Ground Swell, The Other Side of Fear

Experience the fear and inner turmoil behind surfing the world’s biggest waves. Monster Energy is proud to announce the upcoming theatrical release of the captivating Big Wave Surfing Documentary Ground Swell: The Other Side of Fear. 

Produced and directed by Paul Taublieb of Taublieb Films, a multi-Emmy Award-winning studio, the 75-minute feature film will hit cinemas across North America on January 14, 2023, in over 50 markets, and in international markets (Portugal, Germany, UK, South Africa and Australia) in February. 

Find a theater here: https://www.groundswellfilm.com/

Nazare: Love and pain on the world's biggest wave

 

Since it was first surfed, a little over a decade ago, the Portuguese town of Nazare has become the 

undisputed home of the world's biggest wave

As he looks out from his balcony, over slumped, drying wetsuits, Andrew Cotton can see it all.

The stretch of sand, the salt haze, a spike of cliff and a scarlet lighthouse.

Most of all, Cotton can see Nazare's waves. They are small today, relatively at least, but there is still a backdrop of bubbling white water and churning white noise.

When the swell is right and the surf is up, it is a different story on a different scale.

Nazare, a small town 60 miles north of Lisbon, is where towering waves - some the height of 10-storey buildings - crash to shore.

For generations of local fishermen, those conditions have meant danger and death. For Cotton they are a way of life and a living.

"Weirdly, somehow, I have turned it into a job, so when it is big, you go out there," he says.

"You go out there all day and do what you need to do."

When it is one of those days, Cotton doesn't need to even look. When the biggest, most lucrative wave in the world arrives, he knows as soon as he wakes, before his eyes open.

"Living here, I know how big the waves are by how much the windows are rattling," he adds.

"It can really be something else, you know? The ocean can be scary when there are no waves. When here is big… it can be petrifying."

Read more BBC Sports

Pro Surfer Mark Healey Lands A Huge Wahoo While Spearfishing From A JetSki Off Oahu

Deep-water spearfishing for wahoo from a JetSki in Hawaii is a thrill I have yet to experience firsthand. Thankfully, I’m able to live vicariously through infamous big-wave surfer Mark Healey.

Hawaii is arguably the best place in the world to live if you’re an all-around waterman. Pro surfer Mark Healey was raised on Oahu’s North Shore, one of the best-known surfing destinations on planet Earth.

Growing up on the North Shore helped Mark Healey become one of the most legendary names in Big Wave Surfing but it also led him down a path of deep water spearfishing, free diving, sky diving, filmmaking, a job as a stuntman, and other extreme pursuits.

Mark Healey has a growing YouTube channel where he just uploaded a video of his latest deep-water wahoo spearfishing adventure. Healey left Oahu on a JetSki and returned with a massive Wahoo (fish), or as it’s locally known in Hawaii, an Ono.

The wahoo spearfishing action kicks off around the 3-minute point in the video. You can skip the intro and jump to the wahoo spearfishing by hitting the ‘play’ button below. Read more

Jeff Clark: The Pioneer Mavericks Surf Company

Jeff Clark is one of the most renowned and respected big wave surfers in the world, regarded by the surf community to be a member of a small group of pioneer watermen. Jeff is best known for successfully pioneering the massive waves of Mavericks alone for years before it was discovered by the big-wave surfing community. Mavericks, located south of San Francisco, is considered to be one of the most dangerous big waves on the planet.

In 1975, as a hard-charging 17 year-old, Clark first paddled out to this monstrous wave located more than ½ mile off the coast, in his own back yard near Half Moon Bay. For 15 years, he surfed this wave alone, with only his ability and determination to find his way. The spot was, until then, known as a navigational hazard. But Clark saw a perfect wave, and from there he set a course to pursue the ocean’s energy, a living laboratory for his many interests and innovations.

Labeled one of the “world’s best big-wave riders” by Surfer magazine in 1994 and among the 100 bravest people in the U.S. by PBS, Clark has been featured in the films Riding Giants, Step Into Liquid, Adventures in Wild California, Discovering Mavericks and many other films.

A third generation carpenter, Jeff shaped his first surfboard at the age of 12. He later shaped boards specifically designed for big wave surf, and specifically for the challenging technical wave at Mavericks. He changed big wave surfing by introducing the first four-fin big wave surfboards and riding them at Mavericks. The design worked so well that others immediately followed, and the four-fin setup is now the standard for big wave surfing worldwide. Jeff Clark Surfboards^® custom stand-up paddleboard and surfboard designs incorporate Jeff’s designs to improve speed, performance and pure joy for anything from flat-water racing, downwind paddling, and surf conditions from two feet to 60 feet and all the way to spinning barrels.

Clark is also the founder of the famed Mavericks surf competition, an event that has put big wave surfing in mainstream sports and has launched the careers of surfers, photographers, water rescue teams and many others. He owns and operates the iconic Mavericks Surf Company^® and Mavericks Paddle Sports in Princeton-by-the-Sea near Half Moon Bay, with his own line of Mavericks Surf^® brand clothing and surf wear.

Clark’s knowledge of the ocean and dangerous waters has set him apart as an expert in water rescue, safety and water dynamics, leading to many achievements:

- Development of the Mavericks Water Patrol, a group of expert boat and jet ski operators trained in water rescue

- Certification by K38 Water Rescue and by Hawaiian Water Patrol Personal Water Craft (PWC) rescue

- Certification in Swift Water Rescue and service as Incident Commander at Kings River water rescue training

- Stunt and camera boat driver on open ocean set of a 20^th Century Fox film Chasing Mavericks. His skill in navigating waves and dangerous waters has provided many filmmakers and photographers the opportunity to capture on film the power and beauty of the ocean.

- Research and development of the Clark inflatable life vest for big wave surfing and extreme watersports

- Development of performance surfboard technology for which he holds a US Patent

- Design and production of hydrofoils and boards for the next generation of wave riding

Jeff supports many other organizations that help our communities, particularly in the area of health and wellness, including St. Jude’s Children's Hospital, Sonoma Children’s Charities, Schultz Foundation, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Navy Seal Foundation, Boys and Girls Club of the Coastside, Coastside Hope, Half Moon Bay high school and middle school surf clubs.

While Jeff continues to surf and perform water rescue in big wave spots around the world, he is inspired by his three children and two grandchildren. He shares his motivational life lessons with fans and audiences across the country and through all industries.

Jeff remains as stoked as a grom to paddle out in any surf anywhere from two to twenty feet. He has found his wave.

Shared from Mavericks Surf Company

Pipe Masters could get green light Tuesday, WSL reminds people to watch from home

Pipe Masters could get green light Tuesday, WSL reminds people to watch from home: A high surf warning is in effect for most of the state’s north and west facing shores through Monday evening. Surf heights are expected to reach 30 feet on north-facing shores and 20-feet on west-f…

Shaped: The Waterman, Dan Mann

In the almost 30 years since I first met Dan Mann, he has been a professional surfer, a lifeguard, a champion paddle boarder, and more and more these days, a world renown shaper…thanks to his recent collaboration with Kelly Slater.

John Weisbarth April 22, 2020

Watches, Wannabes and Waterman

Read with us, as Steve West explores and helps determine what a waterman really is and what some of his prerequisites might be. Do you think your a "Waterman"?

 

It’s a little known fact, the fast track way to achieve some vague semblance of waterman status, is to invest in a Rolex or Omega dive-timepiece. Indeed the number of waterman you might see on any given day in any metropolis far, far away from ocean shores, simply defies probability as to how these gentleman buyers find the time to work the hours required for the buy-in price and the time to hone their water skills and the number is growing daily.

Frankly, many look unsuited to their timepiece or certainly not what you may think represents the demographic of its namesake, but looks I guess can be deceiving. On the other hand, a Rolex goes hand in hand with luxury yacht ownership (indeed boating of any type) and monetary milestones, which can certainly preclude you from having to be able to swim. But in all seriousness, what’s it all about; men who can barely tread-water wearing beautiful time pieces that shout out, “I am Ocean-Man” or sentiments to that effect, or are they simply, James Bond wannabes.

One thing’s for sure, even the great Duke Kahanamoku would I am sure embraced the idea that swimming must first and foremost be a requirement for entry to waterman status, melded with a love of the ocean and for the creatures in it and that surfing per-se, is something you can choose or not choose to do on account of there being such an abundance of other water pursuits, skills and interests which by default would earn you waterman status in the same way as that of a horseman, mountain man or spaceman, of which the Polynesian voyagers where indeed of that same ilk. Read More;

Five Surfers Drown Off the Coast of the Netherlands

THE TRAGEDY WAS APPARENTLY CAUSED BY STRONG WINDS AND ROUGH SEAS

Surfer May 12, 2020

After an unfortunate turn of events, the Dutch surf community mourns a tragic loss. The bodies of five surfers, several of whom were believed to be seasoned watermen with professional experience in open-water swimming, were found in the water near Scheveningen, a popular surf hub in the Netherlands about 30 miles southwest of Amsterdam.

According to various news reports, a group went missing yesterday evening after venturing out into the ocean during a particular heavy storm. After receiving their first call, the Dutch Coast Guard was able to rescue several people from the water last night, but two were later pronounced dead. When the search recommenced this morning, two more bodies were pulled from the North Sea and, according to the NYT, “one more was seen floating out to sea.” The Coast Guard ended its search in the early afternoon.  Read More

Surfer Photographer Ha'a Eats with Compassion, the Aloha Way

The Beet May 8, 2020

If she’s not in running 20 feet underwater, 50-pound rock in tow, Ha’a Keaulana is either at work, photographing other surfers at Mākaha Beach, or making Tofu Musubi in an air fryer.  Born 27 years ago into Hawaii’s unofficial “First Family of Surfing”, riding waves is in this West Side of Oahu native’s DNA. Her nickname is Ha’a, but her full name, Kaiha’ale’a, translates to “Joyful Dancing Sea” – apropos, given her family dynasty.

Ha’a’s grandfather is legendary waterman “Buffalo” Keaulana, icon and four-decade host of Buffalo’s Big Board Classic surf contest. Her father, Brian, is a big-wave surfer and the film industry’s go-to water stunt expert while Brian’s brother, Rusty, is a three-time World Longboard Champ. On top of all that: Ha’a cousin is actor Jason Mamoa, a.k.a. “Aquaman.”

Read More: Surfer Photographer Ha'a Eats with Compassion, the Aloha Way

Fishpeople | Lives Transformed by the Sea

 Fishpeople tells the stories of a unique cast of characters who have dedicated their lives to the sea. Featuring Kimi Werner, Eddie Donnellan, Dave Rastovich, Matahi Drollet, Ray Collins and Lynne Cox. Directed by Keith Malloy

Epic Big Wave Surf Foiling in Nazare w/ Laird Hamiton, Terry Chung, Luca...

Moving at a speed where your mind slows things down to gain control... In early 2020 Laird Hamilton, Terry Chung, Luca Padua and Benny Ferris were out with top surfers across the globe in Nazare Portugal to surf waves that come about rarely, if ever. After extensive experimentation with setups and technique, this group was going to go after the breaks in Nazare in a different way, on surf foils that allow for an unreal speed on the water and an entirely new experience. Documented by Patrick Wieland, on custom classic foils engineered by the team at Lift Foils.

Read the Full Story

Friend and Waterman Wyatt Werneth and his Wife Pam Need Your Support!

Wyatt Werneth….. you know him as many things - Waterman, Veteran, Firefighter, Lifeguard, Stuntman, Volunteer, Dad, Husband, Friend and one of the most “joyful” souls you’ll ever meet. In mid-January, Wyatt was diagnosed with neck cancer. While Pam & Wyatt would have preferred to tell their friends what’s happening personally, they are busy seeing doctors and prepping Wyatt for this journey.

His treatment will be intensive and brutal - 5 days a week of radiation and chemo for 7 weeks in Orlando at the VA Lake Nona Medical Center. The daily 2 hour commute along with the intensive treatments and ongoing Dr visits will be exhausting and difficult. Thankfully, the VA will cover his medical expenses but Pam’s jewelry business, Jewelry by Pam, cannot sustain them financially during the treatments and healing time.

Even though Wyatt will be unable to work during this intense treatment, he has served his country and community passionately. He served in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. He is and has been an exceptional volunteer in his community including firefighting and currently as a rescue swimmer for the Brevard County Sheriff’s Aviation unit. He is an Officer with the US Navy Sea Cadet Corp. Close to his heart is his most recent volunteer project, Drown Zero Rescue Stations. He designed and implemented these stations to prevent drownings in unguarded beaches. In 2007, he was awarded the Guinness World Record for paddling the coast of Florida in 10 days to raise awareness of ocean drownings in Brevard County. He is also a member of the Cocoa Beach Rotary Club and Cocoa Beach Kiwanis Club. Wyatt has spent his life helping people. He is a very giving human being, always ready to help and encourage anyone.

Which is why, as people find out about his diagnosis, the first question is - What can I do to help? This GoFundMe page is the best way to help alleviate the financial stress of paying travel and living expenses during this difficult time. It’s our turn to help him and his family! Thank you in advance from the bottom of their hearts! To contribute:  GoFundMe

GoFundMe Organized by Kim Walker and Robert Long of Pam Werneth. Feb 20, 2020

Read; Wyatt Werneth has committed entire life to ocean safety and will be honored with Space Coast Public Service Lifetime Achievement Award

How Diving Can Improve Your Surfing, with Mark Healey

Hawaiian waterman explains the benefits of descending beneath the surface

Surfline January 29, 2020

These days, the virtual world is nearly as tangible as the good ol’ fashioned terra firma. There it is, constantly in our pockets, awaiting our scrolls and likes and hashtags. But Oahu’s own Mark Healey lives in the real world, unplugged à la The Matrix. He’s in the sea – surfing, diving, and fishing. He’s on land – hunting wild boar. He’s in the air – or, rather, he’s breathing it in ways to help him in his pastimes above. He’s a man of the physical world in all its material forms; although his Instagram account is still a solid follow. Just sayin’.

And one of Healey’s favorite side hustles – outside of his main muse, surfing – is diving. He’s become a well-respected free diver and award-winning spear fisherman, which, in an era when simply packing a bomb at Pipeline or hucking air reverses on repeat has become blasé, is important. You need to be more than just a good surfer to be recognized. You need to be an eco-warrior or a musician or a mixed martial artist or (in Healey’s case) an all-around “waterman.” And, more importantly, it also helps to have something else to do when the waves go flat.

But the best part is, Healey’s hobbies help him when big swells do arrive. And diving in particular. So, for another edition of our ongoing series on cross-training, we picked Healey’s brain about what it’s like to go beneath the surface, and how it helps when he comes back to the lineup.

Hawaii-born Jason Momoa makes a splash on "Aquaman" movie

It’s fitting that Jason Momoa is catapulting to international stardom in a movie titled “Aquaman.”

Like the comic book superhero he portrays in the Warner Bros. DC Extended Universe blockbuster that opens here Friday, the Hawaii-born actor is a true waterman who learned the ways of the ocean from his ohana and a close-knit network of mentors.

Also like his half-human, big-screen alter ego, Momoa, 39, is a product of two distinct and vastly different cultures.  Read More 

Q&A: Haa Keaulana wants to change how people think about Hawaii

The photography of Haa Keaulana, granddaughter of Oahu surf legend Buffalo Keaulana, has a worldwide audience.

Hawaii Magazine Nov 6, 2017

If you don’t already know surfer-photographer-model Haa Keaulana, you will soon enough. With more than 140,000 Instagram followers, the 25-year-old Keaulana has been sharing colorful lifestyle surf photography of her hometown of Makaha with the world. It’s led to partnerships with several companies, including the Four Seasons Resort Ko Olina, OluKai and Hawaiian Airlines. Our older, sunbaked readers may also recognize her family name: The patriarch of the family is her grandfather, Richard “Buffalo” Keaulana, who was a famous Waikiki beachboy, lifeguard, big-wave surfer and inaugural Hokulea voyage crewman. Haa continues the ocean-centered legacy her family has established, and she’s sharing it with the world, pic by pic, like by like, follower by follower. 

Read More 

SAS Water Safety: Wipeout Wearable: Quiksilver’s Inflatable Vest May...

SAS Water Safety: Wipeout Wearable: Quiksilver’s Inflatable Vest May...:   Surf brand Quiksilver partnered with diving equipment manufacturer Aqua Lung to develop an inflatable flotation device. The Highline Airli...

Wyatt Werneth Has Committed Entire Life to Ocean Safety And Will Be Honored With Space Coast Public Service Lifetime Achievement Award

Space Coast Daily August 27, 2017

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Wyatt Werneth began his career in 1994 after serving an eight year commitment with the U.S. Navy.

While in college, Werneth started his own diving business where he met a volunteer firefighter from the Cape Canaveral Volunteer Fire Department.

He then joined the Cape Canaveral Volunteer Fire Department, and he also tried out for a Brevard County lifeguard position.

It didn’t take long before Werneth was improving his skill set by attending Fire College and EMT school to become a better lifesaver.

Lifeguarding came natural for him, and he excelled in rank very quickly. His first year he became a Lieutenant and the following year a Captain running his own lifeguard team.

In 1996, the Cape Canaveral Volunteer Fire Department requested that the Fire Department manage the lifeguards.

Werneth jumped at the opportunity to go full-time with the Fire Department and by 1997, the Fire Department had successfully formed a lifeguard division of the fire department with Werneth in command.

Before the year ended, Cape Canaveral lifeguards had been certified as an advanced certified life-saving organization. The very first year, the lifeguards proved invaluable by making a rescue, which earned Werneth and the team EMT of the Year.

He implemented many improvements such as the first defibrillator and rescue watercraft at Jetty Park.

Werneth accepted the position as Brevard County Ocean Rescue Chief in 1999, where he established the first Brevard County ocean rescue rookie class to recognize all lifeguards.

In 2004, he joined the U.S. Coast Guard and soon after, became a naval officer for the Navy Sea Cadet Corp as a special warfare orientation course instructor.

In 2007, Brevard County experienced 10 drownings in a short period of time. To help raise awareness, he decided he would paddle board up the coast of Florida for 10 days to raise awareness.

The 345 mile trip from the Miami Beach lifeguard station, up the coast to the Jacksonville lifeguard station, set a Guinness world record.

He is currently working with other lifeguards to form a non-profit organization called the Life Rescue Project. Their mission is to implement life safety devices along all beaches in areas where there are no lifeguards.

Werneth has since retired, but remains active in water safety as an active rescuer with the Melbourne Beach and Satellite Beach Volunteer Fire Department’s water rescue teams, as well as being instrumental in discussions of a Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Rescue Swimmer team.

He has committed his entire life to ocean safety and continues with his life-saving legacy to inspire ocean rescuers everywhere.

Mick Fanning Awarded SIMA’s 2016 Waterman of the Year Honor

What more can we say about Mick Fanning that hasn’t already been said in the past 12 months? The world watched him escape an encounter with a shark mid-heat and never looked away – from losing his brother during a week that decided the world title, to his triumphant climb into the title race to begin with – just about everything Mick experienced in a very public light had to tug at your heart strings. Then he announced early in 2016 it had all added up to taking a much deserved year off from competition. Inevitably, the world still pulls for Mick, even if he’s not going to wear a jersey most of 2016.

Come August, Mick will be honored in Laguna Beach, California as the 2016 Waterman of the Year for SIMA’s 27th Annual Waterman’s Weekend.

“Mick has overcome some major hurdles in his life while working his way to the top of the sport” reads a press release announcing the honor. “From personal losses to suffering a complete hamstring tear in 2004 that sidelined him for six months. Then in 2015, while battling for a fourth world title, Mick infamously battled a shark in a heat during the J-Bay Open. Throughout it all, Mick has always shown the heart of a champion and represented surfing in the most positive way.”

Fanning joins a list that includes last year’s Waterman of the Year honoree, Stephanie Gilmore, as well as legends like Tom Carroll Tom Curren, Andy Irons, Gerry Lopez and Bruce Brown, to name a few.

Also being honored during the 27th Annual Waterman’s Weekend are big wave surfer Ramon Navarro as the 2016 Environmentalist of the Year, with the Lifetime Achievement Award going to Simon Anderson. The two-day fundraising event is expected to will support the SIMA Environmental Fund. The Waterman’s Ball itself attracts more than 600 people each year as is expected to raise close to $400,000 to benefit 18 different ocean conservation groups.

25th Annual Waterman's Weekend Dates Set, Honorees Announced / SIMA

SIMA will honor Tom Carrol as Waterman of the Year

SIMA Celebrates 25^th Anniversary of Waterman’s Weekend, Honors Tom Carroll, Rusty Preisendorfer, Ted Danson and Hobie Alter

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.  — The Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) will celebrate 25 years of uniting the surf industry and protecting the environment by honoring surf legend and two-time world champion Tom Carroll as Waterman of the Year, Golden Globe Award Winner and environmental activist Ted Danson as Environmentalist of the Year, and legendary shaper Rusty Preisendorfer with the Lifetime Achievement Award. A Special Recognition Award will also be presented to the family of influential surf industry figure, Hobie Alter, in memory of SIMA’s first-ever Waterman of the Year.

The 25^th Annual Waterman’s Weekend will be held August 8-9, 2014, at The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, Calif. The weekend begins Friday, August 8, at the Monarch Beach Golf Links with the Waterman’s Classic Golf Tournament, and concludes on Saturday, August 9, with the Waterman’s Ball and Auction.

Greg Long at Puerto Escondido • 2014 Ride of the Year Award Winner / Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards

Different day paralleled in  greatness, BWWT champ grabbing rail on his backside for a healthy dose of

Puerto Escondido,. Photo: Billabong XXL | Edwin Morales

 

Greg Long (San Clemente, California, USA) is a Ride of the Year Award Winner for this wave at Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico. Video by Mike Mortimer. A finalist in the 2014 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards on May 2. For more info see the event website at www.BillabongXXL.com

 

Second Place: Shawn Walsh (HAW)
Third Place: Grant Baker (ZAF)
Fourth Place: Shane Dorian (HAW)
Fifth Place: Billy Kemper (HAW)

 

More from the 2014 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards coming soon.