ew aet—

 

 

avels over to
t of California that
the personal play-
ark. Considered too
eacherous for surfing,
t past the reef and
s that, until then,
’ be found in Hawaii.
hsted until 1992 when
Clark showed Santa
Cruz surfers Dave
Schmidt and
Tom Powers the
20-foot waves
that break hollow
like six footers. The
at was out of the bag.
In a devastating
er of the dangers of
t also a poetic display
idarity, the waves of
ught Hawaii to Cali as
Ken Bradshaw, Ken
k Little came to play
hdise—the ultimate

   
   
 
   
 
     

pliment.

b, a giant in the sport,
ond ride of the day
oked like a typical

bd tragic. Foo never

 

 

resurfaced, and a despondent community mourned. One
year later, another surfer drowns during a memorial for
Foo.

Riding Giants pays tribute to the bond between surfers
and ocean—the surfers pay tribute to the ocean as much
as they pay respect to their brethren, both living and
deceased. Greg Noll talks about the young kids that came
after him (Clark, Bradshaw, Foo) and gives praise to the
current torchbearers.

Today, surf is ruled by boarders like Laird Hamilton,
Dave Kalama, Darryl “Flea” Vorostko, and even Kelly
“Baywatch doofus” Slater.
Hamilton, Kalama, and
Darrick Doerner are
responsible for the inno-
vative “towing surfing”
whereby a Jet Ski pulls
the surfer by rope into
the wave—impossible
without the tow due to
the speed and size of the
wave. Now surfers can
tackle waves up to 60 or
70 feet tall; an unfath-
omable size for the
long-boarders to control,
an unthinkable drop for
short-boarders to survive.
In August 2000,
Hamilton traveled to
Tahiti in search of the
ultimate wave. He found

 

it in a hydroponic anomaly,

 

a water leviathan that contradicted wave
logic. Unlike waves that rise and crest, this
wave had a vortex of water with immeasur-
able pressure as literally tons of water
formed around a hollow barrel the size of
a breadbox. Hamilton squirted out, reached
back with his right hand over his regular
footed stance, and rewrote the book on
surfing technique and instinct. It has been
called “the most significant ride in surfing
history.”

When you hear of grouchy surfers in
Tofino getting all riled up about newbies

invading their turf, you are right to want to piss

on their fire and throw garbage on their hatchback—
they’re just smarmy surfers with no patience for eager
learners. When you watch Riding Giants, grooving to the
sounds of Pearl Jam, The Stray Cats, Dick Dale, Alice in
Chains, The Waterboys, Soundgarden, and surf; you get a
feel for more than just the surfing, you get to experience
the visual magnitude of the waves while hearing the sto-

ries told by those who ride the ocean. And, sorry about
the hatchback.

 

 

OUNEPPPESS | 1G