on the topic of big wave surfing

A friend was asking me about surfing the other day. I was covering a lot of the different aspects and movements of the sport, basic history, that sort of thing. I was describing how swells come into shore and the different ways a wave can break depending on the composition of the beach (reef, sand, etc.), the approach from the open ocean, and the ocean itself and how big it is. When we got to the topic of paddling and catching the wave I had to tell Diane about tow-in surfing. Terribly fearful of the ocean herself I described how one had to be towed by a jet ski onto the face of some of these waves because they were so large that no human could possibly paddle fast enough to get to the right point on the wave in the necessary time to actually catch the wave. I was tempted to hop on youtube and show her the following clips, but then I realized her amazed eyes were probably wide enough open as they were.

This first clip my friend Chris just posted on his facebook profile. It is a segment from the movie Riding Giants, which if you are in to surf films/documentaries is an absolute must see. Hell, even if you don't surf, if you think the ocean is an amazing place then this movie will speak to you. This is Laird Hamilton surfing Teahupoo in Tahiti.


Then once you see that then you have to watch Mike Parsons surf Jaws, another insane surf break.


Amazing, just amazing.

on the turntable: "The Dreaming Moon" by The Magnetic Fields, off the album Get Lost