"I have always been ‘Slightly Off’ from the norm... When growing up, my friends were all inspired by fancy cars, skateboards and soccer players, but I never quite found my passion until I discovered the ocean. Even then, surfing didn’t quite hook me until much later on and I seemed to find my feet through all sorts of less conventional water sports like canoeing, stand up paddling, and then later, kitesurfing.

When F-ONE came into my life, I was able to develop my stand-up paddling and kitesurfing under one roof and was later introduced into the world of foiling, and now even wing foiling.

With the pace that the world of water sports is developing, I just feel pretty lucky to be a part of it all. However, the title “Slightly Off” refers to more than just my character.

This short-film was filmed during really strange times. We had big plans to film all summer long, but our summer season in Cape Town was a little different this year.

Covid decided that it wasn’t going anywhere and as riders we had to get super creative to get out on the water. There were many days where the beaches were closed, and we had to either just sit and wait it out or make the missions up and down the coast to find loopholes and spots where the police were more lenient.

I even got Covid myself at one point, but nevertheless we covered everything from foiling and stand-up paddling in the cold waters of our west coast, to down winding in the infamously sharky False Bay, to kiting and surfing in the warmer waters of our east coast. Although this season was “Slightly Off”, it undoubtedly forced me out of my comfort zone, opened my eyes and gave me a new-found appreciation for the place that I get to call home."

- Matt Maxwell