Laird Hamilton needs no introduction. If ever a reputation preceded a human, Hamilton's renown as a big-wave surfer of unparalleled accomplishment goes without saying. Consequently, he's one of the most recognizable surfers on the planet, appearing in everything from American Express commercials to Hollywood features to just about every mainstream media outlet in existence. And now you can add Oprah's Master Class to his already extensive list of appearances (it premieres on Sunday evening at 10:00pm PST on the recently launched Oprah Winfrey Network). This week ESPN Surfing had the chance to catch up with the legend himself and get his take on working with the O, where stand-up paddle surfing has taken him, and why he thinks the resurgence in traditional big-wave paddle surfing is nothing more than a "gimmick."
You've been on Martha Stewart, 60 Minutes, Dateline, etc, but Oprah, that's like the Jaws of TV. Did you learn something about yourself in this process that you might not have when on other shows?
I think that that's true whenever you're sincere about trying to answer questions that people you ask you about your life. I think there's a certain saturation point when you've been interviewed enough times that it's not very common that you get asked a question that you haven't heard, but I do remember during this interview that they asked some questions that really forced you to dig back into your past and try to remember things from when you were maybe not really trying to keep track of things, you know. The older you get you have a tendency to keep track of life's events a little better.
At Surfing Life's Oakley Big Wave Awards, Damien Warr took home the grand prize and $20,000 for the award for biggest wave ridden in Australian or New Zealand waters over the past year. Warr received the award based on video of him surfing at Western Australia's Cow Bombie on what organizers called the best day in the past five years.
"The day was just right. It was clean, not much wind, the sort of day we haven't had there since 2006," Warr said when accepting his award.
The awards ceremony, now in its ninth year, took place Tuesday night in Sydney, Australia. More than 50 people submitted entries across all categories for this year's contest from locations in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.
The Association of Surfing Professionals' 11-time world champion Kelly Slater joined an elite lineup on Monday in London to accept the 2012 Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year.
The honor ties Slater, who turns 40 on Saturday, with Swiss tennis pro Roger Federer for the most Laureus World Sports Awards, at four.
"I'd like to thank the Laureus Awards for putting this together, recognizing action sports, recognizing what we do, and including us in such an honorable event," Slater said at the ceremony. "To have surfing recognized is, for me, just a huge thing in my life, and to win this award for the fourth time is incredible."
The Quiksilver-sponsored American also won the Laureus in '07, '09, and last year. This year, his stiffest competition was two-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White (who has been nominated for the Laureus six times, with a win in '08). Slater also faced dominant BMX vert pro Jamie Bestwick, pioneering snowboarder Travis Rice, and 19-year-old Carissa Moore, the ASP 2011 Women's World Champion. In a statement, the Laureus World Sports Academy called Slater "the dominant surfer of his generation [and] one of the greatest sportsmen of all time."
Daniel PullenBrett Barley with no hood on this warm winter day on the Outer Banks.
What is this? Febtober?
Last winter, I was writing about how Old Man Winter had knocked us down on the East Coast and repeatedly kicked us in the ribs. Anyone north of the Carolinas was using a snow shovel way more than a 6'1.
This year, I'm reporting on Invest 90 -- a tropical-weather feature that formed on Saturday in the northwest Caribbean.
Most of us know that tropical features don't really show up on the map until July. Hurricane season officially starts on June 1. Every few years, some low-pressure system forms near the equator in May and we think it's a big deal. This one formed relatively unnoticed in February while everyone was up to his or her elbows in wing sauce, watching the Super Bowl. The storm was only a rainmaker for South Florida, but this is only the second time such a disturbance has ever been recorded.
"That glide in Dane's takeoffs. That jazz musician's caesura, that Shakespearian pregnant pause. He got that from Al Knost," wrote Scott Hulet on this blog last week.
Apparently that's not all Dane Reynolds has been getting from Alex Knost. It would seem the enigmatic surf star also swapped Knost his Neck Beard for a couple of hand-shaped single-blades.
This video appeared on surf scribe Michael Kew's blog this morning, and goes a long way in explaining what Reynolds 2.0 may look like.
"Dane Reynolds ... on two Brown Microwave Television single-finned surfboards shaped by Alex Knost," reports Kew, who keeps a trained eye on all things Queen of the Coast-related.
No airs or fin chucks, just clean, down-the-line gliding on a chest-high day at Rincon ... and no jersey required.
Jon SteeleJackson Isaacs (left) and Josh Buran meet on the cliff above Blacks two years after Isaacs helped save Buran's life.
It's been exactly two years now since then 19-year-old Garrett James was hooting his buddy Josh Buran into six-foot waves at Blacks Beach in San Diego. Earlier in the session Buran had copped a board to the jaw, but kept charging. Neither James nor Buran thought anything of it. That all changed in an instant.
"I'll never forget it, after one wave I paddled back out and found him blue and black. His eyes were open, but he was dark blue. He was dead man. I tripped out," James explains. "Others had gotten to him and were helping, but I really couldn't handle it."
"An emerald green peace, a calm is how I remember it," says Buran. It's a cold January morning and he's in a reflective mood.
Reef McIntosh is a Chargers fan. Gabe Kling roots for Jacksonville. "Torn between the Pro Bowl and surfing. The North Shore is 10-15ft hard to pass up," tweeted Freddy Patacchia last week during the Pipe Pro. And after attending the Patriots playoff game two weeks ago, Dusty Payne tweets, "Really wish I could have made it to the super bowl this year to cheer on the @realpatriots. Feel like the worst fan."
Needless to say, whether they'll cop to it or not, pro surfers have a lot of down time, and some of them have evolved into quite fervent NFL fans ... what else are you going to do on a Sunday morning when the surf's flat or blown out? Quiksilver's even partnered up with the NFL to come up with a signature line of boardshorts, that's how serious some surfers take their pigskin.
Last week the Pro Bowl came to Oahu, and while John John Florence was doing his thing on the other side of the island, some of surfing's more recognizable celebrities were mingling with NFL greats. Justin Cote at Transworld Surf captured this little session with Drew Brees, Tony Gonzalez, Doug Flutie, Mark Healey, Reef McIntosh and Kelly Slater. And while it's safe to say that Brees has more of a chance of winning another Super Bowl than he does getting pitted at Pipe, at least they're out there ... and who knows how Slater would hold up if he got blasted by a 250-pound linebacker.
Did you think the Hawaiian season ended with the conclusion of the Vans Triple Crown in December? That's not the case, cuz. No, that was just the pupus. January is usually the main course.
January Hawaiian swell Gallery
This year is supposed to see a La Nina pattern, which makes everyone a little nervous. November and some of December were enough to make some Hawaiians doubt that this winter would give them "chicken skin" at all. But late January absolutely pumped. While we've been getting great reports from our new correspondent Ross Williams on the Volcom Pipe Pro, the entire North Shore has been getting the constant northwest Pacific pounding. In fact, the days that have been too big and while to run at Pipe, the other big wave magnets spots were electrifying.
This was also the week that Jamie O'Brien decided to try his new circus stunt at Pipe, doing a few board transfers from a soft-top to his Rusty. Now think back to the mid-90s, when Chris Ward blew our minds jumping off a longboard to his shortboard in San Clement. Well, while Ward had a decent showing at the Pipe Pro this week, O'Brien perfected the board transfer basically in the pocket of a Backdoor bomb. He then proceeded to get spit out of a cylinder that most mortals would call their barrel of the winter even without the step-off trickery. He also nailed one on a second reef Pipe bomb, as captured here by Terry Reis.
Next year, O'Brien plans to bring a tightrope and an elephant out there. And then there was all the traditional highlights of a North Shore winter swell -- giant caverns, outer reefs, and a busy emergency room at Wahiawa General Hospital. Plus, Waimea broke. This swell wasn't big enough to run the Eddie, but it certainly was plenty to bring the eyes of the world back to time honored big wave spot.
Courtesy of My Surf Yoga Retreat My Surf Yoga Retreat is also about forgetting about cell phones and Facebook, says Caroline Beliard-Zebrowski.Olympic snowboarder Gary Zebrowski and his wife, Caroline Beliard-Zebrowski, have turned their partnership of adventure and healthy living into an international business venture.
Launching in May, the couple's My Surf Yoga Retreat offers various trip packages aimed at getting people to shut off their cell phones for several days and go surfing, practice yoga, and basically unwind from the stresses of life.
William EdwardsIn the matter of a month John Florence has gone from teen phenom to outright Pipe legend. His win today at the Volcom Pipe Pro was as clutch as they come.
It was over. With five minutes remaining in the final John Florence's run at the Volcom Pipe Pro was done, Jamie O'Brien's victory a foregone conclusion.
Then somewhere, somehow, the switch flipped. And in one of those rare moments in surfing where a career is defined or destiny fulfilled, Florence conjured up a 10-point ride -- plenty enough to impress, but it left him still needing another near-perfect score.
Time flew off the clock, sets marched in. Things happen fast in the pit at Pipeline. Then, in just about as high-pressure situation a situation you're apt to see in surfing, Florence responded. He swung deep into a Backdoor ledge, faded the bottom turn, and barely snuck under the lip. Shortly thereafter he emerged from the spit with a double fist pump. It was now Florence's victory that was a foregone conclusion.
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