How a joke on a Mauritian beach became a foiling short film about play, place, and the ocean’s pull. On an island where the wind sets the rules, and the reef draws the lines, filmmaker Kirill Gapeshko and rider Sil Romejin accidentally created a short film: part parody, part love letter to Mauritius, and all about rediscovering the joy at the heart of water sports culture.

Lost, Found, and Shipwrecked (On Purpose)

Mauritius has a way of rearranging your priorities. The island pulls you into its rhythm of wind, reef, and restless creativity—and before long, you’re agreeing to ideas that would never survive the sensible light of home. That’s exactly how filmmaker Kirill and I ended up making a foiling short film that begins not with a hero shot, but with a shipwreck.

What started as a throwaway joke between sessions—sunburned, salt-crusted, and buzzing on too much Mauritian coffee—turned into Shipwrecked Into the Swell, a playful vignette stitched together from ocean energy, silliness, and the quiet magic of life lived by the wind.

We met on Mauritius with two constants: the Indian Ocean would be our playground, and the wind would decide everything else. Somewhere between the long tacks, the reef breaks, and the laughter, Kirill said it:
“What if the story starts with you washing up on the beach like Tom Hanks in Castaway?”*

A lone wingfoiler, shipwrecked… but with better toys.

I laughed. Then, I immediately questioned my life choices. Fake sand-in-mouth acting? Rolling around like a stranded coconut? Not exactly my comfort zone. But Kirill already had that filmmaker’s glint—the look of someone who knows the joke is about to become canon.

So one early morning on Le Morne’s shoreline, we went for it.

Dragging myself up the sand felt ridiculous. I muttered to an imaginary volleyball (thankfully cut from the script), wondering if any of this would look remotely cool. But as soon as the camera rolled and the ocean began its morning pulse, something clicked. The story took over.

From that playful opening, the film slides into the rhythm that shapes my life: wingfoiling the clean lines off Manawa, carving into the wind-driven energy, switching into kitesurfing when the breeze pulsed, and threading the whole thing through with the island’s ambient magic.

Kirill shot it with documentary instinct sharpened by cinematic ambition—tight, immersive action balanced with wide-open lagoon panoramas that breathe Mauritius into the frame.

Everyone has drones and GoPros. Anyone can post a big carve. We wanted something different—a simple story you could smile at and still feel pulled into, a moment of being lost and found at once. Because that’s what Mauritius does: it strips you back to the essentials.

Wind

Water

Play

The ocean is both chaos and compass.

Reviewing the footage later, I braced myself for the embarrassment. But the goofy acting? Somehow… it worked. It grounded the high-performance riding in a moment of human silliness, adding a narrative thread that made everything feel warmer, truer.

It reminded me why we do this sport at all: not for the perfect clips, but for the feeling. The expression. The inner kid who still loves drifting, imagining, and pretending.

In the end, that Castaway-style opening tied everything together. A small idea. A small project. But infused with heart, swell, and a whole lot of wind.

We didn’t set out to make something big.

We just wanted to make something true.

And in its own way, it came out better than we imagined.

The film will be released soon. Keep an eye out on Tonic Mag to check it out

Videos

Cast Away with Sil
By Tonic Mag