PAUL VAN BELLEN
Drone-expert and Storyteller
An interview with one of windsurfings best known drone pilots
The Australian based Paul van Bellen is well known in the windsurfing scene for his amazing drone footage and his funny video edits of anything windsurfing related. A lot of these edits show a firm affiniation with the 80’ies and often have snippets of classic movies included. In 2023, his footage and “Behind the Scenes” interviews of the Fiji Pro World Cup went around the world.
We met Paul for the first time when he was in New Zealand to film the Taranaki Wave Classic in 2018. Since then, we have been following his videos and drone footage ever since.
Recently we had the great opportunity to have a chat with Paul, the self proclaimed Wave-Rally-Dictator. We get to know Paul, how he started out, his philosophy in life and his affiniation with the 80’ies. And of course we talk about the Wave Rally in Geraldton.
How it all started.....
Paul, how did you grow up and what did get you into windsurfing?
I grew up as an only child, and my parents divorced when I was two. Pretty much until the age I finished school, I went week to week – one week dad, one week mom, one week dad, one week mom.
After finishing school at age 18, I left home and went straight to a place called Hayman Island, which is a five-star resort in the Whitsundays (Queensland, Australia). I worked there as a kitchen cleaner for six months, washing pots, pans, kitchens and scrubbing walls. I saved $4,000, which at the time was the most amount of money I’d ever seen.
I got a plane ticket to Europe given to me by my parents, and I used my $4,000 to survive there for six months as a backpacker. How I did that, I have no idea. I think I was living on carrots and rice, but somehow I made it work. I did get a little bit of work over there too.
After returning back to Australia, I went to university in Lismore (near Byron Bay) for two years, where I did a double degree in International Business and Small Business Management.
How I did get into windsurfing? My dad was a keen windsurfer and did get me into it. I think the first time I tried it, I was probably around eight or nine years old. Though I didn’t really get into it properly until I was around 11 or 12. I was using my dad’s gear, a Mistral Malibu longboard with a big Tyronsea sail. It wasn’t easy as a kid because all the gear was for adults. But anyway, I eventually got there and got hooked from there.
So how did you get into the story telling and drone flying?
Well, life is just one big story, isn’t it? Which means we all tell stories. And I love hearing people’s stories. So I guess that was just a curiosity thing.
The video and drone flying, I don’t know where that comes from. I always liked videos and I love watching movies. I love the creative aspect of it. I grew up watching so many windsurf videos as a kid, especially during my teenage years. You know, watching those Neil Pride videos, Robert Masters and all the other ones that were around at the time. I was obsessed with those as a kid, and I think when I became an adult, that stuck with me. When helicopters were no longer financially viable to make videos, obviously drones came up. And I didn’t really see a lot of drone footage with windsurfing, we’re talking 10 years ago now. So I bought one and just started filming my friends at Gerroa and a few other places around New South Wales. And that’s how I got started.
Tell me about your first paid filming gig – how did it come about?
It probably took around five to six years of drone filming just as a hobby, before I got my first paid gig.
In 2018 I was invited to go to New Zealand to document the Taranaki Wave Classic and make a video of it. I got some money to do that, so I think that was my first paid gig. It was awesome. Though I really haven’t made enough money to cover even the cost of buying all the equipment. But if I get anything, it all helps. Because of the filming, I’ve been able to have some great experiences by traveling to different places and overseas. So it’s been good. Yeah.
So if drone flying and filming doesn’t cover the cost (yet), what do you actually live of? Do you have a day-job?
I had a small business importing Dutch bicycles to Australia. During that time, I lived in an apartment in Sydney that I had a mortgage on. I sold my business when I was around 40, 41 and I was able to pay off the remaining of my mortgage.
When COVID started, I found a long-term tenant for my unit in Sydney, bought a van and started to travel around Australia for 2 years. I liked Western Australia a lot and ended up buying a townhouse in Geraldton. On the bottom level I do AirBnB, which basically pays for the mortgage on the place. My drone jobs and other bits and pieces add some money, and I still get the rent payment of my apartment in Sydney. So if you add it all together, I’m able to live a comfortable life, but certainly I’m not doing anything wild.
So basically, that’s how I live.
Building communities and the defining influence of the 80'ies
Who are the people that influenced you most?
Well, the obvious ones are my parents, I can’t avoid that. When growing up you’re very much influenced by them, and I’m very, very thankful to everything that they’ve taught me or have given me over the years. So that definitely has to be number one.
I also have a lot of interest in Buddhism and I ended up living in a Buddhist monastery for a while. Living in the monestary helped me a lot with how I live my life and the direction I took. So that would have to be the other one, my parents and my experiences living in that Buddhist monestary. Yeah.
What’s your proudest archievement?
My proudest achievement would have to be getting through life and keeping my mind in a healthy state. I’ve had a few challenges growing up, especially as an immigrant family into Australia. We moved to Australia in 1978 from the Netherlands when I was 15 months old. My parents split up shortly after and it wasn’t an easy time when I was growing up. There were a lot of challenges, and I somehow got through all that and came out the other end, and I consider myself relatively stable and mentally healthy. So that has to be my biggest achievement.
You mentioned that you want to bring people together. Why is community building so important to you?
I think as a human, we all want to feel like we’re part of a community, and it gives us a lot of joy in life. So I think community building is everything. It does come with hiccups along the way, because to build a healthy community, sometimes you hit a few hurdles or stumbling blocks. But I think, as long as you remain true to yourself and your beliefs and as best you can, you end up building a community with people that support you and you support them in a similar outlook in life.
You have a firm affiniation with the 80’ies, which shows in a lot of your videos and also in the Wave Rally poster etc. Where does this come from? What’s your fascination with the 80’ies?
My fascination with the 80’ies basically comes from being an 80’ies kid. I was born in ‘77 and by the time 1990 came around I was 13. I guess when you’re in that age bracket from about 3 or 4 untill 13, it has a big impact on your life and your experiences. And that was the 80’ies for me. I was a little too young to fully appreciate it, but I have fond memories of driving around Sydney, where I grew up in the mid-80’ies, listening to all the cool 80’ies tunes on the radio.
That period of time was so different to now, you know. There was a lot of colour. Obviously there was no internet, mobile phones, all that sort of stuff, so it was a very different time. Also in Australia there were a lot less people around, and I have very fond memories of that period of time.
Windsurfing was booming in the 80’ies, so I have also very fond memories of visiting lakes and the beaches and the harbour, and seeing hundreds of windsurfers everywhere. That image will never escape me. All that colour, beautiful triangle sails. There was just a lot of colour back then.
The other thing I liked about the 80’ies was that there was this sense, that the future was bright and very positive. Whereas now there’s a lot more challenges with everything. But back then, it just seemed to be that anything was possible and everything was bright and happy. So I guess, I like to bring some of that vibe back into the now.
Wave Rally
A couple of years ago you started a new event, that you called Wave Rally. What’s the idea behind it and how did it all start?
I had an idea to bring people together for a windsurfing event that was a bit different. Not overly serious, not overly complicated — just great sailing, great conditions and a great group of people. That’s how Wave Rally started.
We run the event at Coronation Beach near Geraldton, which many windsurfers already know is one of the best windsurfing locations in Australia (and honestly, the world). In summer the sea breeze is incredibly reliable and the waves line up perfectly for fun sailing and big jumps.
What’s the event format?
Wave Rally is built around wave slalom style sailing that happened in the 80s. The idea is simple — sailors head out into the waves, race around a few marks, deal with the ocean conditions and try to keep things fast and smooth. It’s exciting to sail and just as fun to watch from the beach. To keep the playing field level and focus on the “Wave” aspect, we have specific gear rules: the boards must be multi-fin wavebands and the sails maximum 5 batten wave sails.
But the event isn’t really just about racing.
What makes Wave Rally special is the people who show up. We’ve had sailors travel from all over WA, Australia and overseas to be part of it, and the vibe on the beach is always relaxed and friendly. Everyone rigs together, cheers each other on, and shares a few stories afterwards.
How was the response to that first event? Did you have many people turn up?
The first event completely blew me away. We had over 80 sailors turn up, the wind was generally light but the racing was still incredible on the inflatable WindSups we provided. Seeing that many windsurfers out on the water at once at Coronation Beach was something pretty special.
Since then the event has kept growing, and Wave rally 2 that just happened was even better.
Do you need to be a really good windsurfer to participate?
One thing I really like about Wave Rally is that it’s not just for advanced sailors. If you’re comfortable sailing in waves and decent wind, you can join in. Some sailors push hard and race at full speed, while others just enjoy being part of the action.
At the end of the day it’s really about getting as many windsurfers together as possible and making the most of the incredible conditions we have here in Geraldton.
Paul van Bellen, the person behind it
What do you do when you are not involved with watersports or story telling?
I like to travel around and go exploring. I was living in my van for a few years during COVID. I enjoy healthy living and I love learning. I spend quite a bit of time trying to learn something, like what’s going on in the world or things related to health or current affairs. I also love chatting with people. Whenever I meet somebody who is in a field that I’m not familiar with, I just bombard them with questions and that’s how I learn. So for example, you could be talking to, I don’t know, the garbage man. How does it work? So when the garbage gets picked up and then you drop it off there, okay, so what happens?
People sometimes look at me and go, why is this guy asking me a thousand questions? But that’s how I learn. And I learn a lot. And often when you speak to people on the street, you find out things before they get reported on the news, because people are on the front line and you find out what’s actually going on.
What was your biggest “Oh shit” moment, filming or being on the water yourself?
I’ve lost the drone a couple of times, either by stupidity or the drone just malfunctioning. So that’s, I guess, is my biggest “oh shit” moment with filming.
Being on the water, I haven’t had too many close calls, although there was one that probably stands out:
There was a shark attack in the early 2000s in Perth and a guy died, so they closed all the beaches for a few weeks. But after about a week, the wind was up and I was itching for a sail. And I thought, well, a shark is either hanging around or not, you know, it just does its thing. So I decided to go for a windsurf. There was nobody on the beaches in Perth, they were literally all closed.
I sailed out, and when I was probably close to a kilometre and a half, maybe even further out, the wind died . I was a long way out and I ended up having to pack up my gear and swim back to the shore, which took about two, three hours. And I’ll never forget that with every paddle stroke I was coming in, I was just waiting for a shark to come take me. It was not a fun experience. But yeah, that’s probably the one that stands out the most with “what the hell am I doing out here”.
What’s on your bucketlist to do or where would you like to go to?
I’d love to go to Japan. Everyone says to me “Paul, you got to go to Japan, you’d love it!” So that would be cool, I would like to go to Japan.
As a bucket list item, I also have this vision of myself of getting a plot of land one day and living a healthy life on there. Growing food, surrounded by positive people and just supporting each other in a good way. Doing things like going for walks or anything, just to stay healthy and active, you know. It’s pretty simple, but I’ll be happy with that.
Thank you Paul for the interview and sharing all those insights into your lifestyle with us and the Water Nomads Community.
If you are considering a trip to the Wave Rally 2027, just DO IT! It’s a great event and you’ll end up with fantastic memories. More info on https://www.waverally.org/
All pictures provided by Paul van Bellen. Title picture and Wave Rally images by Chelsea Ross. Thank you for letting me use them!
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