had some problems… the only thing to save us out there broke down. On the plus side it did breakdown right in front of a burrito spot which had frozen margaritas, so half of us stayed in there until it was fixed before hitting the road again (laughs).
How much road time were you guys clocking?
It’s stupid really, a tank will last you around 40 minutes so you’re forever pulling over and stopping on those trips to fill back up. To go anywhere far it’s a mission; what would take you 4 hours in a car will take you 7 or 8 on these bikes. Not to mention everytime you pull over you’ll get distracted by everyone and maybe even have a beer. So yeah yeah a lot of road time!
And how uncomfortable do hard tails get on trips like that?
As far as comfortability goes those things are pretty rigid. Some are worst than others but it certainly didn’t help the fact that the pot holes were the size of swimming pools down there. If you hit one of those you’re pretty fucked.
Have you done any trips chasing waves on that bit of coast before?
I’ve been straight over the border from San Diego before and surfed the fun little beachies and reef segments down there but never really scored. We got pretty skunked on this trip too but that’s not what it was about, it was about having fun, surfing, skating and riding bikes, so it took the pressure off that part a bit.
Talk us through the boards you had running behind in the ford truck.
I just bought a couple boards down. I had some 5’2 twinny, and then I just bought some weird channel bottom step-up just in case we got the beachies across the border, which can serve up some fun pits, but none of that happened. I might as well have bought a bodyboard and skimmed the beach or something (laughs).
Did you guys have any input on the soundtrack? Or was that left to the director?
Exactly, so our boy Mark Kirkland’s a wiz and when you have someone like that working on it you leave it up to them. He killed it . Fuck knows how many rolls of 16 he must have shot too, but they pulled it together really tight for something like this. I feel like you could run for either 45 minutes or 15 minutes, but they condensed it nicely.
Best Mexican food / drink combos?
Vegetarian burritos, frozen margaritas and corn chips galore.
In the synopsis we received it mentioned some sketchy run ins. Can you recount any good stories for us?
I mean yeah there was a lot sketchy moments on the road, like some of the lads getting their ankles bitten by dogs at stop lights. I guess dogs have never seen 15 choppers roll up and just get so freaked out by the noise.
I also nearly died for real. I got skimmed by a car doing about 160kph. I was just about to overtake a truck and it was clear, I looked to merge and he was obviously there but going so fast I didn’t see him, hit my arm and knocked me back in behind the truck… safe to say I stayed behind that truck all the way until the next pull in. It was a big wake up call for sure.
Would you ever get a Cartel tat?
(Laughs) Hell no dude, if I did I’d be coming straight to Hossegor to come and hide in your garage.
You’ve done a few more intimate projects in the past with Brixton such as UPSIDEDOWN INSIDEOUT with Robbie Rickard. How do you find the energy being with such a big crew whilst on the road vs a small streamlined one?
When you have those small ones where’s it’s just Robbie, a filmer and I, that shit’s cool because the decisions are pretty easy and you can get stuff done quick. With a big crew I just take a step back and let the crew run it because you can have too many chefs in the kitchen. With a big crew it’s super fun, just way more high octane and you’re just getting dragged around like a madman. But with the small ones you can kind of pick your battles and choose where to go. Both are equally as awesome as each other though.
Did you attend any of the premieres for 50w leading up to its release?
I actually missed out on the California one because I was in Japan competing at Stab High with a torn MCL, so I probably should have just gone to the premiere instead and had a hell time (laughs). But I did get to rebound and go to the Japan premiere which was in Tokyo. We had about 200 bikes show up and got to meet some of my heroes in that world, so I was stoked. It was funny I had just got on the front cover of Ripper Magazine (which is like the Thrasher of choppers). There was a huge language barrier, but a lot of people who were there on bikes were recognising me because my face was on it. They had no idea I surfed too or whatever, so it was funny when they realised. It’s just two different worlds man, and that’s what I love about it as I’m an absolute nobody in that world.
Could that be your next career move?
Nah it’s just a hobby… It’s too expensive man. I must just sell everything and step out of that world (laughs).
What’s next on the agenda / What have you been working on?
I’m going to Indo now with the crew to stack some footage for some personal projects, then on to America for the next Stab highway on the east coast of America, which should be pretty tame. Then I’m looking at coming over to your neck of the woods for a twin fin contest with William Aliotti. So I think I’ll come over for that, and then try and slow down, heal the body a bit before it completely explodes. That’s the plan.
Safe travels, we’ll have that garage door wide open for you in France.
