Cyrus Saatsaz

WaXed Episode 7 -- Greg Long

2013-05-13T15:07:46-04:00

WaXed is a surf talk radio show hosted by Cyrus Saatsaz and former professional surfer Omar Etcheverry that airs Saturday mornings from 7-8 AM on ESPN 1700 in Southern California. This week's episode features an exclusive interview with the greatest big wave surfer on the planet Greg Long who joined the show to talk about being nominated for numerous Billabong XXL Awards, what lessons are to be learned from his wipeout at Cortes Bank, what among his many big wave accomplishments he's most proud of, the surf scene in Madagascar, the difference between a barrel at Jaws and Puerto Escondido, whether there are any undiscovered big waves out there, defeating Kelly Slater at Waimea Bay, his dating scene, and how he's continuing to revolutionize paddle-in big wave surfing.

An Exclusive Interview with Big Wave Surfer Shawn Dollar

2013-04-30T12:53:47-04:00

Zuri Irvin contributed to this story.

The 2010 surf contest at Maverick's produced some of the biggest waves in competitive surfing history. Massive bombs that tested the mettle of all the surfers in the water that day. Yet ask anyone who watched the contest what the most memorable moment of the event was, and most won't go into who won the contest, or how big the waves were, but rather who was surfing during an expression session that was held between the SemiFinals and Finals of the event.

The surfer who impressed the masses was Shawn Dollar, a big wave charger from Santa Cruz who until that moment was known only within the inner circles of the big wave community. That day, Dollar showed his peers and fans of surfing alike just how amazing of a surfer he is. Roaring into a massive 55-foot wave with incredible confidence and fluidity that at the time would set a World Record for the largest wave ever paddled into, Dollar not only put himself on notice as a premier big wave rider but also earned himself a prestigious Monster Paddle Award at the Billabong XXL Awards.

Since that day Dollar has been a fixture at most premier big wave surfing contests. When some of the biggest waves in the world are firing Dollar is there charging hard with the greatest big wave surfers in the world. I interviewed Dollar, who is nominated for a Billabong XXL Ride of the Year, Pacifico Paddle and Biggest Wave Awards, on my surf talk radio show WaXed to talk about breaking the record for the largest wave ever paddled into, winning a Billabong XXL award, reaching the finals of the Maverick's Invitational, surfing Cortes Bank, and his thoughts on Garrett McNamara cutting off Greg Long while riding a WaveJet at Cortes Bank that nearly caused serious harm while Dollar surfed the wave directly before it.

Cyrus: You've been making a name for yourself in Northern California for a while. Santa Cruz is where I believe you're from, or where you currently live. Maverick's is really where you introduced yourself to the surfing industry and beyond. Congrats, first of all, you made the Finals of the most recent edition of a surf contest at Maverick's a couple of months ago. How did that contest go? Were you happy with the way the waves were, and were you happy with your own result?

Shawn: Yeah, with my own results, I was definitely happy to make it to the Finals. For me, personally, it was a really big deal. I was just really stoked to have everything work out, that I got there. The waves were the best waves we've seen out there in three years. So I'm glad how the contest went. However, I really wish it was proper. (Laughs) The space deserved bigger, you know? So you just make the most of it, and we did. It's just what we do.

Cyrus: I believe 2010 was the last time they ran the contest. You participated in an expression session between the Semis and the Finals. That year's contest was incredible. Those were bombs coming through. Yet, I'm pretty sure people remember your wave more than who actually won that contest, which is incredible. Describe that wave and what happened after. I believe you set the record at the time for the biggest paddle-in wave ever. Talk about what that experience is like to basically explode onto the scene and immediately get respect from everybody.

Shawn: That was a pretty amazing day. I'd been surfing out there for a few years and I was well-known in the lineup with those guys that surf out there. I felt really comfortable out there. That day was just absolutely massive. (Laughs) I started paddling when the tow-in thing started getting really big, or when it was still big. And I saw some huge tow-in days out there and I'd just sit out there. And I wasn't able to paddle. Too foggy, too dangerous. But just inspired. And I saw waves breaking out that far, way out past the bowl, and just kind of knew as I got better that we could paddle into waves out there. It just so happened that that was the day that the contest was going, and there were waves breaking out there, so you know, I was watching the contest and would have loved to have been in it and surf, but I was just on the sidelines watching. And honestly, it just got me more and more amped because I couldn't surf. I don't want to just sit and watch Maverick's like that. (Laughs)

When I had that half an hour break I had just been timing the sets, and kind of knew what was going on, and I knew that I'd at least have one shot, if I sat way out there, to catch a wave. There was going to be a good set, for sure. So I just paddled out there 100 yards outside the bowl. Maverick's is interesting because it's not just even straight out, it's actually way deeper. There's just no lineup out there. I've never sat out there before, so I was pretty unfamiliar. But sure enough the set came and I was lucky enough to get into one.

Cyrus: 55 feet! If I'm not mistaken, one or two of surfers may have paddled into a bigger wave since then. Is that correct?

Shawn: Yeah, Shane Dorian. I think his was 58 feet.

Cyrus: Both those waves are incredible. A lot of interviews right now with big wave surfers, especially the ones with families, they talk about how difficult it can be to be running around the world, surfing these big waves, and putting themselves in life threatening situations with the family. What's it like emotionally with a family charging huge waves?

Shawn: Gosh, it would be a lot easier without a family, because you wouldn't have all these responsibilities and people to worry about if you're not around! (Laughs) But maybe it makes you a better surfer, because it makes you take less risks. It's really hard. I mean, I'm the bread-winner for my family. I don't make much in my living as a professional surfer. I do it because I love surfing big waves. To go out there and risk a lot is really challenging. It's hard on my life. It's hard on me emotionally a lot of times, but I pick and choose my days and if I feel up for it, I do it. It's really hard to find the balance. It's pretty stressful.

Cyrus: You mentioned that big wave surfing is not your day job. If I'm not mistaken, you're a sales rep for Reef, is that correct?

Shawn: Yes.

Cyrus: First of all, big wave surfing should be your day job. We've seen a lot of surfers who now get sponsored and get paid well enough to just surf big waves and I'm anticipating that's going to happen to you sooner or later. You're exceptional. It wouldn't surprise me if you're in Waimea one day and taking that crown. Speaking of these really harrowing big waves, your little grommet is two years old, is that correct?

Shawn: Yes.

Cyrus: Are you utilizing one of those inflatables now? I know that that's giving a lot of guys and their families a lot of confidence in the bigger situations and also watching out for each other. I saw some really great interviews during the Cortes Bank session that you were at. You were talking about really taking extra safety precautions, especially the ones with families. So were you wearing one of those inflatables?

Shawn: Yes, absolutely. I wear one of those inflatables. They definitely are your first line of defense and they're easy to use. They seriously work. They work really well. And there are other things I use, too. I always make sure I go out with people who are really knowledgeable. I actually bought a jet ski a couple years ago, and I always bring out a lifeguard with me at Maverick's to watch over myself and my friends out there. I also usually have a spare air canister on me.

Cyrus: A breathing canister? For oxygen?

Shawn: Yes, a mini dive canister.

Cyrus: That's James Bond style. You can just pop it underwater and you can breathe? Is that a new innovation?

Shawn: No, the dive industry has been using it for years, and I've been using it for like two years. There are really no other big wave surfers who still want to use it. It's pretty sketchy and I totally understand. (Laughs) A lot of people are just over the thing. But it saved my life once. Everything has a place. I take safety really seriously, and I'll kind of go hunt out things and really try to figure it out. Not just, "Hey, I'm going to blow out my suit."

Well, what happens if my suit doesn't blow? What's going to happen next? I think you're going to keep seeing more technology and innovation, because the waves we're paddling into are so big that you just can't hold your breath long enough every time.

Cyrus: It's always those second and third wave hold downs that will make me never want to do what you do. I can understand one and just hanging tough. But that second, and sometimes the third is insane. You surfed Cortes Bank back in December. It doesn't break there that often. You can go years without sessions. Not to mention the journey is not easy. I'm guessing you have to take those anti-seasick pills when you're out there. Sometimes you have to sleep out there, right?

Shawn: Yes, it's all of the above there. (Laughs) It's pretty rough.

Cyrus: Cortes Bank is crazy. For people who don't know, it's about 100 miles off the coast of Southern California. It breaks thanks to an underwater mountain that comes within approximately six feet of breaching the water. You were out there in December. And this session really was all over the mainstream news. The waves were massive. And your wave has put you up for a 2013 Billabong XXL Big Wave Award. You've won one of these before. You're nominated again. Describe what it's like to surf at Cortes Bank, because it seems beyond sketch.

Shawn: It is. It kind of puts everywhere else I've ever surfed in my life to shame. The biggest thing for a surfer is we all use lineups, you know? Like hey, there's the land. There's that tree. There's that house. You're out there floating in the middle of the ocean, and there really is no land in sight. So everything is moving. You can't even tell how strong the currents are. The currents are just overwhelmingly fast out there. So you're just floating out in the middle of the ocean. There are huge sets coming through and you just never know. Is a rogue 100 foot wave going to come through? Or bigger? It happens out there all the time.

Your lineups become crab buoys. There are tons of crab buoys that are anchored out there. Realistically, if your body goes through a crab buoy rope full speed underwater, you're probably not going to live through that. And there's a massive shipwreck right on the break underwater that's concrete and steel. I don't know, man. You couldn't even really come up with a place that's worse than that to tell you the truth. (Laughs) And then you get to the wave. The wave is so big and faster than any other wave that I've ever surfed on the planet just because of the physics of it, you know? If you're from California and you go to Hawaii, you'd think, "Wow, the waves are moving really fast because it's open ocean swell hitting island." Well, they're moving way faster than Hawaii. Because there's no continental shelf, there's no continent, there's just a mound in the middle of the ocean and the waves just keep blowing past it.

Cyrus: You're going faster than any other wave?

Shawn: Oh yeah, way faster. I mean, I don't even know. It would be interesting. Probably 50 to 60 miles per hour.

Cyrus: That's crazy. What a rush you must be feeling. That concrete and that metal you're talking about that's underneath you, I don't know if you knew this, the reason why that's there, besides shipwrecks that have happened on occasion, is that back in the 60's a group of people tried to create a man-made island there by stacking up ships. And it was such a failure that it left what you're seeing now. Can you see the shipwreck underneath you?

Shawn: I could see the top of Bishop's Rock when I was out there, but I couldn't see the shipwreck. I guess it's still covered in barnacles and everything else, that you can't see it. (Laughs) But when divers go down there, the rebar's exposed. I didn't know about the shipwreck when I first went out, and I caught that wave. Since then, I read Chris Dixon's book and read a lot about Cortes and became really interested in it, and I was so glad I didn't know that.

Cyrus: You've experienced your share of tragedy. It comes with big wave surfing. It's one of the reasons people have mad respect for what you guys do. You're risking your life out there, literally. You've been out there when tragedy has literally struck. Sion Milosky was right in front of you at Maverick's when he tragically passed away. At Cortes Bank, Greg Long, who is a good friend, wiped out there either the same day you surfed or the day before, and you can clarify that. Part of the reason was Garret McNamara took off on the same wave as him, on the outside, and essentially cut him off. And on top of that Garret McNamara was riding a WaveJet. Those things repulse me. I am not a big fan of WaveJet at all. I don't think they belong in the lineup. That's just me. What's your take on it? You were there. Do you feel like it was just an unfortunate incident? Do you think it was avoidable? What's your take on what happened? It really could have been much more serious than it was regarding Greg Long and Garrett McNamara.

Shawn: Geez, complicated question. Because, that was the set after my wave and I had returned to the boat to put my board away. And I had to take a suit on my wave towards the end. My suit was broken. I didn't continue surfing so I hopped on my jet ski and started doing water rescues. So I had a front row seat to that whole thing. They missed Garrett's pickup, and I went in to pick Garrett up. And I knew that Greg was getting picked up, and I could tell a bunch of people were over there, so I returned back to the lineup and was kind of just watching over things. So from that perspective, it was definitely really disappointing. It's pretty rough. With big wave surfing, people do party waves all the time. When you're out there surfing big waves and somebody burns you, it would almost be bad karma to tell the guy, "F off, get off my wave." You know? What are you doing?

Cyrus: When you talk about these party waves, Waimea always comes to mind. In these old pictures you had all these dudes catching the same wave. And they're big sketch waves! So I get where you're coming from with that.

Shawn: Yeah, it's not cool getting burned on a two-foot wave. (Laughs) It's not cool getting burned on a 50 foot wave. But it happens. With Garrett, the whole thing is, at the end of the day, it's just not okay to be burning people when you're on a WaveJet. It seems like Garrett just didn't quite have the control he needed, so the whole thing is just disappointing and unfortunate. Because it's not just, "Oh, Greg didn't make the wave. Whatever, Greg would have had no sweat off his back." But Greg almost died on that wave. And he technically probably did die on that wave and was brought back to life. There are responsibilities for the surfer that was in front at that point, you know? I think if that was me, I would take responsibility for it. He's apologized and all that, and that's all good, but I think it's just a learning lesson for all of us surfers, you know? We have to be really careful about dropping in on people and the equipment we choose. I just really hope that that doesn't happen again to anybody because it's dangerous enough out there. We don't need to make it more dangerous.

Cyrus: And maybe Step One is preventing WaveJet from being in the big wave lineup. That's just my opinion. Who's paying your bills?

Shawn: Reef. JS Surfboards, too. They've been making me some really good boards and I really appreciate that. I want to also say thank you to my wife. She's the one that really supports me in all this, I'll tell you that. And my family.

Cyrus: And you have a website ShawnDollar.com. Thank you so much, it was a pleasure to finally talk to you. I've been following your career for a while now, you're as good as it gets when it comes to big wave surfing.

Shawn: Right on, thank you.

WaXed Episode 6 - Lakey Peterson

2013-04-29T18:44:38-04:00

WaXed is a surf talk radio show hosted by Cyrus Saatsaz and former professional surfer Omar Etcheverry that airs Saturday mornings from 7-8 a.m. on ESPN 1700 in Southern California. This week's episode features an exclusive interview with professional surfer Lakey Peterson who is promoting her new movie Zero to 100 and recaps an exciting week in surfing news including a setback for the Kelly Slater Wave Company, a new surf movie Drift starring Sam Worthington that is set in Australia in the 1970's, a website catering to job seekers in the surf industry, the damage Hurricane Sandy did to the New Jersey surf scene, and a man who attempted to evade the police by jumping into the Pacific Ocean.

WaXed Episode 5 -- Nat Young

2013-04-19T11:01:05-04:00

WaXed is a surf talk radio show hosted by Cyrus Saatsaz and former professional surfer Omar Etcheverry that airs Saturday mornings from 7-8 a.m. on ESPN 1700 in Southern California. This week's episode features an exclusive interview with ASP World Tour rookie and Santa Cruz local Nat Young who recently reached the Finals of the Rip Curl Pro Bells and recaps an exciting week in surfing news including a list of the top ten surf schools, an announcement regarding the remake of the movie Point Break, Volcom releasing webcast statistics that may be exaggerated, and Sally Fitzgibbons possibly retiring from professional surfing to focus on representing Australia as a track and field competitor in the Summer Olympics.

WaXed Episode 4 -- Pat O'Connell

2013-04-09T09:36:44-04:00

WaXed is a surf talk radio show hosted by Cyrus Saatsaz and former professional surfer Omar Etcheverry that airs Saturday mornings from 7-8 AM on ESPN 1700 in Southern California. This week's episode features an exclusive interview with The Endless Summer 2 and Drive Thru star Pat O'Connell and recaps an exciting week in surfing news including a drug testing scandal on the ASP World Tour, a major surf publication lacking journalist integrity by censoring their news, the end of the Beachley Classic, and the impact globalization is having on local surfboard manufacturers.

WaXed Episode 3 -- Kalani Robb

2013-04-04T18:12:37-04:00

WaXed is a surf talk radio show hosted by Cyrus Saatsaz and former professional surfer Omar Etcheverry that airs Saturday mornings from 7-8 a.m. on ESPN 1700 in Southern California. This week's episode features an exclusive interview with legendary surfer Kalani Robb and recaps an exciting week in surfing news including: Greg Long winning the Big Wave World Tour, Joel Parkinson having his surfboards stolen, the status of the San Onofre nuclear power plant, and pro surfer Serena Brooke expressing her disappointment at her home country of Australia for not supporting gay marriage despite their relatively liberal culture.

WaXed Episode 2 -- Kassia Meador

2013-03-25T12:01:28-04:00

WaXed is a surf talk radio show hosted by Cyrus Saatsaz and former professional surfer Omar Etcheverry that airs Saturday mornings from 7-8 AM on ESPN 1700 in Southern California. This week's episode features an exclusive interview with Roxy surfer Kassia Meador and recaps an exciting week in surfing news including the rumors of John John Florence dating Taylor Swift, a surfer damaging a SUP rider's property in Santa Cruz, and a wealthy landowner attempting to block public access to Martin's Beach.

WaXed Episode 1 - Shawn Dollar

2013-03-19T12:27:27-04:00

WaXed is a surf talk radio show hosted by Cyrus Saatsaz and former professional surfer Omar Etcheverry that airs Saturday mornings from 7-8 AM on ESPN 1700 in Southern California. This week's episode, which is the debut of the new program, features an exclusive interview with big wave charger Shawn Dollar and recaps an exciting week in surfing news including the thrilling finale of the Quiksilver Pro Bells that resulted in a victory for Kelly Slater.

World Champion Surfer Joel Parkinson Discusses Surfing in San Francisco

2012-12-20T18:02:20-05:00

During the 2011 Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco, arguably the biggest surf contest to ever to be held in San Francisco and the home of Kelly Slater's last World Title, I was able to catch up with Australian professional surfer Joel Parkinson, who recently won his first ASP World Title and just moments later won the Billabong Pipe Masters. Parkinson, currently the best surfer in the world, posted a strong result at the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco contest, finishing in second place behind Gabrel Medina.

Parkinson joined me for a brief interview where he talked about the contest and the difficult conditions he and his fellow competitors had to confront. The interview was originally conducted for a radio show and just recently has been transcribed for your reading pleasure. It was nice to get a new perspective on surfing Ocean Beach and the city of San Francisco from one of the world's greatest surfers, and 2012 ASP World Champion, Joel Parkinson.

Cyrus: What's your initial take on Ocean Beach?

Joel: I think it's got some really good waves. It's a lot of work and you're not sure if you're ever going to get rewarded for the work. You paddle out, it can be such a mission, it's like a marathon Iron Man surf kind of thing. Sometimes, like yesterday, I got one wave in my heat, it was kind of cool. It was a nice little barrel. But that was kind of it. For half an hour of just nonstop paddling and you get one little barrel. But then yesterday, you get two or three good waves in 10 minutes. A lot of it is real luck and partly to see where you catch waves.

Cyrus: You guys definitely make it look easy. This is one of the most challenging surf spots in the world. How about the cold water? Most of the time you're in these really nice, posh places around the world. This is probably the coldest spot.

Joel: Yeah for sure, the coldest. I don't mind cold water. I mean, it's fine. Wetsuits will serve you these days, it doesn't really matter. (Laughs)

Cyrus: You're a family man in general. Do you get a chance to actually enjoy San Francisco?

Joel: I'm going to try for sure. It looks like we might have a few down days, over the next few days, so definitely.

Cyrus: Who are your sponsors? Who's paying your bills?

Joel: Yeah, Billabong. Yeah Billabong. Thanks Billabong!

Greg Long: An Exclusive Interview Part 2

2012-10-24T15:50:17-04:00

Greg Long on the set of Chasing Mavericks. ©Ed Grant grantsgraphics.com

Click here for Greg Long: An Exclusive Interview Part 1. Sean Oleson contributed to this story.

Among the many talented and borderline insane big wave surfers to paddle into the world's largest waves, one stands out for his many accomplishments both competitively and in breaking new ground. He's surfed one of the largest and scariest waves in the world, Cortes Bank, and has both towed and paddled into the behemoth wave. He is one of the pioneers of paddling into the gargantuan waves that break off Maui's Pe'ahi reef better known as the infamous Jaws. He regularly gets barreled at one of the heaviest beach breaks in the world at Puerto Escondido. Most refer to him as the greatest big wave surfer on the planet. He is of course Greg Long.

In essence, Long has become the unofficial ambassador to big wave surfing, and rightfully so. Long is the only surfer to win all three prestigious big wave surfing contests in the history of the sport. Long was victorious at the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational in 2009 (Kelly Slater finished in second), the Maverick's Surf Contest in 2008 and the Red Bull Big Wave Africa contest at Dungeons in 2003.

Long's competitive accomplishments are unmatched, he handles himself incredibly well, and all in all there is an overwhelming consensus amongst his peers that Long is a genuine, good person.

And while Long continues to push the boundaries of big wave surfing, particularly with paddling, Long has been making more news lately for his work in the new Hollywood surf film Chasing Mavericks that will be mass released on October 26th in theaters across the U.S.

In the film, which focuses on the late big wave surfer Jay Moriarity and his relationship with mentor Frosty Hesson, Long makes appearances as an actor and as Jay Moriarity's surf double. It's a new role for Long, who spent months in the frigid waters of Maverick's and various other shoots near Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz playing a major part in a Hollywood film that is being distributed worldwide.

My interview with Long took place earlier this year, as filming of the movie was near completion. Long talked about many things, including his experience making the film, hanging out with the movie's star Gerard Butler, chasing a swell that hit multiple big wave breaks, how his approach to competing and freesurfing differs, and which big wave terrifies him the most. Here is an exclusive interview with arguably the greatest big wave surfer on the planet, Greg Long.

Cyrus: I've interviewed you a lot and from the first time on to now it's like night and day. You sound like an absolute professional just talking at this particular time. You probably can sit in this seat tomorrow and kind of just keep going like a champ. So the movie Chasing Mavericks, which is starring Gerard Butler, is based on Jay Moriarty's life. Are you an actor, are you doing stunts, are you doing both? What's your exact role in the film?

Greg: I'm doing both. I actually do have an acting role, my character doesn't have a name but we're kind of these elusive figures that Frosty was going up and surfing Maverick's with in the earliest years before anybody really knew about it. So again, myself, Peter Mel, and Zach Wormhoudt are playing those three characters who are actually labeled as the "Magnificent 3." So kind of no-name, enigmatic figures that are just sort of there. The reason they actually chose us to do it was we have some speaking lines on the water and a lot of dramatic paddling shots when it's big. So rather than getting normal actors to do it they had to find some surfers who could pull it off. I was a little hesitant at first, it's a world I never really thought of myself being a part of, the Hollywood acting scene. But it was fun. It was a great challenge and interesting to see the whole production of it.

I'm also going to be doing some of the surfing doubling for Jay as well. When the days come I've got my quiver of wetsuits from my character to then what Jay's wearing and Jay's surfboard. I'll be thrown out in the mix to try and get a couple of dramatic surfing shots as well. So that's been the most fun. The sessions the other day where it's just us surfing and doing what we do obviously for the production and seeing the footage has been absolutely astounding. No one has ever witnessed big wave surfing before thru the lenses that they're capturing it with. It's going to be incredible when it's finished.

Cyrus: So basically the production aspect is finished except for your surfing scenes where you're playing Jay Moriarty's stunt double?

Greg: That's it. Basically all the acting has been finished. Gerry took off and embarked on new and different projects. It's the surfing stuff and all the second unit stuff, which is everything that takes place in the water and on the water that's still yet to be filmed. Those that are basically condition specific. So any shots where they needed somebody in the ocean when it's big and stormy. Now they're waiting for the day that it's big and stormy so there's continuity with the story line. We're just waiting basically to have the film and hopefully get all the data that they need to finish it off, which I'm sure they will.

Cyrus: You call him Gerry, where his real name is Gerard Butler which means you're clearly on a little closer level to him than most other people. Were you hanging out with Gerard Butler when the cameras are off. Are you guys going out at nights and getting crazy?

Greg: Yeah, I got to spend a lot of time with him. He's a class act, a really fun guy to be around. It's incredible to see someone that well-known around the world and just how well he deals with the public. You'd think someone with his kind of stature and recognition, he'd get tired of socializing. But he goes out there and he lives it up. He's just a great person. As you were saying early when he showed up on your TV show it seemed like he was hung over from partying too much the night before, funny enough the guy hasn't had a drink in 15 years but he still goes out there and just has the time of his life in socializing (this interview was conducted before Butler checked himself into rehab for an addiction to prescription medication).

Cyrus: That's true? He really hasn't had a drink in 15 years?

Greg: Nope, he doesn't drink at all. He's just an off-the-wall character and a genuine, incredibly nice human being. So I really enjoyed my time hanging out with him on the set and off. Especially surfing with him, he's as passionate as I've ever seen somebody for picking it up only a couple months ago. He progressed incredibly well, just a tremendous athlete to begin with. Yeah it's been a fun adventure, the whole project.

Cyrus: I don't know if you're single or not these days but if you are I'm sure those must have been awesome nights to hang out with the guy wherever you guys went. Just to get his entrails.

Greg: (Laughing)

Cyrus: You've accomplished pretty much everything there is to accomplish in big wave surfing. You've surfed Cortes Bank, you've won all the major contests, and you're the only big wave surfer to do all that. You grew up in San Clemente and I believe in your teenage years you started hitting big waves. Who inspired you to be a big wave surfer? Were there any surfers who were surfing big waves when you were that age that you really looked up to that inspired you?

Greg: Yeah, there was an amazing big wave surfing contingent coming out of Southern California here at the time. Most notable probably Mike Parsons. At the same time the McNulty brothers who I happened to be friends with at the time as well. One of the younger up and coming ones, a guy by the name of John Walla who was actually dating my sister at the time was down there with the guys on a regular basis. That was right around the time when I was about 14 years old, 15 years old that I really, you know, I had been watching it and seeing all the photos and videos in the magazines in the years leading up to it when I really wanted to go down there and check it out. So I had all these older San Clemente locals to look up to and really inspire me. It was actually John Walla who took me down to Todos Santos for the first time. Undoubtedly had it not been for those circumstances I probably wouldn't have had those opportunities presented to me in those early years which ultimately led to my world being consumed by big wave surfing. It quickly became my passion.

As well as my up-bringing, my father was a lifeguard for 38 years so I grew up in the ocean with diving, swimming, fishing with a thorough understanding and comfort being in the water. So all those things coupled together really just created the perfect environment to foster a big wave lifestyle for me. I'm really fortunate to have had those opportunities.

Cyrus: You've done so much and a lot of people look up to you. I'm not sure where you got more of your fame and your claim from, whether it's because you've won all those Billabong XXL awards for all your big wave accomplishments, but then you've also won all these contests. What do you like more? Do you like the contests more or do you like going out there without any sort of restrictions and just doing what you do?

Greg: The contests are fun. I've never been a fan of, well I take that back. There's one side that I like is, that when you're out there within these time constraints and competing it really forces you out of your comfort level. My normal approach when I go out and surf big wave, is that I'm happy to go out there and sit and if I only catch three to four waves throughout an entire session that's fine with me. I make sure they're very calculated, and looking for the biggest waves. When you go out there in a heat you now have 45 minutes to catch two waves. So you're going to be pushed to go on waves you normally wouldn't have which, looking in hindsight, some of the best waves of my life have come during these contests that I might not have taken the chance and gone had it not been for being in the heat.

Cyrus: True.

Greg: In the same sense, being in a competitive environment tends to bring out a lot of the negative aspects that people don't appreciate. That the competitiveness and hassling in the water really takes away from the root of why we're out there. It dilutes that overall feeling. There's nothing like spending the whole day on the water and just laughing and sharing waves with your friends, and there's a lot of respect and camaraderie throughout the big wave surfing community, which is another part of why I'm so attracted to riding big waves. So the competition can tend to just throw a different sort of wrench in the mix and some people's personalities change. Ultimately, my surfing has never been about going and having to win contests or XXLs. I've always had goals to do these things but it really just boiled down to whenever I go surf I want to ride the very biggest and best waves that I can whether it's in a heat or whether it's free surfing around the world. I've been fortunate enough to be able to have the support from my sponsors to go to these places and spend extended periods of time in South Africa, Hawaii, chasing waves up and down the west coast. When you're given that chance to surf big waves on a regular basis and be there for every big swell, the chances of you riding the biggest waves obviously increase. So again, I've been fortunate enough to be at the right places at the right time on a few different occasions.

Cyrus: You've surfed pretty much every big wave in the world, or at least those that we're aware of, and also some extremely heavy waves that don't necessarily classify as big waves but pretty much are. Out of all of them, which scares you the most? Which one honestly makes you apprehensive a bit when you're out in the water?

Greg: The most terrifying wave for me, well two of them. Teahupo'o, I've never actually surfed it when it's been at that tow size. It terrifies me to death that, you know, it's one of those things with big waves you can train for a lot of situations. Train to hold your breath if you wipe out for extended periods of time. If you fall there you're really at the mercy of the wave as to whether or not you're going to hit the reef. That's something that mentally I haven't been able to get my head around yet. So I haven't dabbled in the big tow-in size waves yet there. But I would have to say the one that terrifies me the most is Jaws. My very first attempt at towing there when it was big I nearly killed myself multiple times in the same day. I haven't towed it since, at that size it's a different level. Ironically enough, now we've gone back and started paddling it which is equally as terrifying but I'm just a bit more comfortable paddling than I am towing I guess. So I feel a little bit better but nevertheless, that wave the way it breaks, how much energy it has, how fast it moves, how windy it is, there's nothing easy about it. It's downright terrifying.

Cyrus: Just from the pictures, Jaws, in my opinion, always looks the scariest. When we conducted our first interview many years ago you had no sponsors. It was long overdue for the surf industry to truly recognize you both as a person and as a surfer. Now you have some big sponsors taking care of you. Who are those sponsors paying your bills?

Greg: Main sponsors, Billabong, XL wetsuits, Von Zipper sunglasses, Ocean Minded sandals, and the newest edition being Peligroso Tequila.

Cyrus: Congratulations!

Greg: It's an exciting one, let me tell you! (Laughing)

Cyrus: That's the wild card no doubt! Greg, thank you so much for taking all this time out. It was a pleasure.

Greg: Thanks for having me back, always great to talk to you.

Greg Long: An Exclusive Interview Part 1

2012-10-23T17:38:27-04:00

Sean Oleson contributed to this story.

Among the many talented and borderline insane big wave surfers to paddle into the world's largest waves, one stands out for his many accomplishments both competitively and in breaking new ground. He's surfed one of the largest and scariest waves in the world, Cortes Bank, and has both towed and paddled into the behemoth wave. He is one of the pioneers of paddling into the gargantuan waves that break off Maui's Pe'ahi reef better known as the infamous Jaws. He regularly gets barreled at one of the heaviest beach breaks in the world at Puerto Escondido. Most refer to him as the greatest big wave surfer on the planet. He is of course Greg Long.

In essence, Long has become the unofficial ambassador to big wave surfing, and rightfully so. Long is the only surfer to win all three prestigious big wave surfing contests in the history of the sport. Long was victorious at the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational in 2009 (Kelly Slater finished in second), the Maverick's Surf Contest in 2008 and the Red Bull Big Wave Africa contest at Dungeons in 2003.

Long's competitive accomplishments are unmatched, he handles himself incredibly well, and all in all there is an overwhelming consensus amongst his peers that Long is a genuine, good person.

And while Long continues to push the boundaries of big wave surfing, particularly with paddling, Long has been making more news lately for his work in the new Hollywood surf film Chasing Mavericks that will be mass released on October 26th in theaters across the U.S.

In the film, which focuses on the late big wave surfer Jay Moriarity and his relationship with mentor Frosty Hesson, Long makes appearances as an actor and as Jay Moriarity's surf double. It's a new role for Long, who spent months in the frigid waters of Maverick's and various other shoots near Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz playing a major part in a Hollywood film that is being distributed worldwide.

My interview with Long took place earlier this year, as filming of the movie was near completion. Long talked about many things, including his experience making the film, hanging out with the movie's star Gerard Butler, chasing a swell that hit multiple big wave breaks, how his approach to competing and freesurfing differs, and which big wave terrifies him the most. Here is an exclusive interview with arguably the greatest big wave surfer on the planet, Greg Long.

Cyrus: How have you been? What have you been up to lately?

Greg: I'm doing fantastic, I'm actually back home in San Clemente putting a little order in life getting caught up on all the things I usually neglect when I'm off chasing waves. But we just had our first really good swell of the season, uncharacteristic but nevertheless it was still fun. We had a great session over in Hawaii and then I followed it over to your guys' neck of the woods and surfed Maverick's for a couple days.

Cyrus: Did you go down to Todos Santos also?

Greg: I didn't make that part of the leg. I was doing some filming for the Chasing Mavericks movie so I had to stay put there. But my brother carried the flag for us down there and had some fantastic waves, so I had to miss out on that leg but two of the three wasn't too bad so I was pretty content.

Cyrus: Your brother who you're referring to is Rusty, who is also an amazingly talented big wave surfer, so he represented Todos Santos. Is it possible to do all three legs? Is there enough time in the window to go from Hawaii to do either Jaws or Waimea, then to Maverick's and from there to Todos Santos or is that just too much?

Greg: No, it's totally doable. We did it back in 2007, I think. The photographer we were travelling with on this particular trip Jason Murray, who we do a lot of our big wave missions with actually did all three where we surfed Jaws on the fourth, Maverick's on the fifth, and I had to stay and film Maverick's again on the sixth. Where he ended up catching a flight overnight and went down and met up with my brother and surfed it on the following day as well so he did all three. It just depends on the timing of the swells, sometimes on the west coast it might hit at similar times where you'd just rather pick one and get the peak of the swell at one or the next. But if timing coincides there's no reason why you can't do all three, or even more if you're that ambitious to follow it down to South America or somewhere.

Cyrus: That's true, it could even go that far south. Going back to what you mentioned just a moment ago, the new movie Chasing Mavericks that stars Gerard Butler who I have previously interviewed. He spoke quite a bit about the movie. At the time they didn't have a title yet and he hadn't starting filming his shoots. He was promoting a different movie called Machine Gun Preacher at the time. We talked a lot about the movie and right after that he started actually making the appearances in Santa Cruz, then up in Half Moon Bay, and Maverick's. Then it was all over the news that Gerard Butler apparently went to the hospital because he suffered at least a one wave hold down, if not two. You were there on the scene. What happened that day with Gerard Butler? What happened with that wipeout that led him to go to the hospital?

Greg: We were right there in the water. It was myself, Zach Wormhoudt, and Peter Mel. We actually all have small little acting roles in the movie. This particular scene they wanted us paddling out in the inside with the rocks in the background. It was a really controlled, well, it's the ocean so it's never a controlled environment.

Cyrus: It's all relative.

Greg: Yeah exactly, we're all very cautious in our approach out there knowing his surfing ability. He only started surfing a few months ago. We had done the shot prior a couple days in similar conditions and this particular morning it was kind of high tide, the swell was dropping and there was some dramatic explosions off the rocks which is what they want to get in the back. Then out of nowhere a random set kind of missed the whole outside peak and shifted wide to the inside where we were and doubled up on the inside section and landed right on us.

My hat's off to the guy. For someone who's just started surfing, I don't know too many people who could have come out relatively unscathed the way that he did. He went to the hospital, that was just safety precautions basically ordered by production to make sure that he was in fact OK and that he hadn't ingested any water rather than run the risk of infection or the far-fetched idea of possible secondary drowning. So that was basically all just standard protocol. He wanted to keep filming that day.

Cyrus: Wow.

Greg: Again, my hat's off to him. He took four solid double up waves on the head, got pushed right in front of the rocks before the water safety was able to actually get to him. Each hold-down he was down for so long that they never had time to pick him up. We were right there right next to him and it was a solid wave. Again for someone just starting to surf it would have been a terrifying experience, and as he explains it, the closest near-death experience I think he's ever had. So yeah, but all's well that ends well I suppose.

Cyrus: That's a crazy story. When I interviewed Gerard Butler it was in person. I was talking to some publicists before the interview started and they were telling me about a major bender he allegedly went on the night before. When I met him, I thought he looked like he was just sweating booze. It was comedy. He just looked haggard, hung over and not into it. Until the focus of the interview turned to surfing. Then he just lit up and suddenly started talking forever. He just seemed really into it and at the time he had just started learning to surf. Like you said, he's really a beginner. But now, in the situation you presented where just this freak set comes in, for someone like him who's a beginner versus someone like yourself who's one of, if not the, greatest big wave surfers on the planet, how do you two differentiate your approach to a wave like that coming in? How did you handle it so well where as he was basically just getting slammed?

Greg: Well, it goes back to how what we do is all relative. This is the environment that I've grown up in and that I have immersed myself in for the last, well, over 10 years now. You know, intensely. His is the acting world, so basically it would be the same as me showing up on set the first day going, "What the hell is going on here?" and being so nervous and not really understanding. Then him looking and saying, "Hey Greg, take it easy, relax. This is what we're looking for," and just giving me the pep talk. The couple months while he was working on the film we were surfing with him on a regular basis and talking big wave stories endlessly. He put his heart and soul into immersing himself into being the character of Frosty. He did a fantastic job. If he had not studied so diligently and listened to what we were saying and how he needs to act in order to handle those situations he very well could have drowned that day. So that's really the difference. It's something that we've been doing for years on end where he's just beginning at it. If you put me in your seat right now and said, "Hey Greg, come host an interview," I would be sounding like a blubbering idiot. You know? But if I spent a couple of months in the seat there with you I could probably pull it off.

Click here for Greg Long: An Exclusive Interview Part 2

Creative Billboard by Spy Sunglasses Taken Down

2012-09-07T12:02:27-04:00

If a story were ever to epitomize the phrase "anal retentive" it's this one. Sunglass company Spy regularly posts creative billboards on the Pacific Coast Highway that runs through downtown Encinitas near the road that leads to Moonlight Beach. Apparently their newest billboard, which had no images other than the Spy logo and had just the sentence, "Happy To Sit On Your Face" written in white lettering with a blue backdrop, was too racy for numerous conservative members of the community because of the far reaching sexual implication, even though the obvious message refers to a pair of sunglasses sitting on a person's face.

"We wanted to build up a teaser to the new lens technology we have coming out in the spring," Spy marketing director Devon Howard told the North County Times in reference to their soon-to-be-released Happy Lens technology. "We're trying to have some fun and create some awareness that this is coming."

Unfortunately the billboard, owned by Clear Channel Communications (who employs conservative radio hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, among many syndicated radio programs) came down early this morning. "We're disappointed," continued Howard. "If we thought there was going to be an issue, we would have had an alternate advertisement ready to go."

Even the mayor of Encinitas, Jerome Stocks, said he didn't hear of any complaints from residents of the town. "It doesn't offend me personally, but I guess for some people it's a question mark, is it clever marketing or is it maybe a half step too far?" Stocks told the North County Times. "For me, frankly, it's pretty damn clever."

Local news website Encinitas.Patch.com conducted a survey of 134 residents asking their opinion on the billboard. The unscientific results produced numbers that showed 69 percent of those surveyed liked the ad, 19 percent found it offensive, and 10 percent were indifferent.

With election season in full swing, this is a perfect example of what separates one side from another (apologies in advance for the political rant). While conservatives preach vehemently about freedom of speech, personal freedoms and leaving government out of people's lives, they suddenly pull the hypocritical card on an almost daily basis with stories like these by complaining about said free speech. There is zero chance, I think, that a liberal complained about this billboard. None. Zilch. This was probably some square who probably has kids and thought it was sending a bad message that would poison young people's minds with sexual innuendo.

In reality, the billboard didn't break any laws, didn't cross any lines, and if a person understood the message, they're old enough to get the humor behind it. Yet the "evil empire" Clear Channel Communications bowed to conservative pressure and notified Spy Sunglasses, a company based in nearby Carlsbad, that they were going to pull the billboard down. Which they did. This is the world that Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and conservatives want Americans to live in. A world where creativity with the slightest of edge is a crime, where fear and paranoia is a way of life. This is wrong. By this line of logic, companies like Nike can no longer use the slogan "Just Do It" on billboards because of the sexual double meaning. Shame on those who complained about the billboard, shame on Clear Channel Communications for letting the wrong side win, and props to Spy for their creative marketing campaign that didn't break any rules.

A handful of people came for a protest the morning the billboard came down to protest the decision. People held signs with phrases including "What Did Happy Ever Do To You?" and "Happiness Censored."

Maverick's Untamed

2012-07-26T17:35:00-04:00

This is a story about the history of Maverick's, and the surfers who ride the giant waves. Maverick's Untamed focuses on how the wave was discovered, and features contributions from some of the world's greatest surfers sharing their experiences surfing Maverick's and what they do when they're not riding one of the world's biggest waves. Surfers including Kelly Slater, Greg Long, Jeff Clark, Tom Curren, Grant "Twiggy" Baker, Peter Mel, Matt Ambrose, Ryan Seelbach and Grant Washburn provide detailed insights into one of the biggest waves in the world, and what these surfers do when they're not busy chasing some of the ocean's most powerful waves.

Around the beginning of the 1960s, a trio of surfers from Northern California noticed an unusually large wave that was peaking just outside of Pillar Point, a jut of land on the coast of a tiny beach town located just north of Half Moon Bay, California called Princeton-by-the-Sea. The surfers were Alex Matienzo, Jim Thompson, and Dick Notmeyer, and they decided to paddle out and attempt to surf this particularly large wave.

The surfers were not alone.

With them was a dog. A White German Shepherd named Maverick to be precise, who belonged to Matienzo's roommate and came along with the surfers this day.

©Ed Grant grantsgraphics.com

When the surfers started their paddle out to this yet unnamed wave of enormity in the frigid ocean off the Northern California coast (sans wetsuits since they had not been developed yet) Maverick decided to join in on the fun. The dog paddled out into the water in an attempt to join the surfers. The conditions were barely suitable for an advanced surfer, let alone a dog, so Matienzo decided to bring Maverick back to shore to avoid any injuries to the dog. Maverick was tied to a car bumper, and the three surfers set out again to explore this monstrosity that was breaking approximately a quarter of a mile from shore.

The trio didn't have much success that day as conditions just on the inside were well overhead, and they decided not to surf the double to triple overhead waves that were breaking even further out. So they came back in, and for the next 15 years or so the biggest wave to break on the Pacific Coast went unridden.

Matienzo, Thompson and Notmeyer did leave a mark though. They named the break Maverick's Point (hence why there is an apostrophe in the name), after the dog who bravely attempted to join the men and surf one of the biggest and heaviest waves in the world. The name evolved to just being called Maverick's, and while people avoided surfing the giant wave for many years, the local community kept the name and would continue to talk about this beast of a wave that existed less than a mile away.

And for the next 15 years, Maverick's broke in solitude. It wasn't until a young 17-year-old Half Moon Bay local named Jeff Clark decided to brave the elements that a surfer would attempt to ride Maverick's for the first time.

"My family moved to Half Moon Bay in 1966, built a house right on the beach. I started surfing and one of the guys gave me a board, and it was just a beater. But I started riding it, started getting better. Actually made my first board with a little help from a guy from Hawaii that worked with Surfline Hawaii with Jack Shipley, later became Lightning Bolt. And those guys. But this guy helped me build a board in a garage and I started surfing the jetty," said Clark. "Once I figured out how to stand up and make a drop on a closeout, I needed a wall, so I started walking down the beach to the jetty. And I soon outgrew the jetty, looking for more power, and we started surfing this place on the other side of the point north of Maverick's, the Cove. And it's a nice left, just an easy paddle out, and it'll hold 10, 12, 15-foot bases. And so I kind of cut my teeth on bigger surf there. The forecasting back then, in 1970, wasn't the best. So when I started surfing Maverick's, I'd be out there in a line-up. It'd be 6 feet. And then, suddenly there was a big set. Then I'd be thinking, 'Oh, my God, this is a huge set.' And you're getting run over. A new swell would hit and you wouldn't even know it until you were in the water getting run over."

This was how Jeff Clark not only grew up as a local in the area, but how he was introduced to Maverick's. It wasn't until 1975 however when Clark finally decided to charge Maverick's for the first time. "It's 1975, I'm a senior in high school, and we'd surfed Ross's as big as it gets and we'd gone around and sat on the cliffs and watched Maverick's break," said Clark. "And this one day Brian and I got up there and it's plate glass, and Ross's is closing out. And Ross's is named after old man Ross who was a mad surfer in the early days. But we're sitting up there on the cliff and we can see Maverick's going off in the distance out around the point. I go, 'Brian, man, it looks like it's a really consistent, even swell. Let's go around there and watch it and paddle out.' He didn't even want to walk around the point. He goes, 'No way, man. It's no good, I'm not going. No way.' And I go, 'Well, just keep an eye on me while I paddle out.' And he goes, 'All right, man. I'll stay here on the cliff.'

"So I made the paddle out, around the north side, hammering through," continued Clark. "I guess I wasn't calculating as I was paddling out the first time. I just wanted it so bad, I just jumped in the water and paddled straight across a suck-out closeout on the reef, and finally punched outside and got out to where I was in deep water. Paddled out to the peak, and once I was out I was sizing up a peak. I knew how to do that really well. Then I set up my triangulations. I was looking back at the cliff, looking for a landmark to get my position really well. And I have to say the first set that rolled through I was a little too far inside and I started scratching around the north side, around the left, as hard as I could. And this thing is breaking on the bowl, and I am just getting up and over the corners on these lefts. And looking into those things, I have to say they're kind of intimidating. You're looking at a left that looks kind of like pipeline but you're way out in the middle of the ocean. And it's a lot of water."

To most, intimidating would be a vast understatement when looking down the falls of a large Maverick's wave. And in 1975, most surfboards were not suited for a wave the size and strength of Maverick's. "The board I had at that point was a board I got in like '73, '74. It was a 7-foot, 3-inch single fin, 3 ½-inches thick. That's what we had. That was the state-of-the-art surfboard in 1975 for Northern California. We always got things about two years later than everybody else. And so I paddled out there on this big, thick thing, and I weighed probably 160 pounds. But I surfed every single day and was just wiry and quick. I could catch anything on my 7'3'', 3 ½-inch thick surfboard."

And for the next 15 years, Clark surfed Maverick's alone. Despite repeated attempts to share his experiences with others, it wasn't until 1990 when others started to want to see for themselves what Clark was talking about. What they witnessed was a revolution in surfing. "A lot of them didn't believe me. They just didn't believe me," said Clark. "I had a guy that surfed in the '78 pro trials in Hawaii. I've seen him on waves that were 30, 40-feet tall, guy named Steve Nichols. I go, 'Man, you've got to come surf this with me.' 'Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah,' was his response. And later on he comes up to me. He goes, 'I guess you know this is my punishment. I just didn't believe you that it was that good.' So he outlived his time in his life when he really would go for a wave that big. And trying to get people to go out there in the '70s, I mean Half Moon Bay in the '70s, think about where you were in 1975, how big the town is wherever you're at in 1975. It's light years of difference between then and now. I mean the VHS was something new, right? All we had was VHS video cameras and Super 8 film still. And to the technology now. I mean did we even have cellphones in 1975? I don't think so.

"It was 1990. It really blew up. The guys from Santa Cruz that had been going to Hawaii, all of a sudden after the Eddie Aikau in '90, you have Richard Smith bringing home his Waimea gun because his brother Big Bird is going, 'Rich, bring a three year Waimea gun.' And Rich is going, 'What? Are you kidding? No way.' 'Rich, bring your 9'6''.' Rich brings it over and manages to come up in the spring of that year and get Maverick's on pretty close to a 20-foot day. He was completely blown away," continued Clark. "I remember saying, 'Hey, Rich, how big is that? Pretty close to 20 feet?' At that time no one would admit that there was a 20-foot wave in California. Because surfing north of Santa Cruz or even Todos Santos hadn't quite been discovered yet. These waves that could rival Waimea just weren't on the map yet. And now we bring this Goliath to the table and nobody wants to say it's 20-foot when in fact it's every bit of 20-foot. It's 52 degrees, and it's a mean wave."

A local surfer by the name of Matt Ambrose was one of the first surfers to see for themselves what Clark was talking about. Ambrose grew up surfing in a small beach town called Pacifica, located approximately 10 miles north of Princeton-by-the-Sea, and knew the area quite well. Yet Ambrose had little idea that a wave of that size was right in his backyard.

"I started surfing at Mav's because we had exhausted all the other big waves in NorCal and we were told by a local guy named Dick Keating that there was a big wave at Half Moon Bay. I talked to (Jeff) Clark and he said that there was a north point. The road that led out there used to be closed, so we couldn't access it easily," said Ambrose, who is approximately 15 years younger than Clark. "The older guys used to be able to drive out there and see that it's basically a point break out there. The road they drove on was closed off when I was able to drive. If you see it from the other side, the road that was accessible to Ross's, it looked like a crazy closeout left that didn't have the look of a good wave. When I heard that there was a right, I couldn't believe it. I saw it instantly and went to get a surfboard.

"You get completely mauled on your way out at other surf breaks in the area like Ocean Beach," continued Ambrose. "This place had an easy channel. And we had to travel to Hawaii constantly, and who the fuck wants to go out there? Outside of glitz and glamour, who wants to surf in Hawaii? It's crowded, the waves really aren't that good, and to have a world class big wave right here just blew me away. There was nothing else at that level around here."

And thus started the influence of Maverick's to the surfing industry. Yet the wave drew in a very mixed crowd of surfers. While some Maverick's chargers surfed as their profession, others like Ambrose continue to do it purely for the passion, with little glory outside of success at competitions. "I've been doing a lot of hardwood, old school linoleum, stuff called marmoleum. Learned that shit from Shawn Rhodes who I surfed with in the '80s and '90s," said Ambrose. "I used to shape surfboards, when that business crashed I went back to flooring. I run a business called Ambrose flooring."

Soon after the word got out about Maverick's, a large amount of surfers began exploring the colossal Northern California wave. Two in particular are part of a large group of surfers who live approximately 20 miles north in the city of San Francisco. Grant Washburn and Ryan Seelbach have been fixtures at Maverick's since the early '90s and still surf and compete there today.

"I moved West after college in 1990, and first heard about Maverick's shortly after settling at Ocean Beach," said Washburn. "Doc Renneker was my neighbor, and after cutting my big wave teeth out front for a season, he insisted I join him at the new spot the following January - that was 1992."

Like Ambrose, Washburn cut his chops at Ocean Beach (OB) before progressing to the mighty waves at Maverick's. "My preparation was basically getting slammed at OB for 18 months. That first season no one knew about Maverick's, so the more extreme guys would just go after the biggest swells in the middle of OB," said Washburn. "We would basically just try to get out, and then try to get as close as possible to the epicenter of the juice focusing around the middle. It is pretty much Maverick's size without a channel, so that's about as good a place to prepare as anywhere in the world. I loved being able watch the action from my place, suit up in my living room, and rinse off in my shower. For a guy that grew up hours from surf and starved for more power, it was heaven."

Seelbach started surfing at Maverick's some years after Washburn. "In the mid 90's I watched Nacho Lopez surf Mav's from the cliff and saw him wipeout so bad that I knew I didn't want it," said Seelbach. "Three years later two close friends called me to say Mav's was going off and they were picking me up in one hour to surf it. I raced over to SF Surf Shop and bought a Michel Junod that he shaped for himself, rode once at Mav's and gave it to SF Surf Shop just a few days later. Apparently Michel had a Nacho situation that scared him straight.

"So, with no prep or planning I went down with the new board, and caught three waves in one hour, met Jeff Clark and Jay Moriarty and was super stoked! Feeling confident and in charge I moved farther over to the bowl, spun around and snagged a bomb that doubled up enough to have my board become airborne on the drop," continued Seelbach. "I landed it, but couldn't stick it, fell back and went over the falls into a dark deep place that was far deeper than I had ever been. I came up gasping and dazed to see Frankie Quirarte's hand outstretched from a ski. With my board snapped and another wave bearing down, I grabbed on and he dragged me to shore. My first thoughts were, 'OK, I lived and I handled a Nacho style wipeout.' Would I go back? Yes, but with some mental and physical preparation. I was not ready for that situation!"
Similar to Ambrose, Washburn and Seelbach have professional careers that have little or nothing to do with surfing. Washburn is a film and video producer, coordinator, writer, director and surf documentarian, having worked on the film Riding Giants, which documented the early days of Maverick's and is currently doing production work on the upcoming film Of Men and Mavericks, which focuses on the late Jay Moriarity and his mentor Frosty Hesson, played by actor Gerard Butler. Seelbach works as a federal employee for the Presidio Trust in San Francisco managing the environmental remediation program.

This isn't to say that all the surfers who charge at Maverick's have day jobs. Kelly Slater, without question the greatest surfer ever, made an appearance at Maverick's on March 3rd, 2000 to compete in Quiksilver's Men Who Ride Mountains contest. This was the second contest ever held at Maverick's.

Slater has a hazy memory of the event due to ailing from an illness. "I honestly don't remember because two days before the event, I was in bed for 24 hours. Couldn't eat. I had a 24-hour flu bug, it was really bad. So I couldn't eat, I was dehydrated, couldn't drink anything because I was throwing up. And so for 24 hours literally I stayed in bed, didn't leave," said Slater, who proved to everyone that he can conquer the big beasts as well as he can surf smaller waves by finishing the contest in second place. "I woke up the day prior to the event. I had a little toast and avocado and could drink some fruit juice. Then I flew in and got there late that night. Al Merrick and I flew up, got there late, got about four, maybe five hours of sleep. I was messed up. Then I get down to the beach and it was like 40-foot faces that morning. That was a big swell. Short interval, giant swell, and all I had was a couple of Odwalla drinks that morning.

"My first wave of the day was a 20-footer. I made the drop, got a late drop, came around and thought, 'I got this thing.' Straightened out, and then the wave just rolled me. I was under water for so long. I thought, 'God, I'm going to drown right now.' I was out of it. I really thought I was going down for the count that time. It felt like I took about 30 strokes to get to the surface. I finally came up, and I was like, 'OK, I'm not falling again today.' I didn't fall once more the whole day."

Slater made it to the finals of the contest, and proceeded to accidentally ride an early wave all the way to the end with full intention of calling it a day when he was told that there was still 40 minutes left in the heat.

"I ride in to the beach, and I had a 5/4/3 wetsuit with a built-in hood," said Slater. "And I went in, I took the suit off, pulled it down to my waist, and maybe I even took it off. And then somebody goes, 'You're in the final, the jet ski's waiting by the beach. You gotta go back out.' And I was like, 'Oh that sucks.'"

One of the very rare surfers that Slater considers an idol is Tom Curren, another legendary surfer whose day job is riding waves. Curren surfed Maverick's in 1993. "It wasn't a big day," said Curren. "Fun though. I wish I had a better quiver. I'm working on it though. I hope to paddle out there again."

To read the rest of this story, visit USA Today's action sports website BNQT.com.

Jed Noll: An Exclusive Interview

2012-07-18T13:14:36-04:00

Olivia Notter contributed to this story. Follow her @oliviamarion.

Many years ago, around the time one of the greatest surf films to have ever been made Riding Giants was released, I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down and conducting what would become, to this day, the most entertaining, most informative, and probably the greatest interview I have ever conducted. It was with one of the stars of the film, big wave surfing legend and pioneer Greg Noll (the interview is available to read in the book Dogwild & Board: Stories, Interviews and Musings from a Surf Journalist).

By now, if you're an avid fan of surfing and read about most of the sport's innovators and stars, you know about Noll. He's outspoken, he's a bit crass, and perhaps what's so great about him is his honesty. He doesn't hold back in any regard and will tell you exactly what is on his mind. In a culture that censors speech regularly to avoid upsetting surf industry corporations, Noll's honesty is refreshing and a well -needed respite from the clean and cliché messages regularly dispensed by the surf industry.

While Noll's surfing adventures are rather well known, thanks to Riding Giants and various other publications that have written about his entire big wave conquests, he also has a large family who has made a name for themselves in surfing. It is with his youngest son Jed that I was able to conduct an extensive interview, covering everything from his early days shaping surfboards to the beginnings of his beautiful surf shop, Noll Surfboards, which Jed owns and operates in San Clemente. Here is an exclusive interview with one of the top surfboard shapers in the industry, Jed Noll.

Cyrus: When did Noll Surfboards open and what inspired you to open a surf shop in San Clemente?

Jed: The shop opened in 2009, and the inspiration behind it was getting a shaping room that was closer to the beach. I'd been working in Santa Ana for the previous five years or so, and when I moved to Southern California from Santa Cruz, basically I kind of ended up in the Costa Mesa area.

Cyrus: You actually were in Santa Cruz first?

Jed: Oh, yeah, I was in Santa Cruz for nine years, so I went from Crescent City, and as soon as I graduated high school when I was 17, I took a year and traveled and surfed and then went to straight to Santa Cruz. So I was there from when I was 18 until about eight years ago. So, I was there for nine years.

Cyrus: So you really are dialed into Northern California as much as Southern California.

Jed: That's where I learned. I worked for Bob Pearson for five years. Well, four of those years were as a shaper. The first year that I got there, literally, when I moved to Santa Cruz, I basically begged Bob for the job. I went in there fuck, I don't know how many times, and finally he was like, "Okay, yeah, you can start." And it was literally sweeping the shaping rooms, garbage, finishing boards. Just the most basic deal.

I was just 18, and that was when I wanted to just get my foot in the door, because at that time Geoff Rashe was still shaping for him, Mark Owen was shaping for him, Michel Junod, Coletta was still there doing his own thing and shaping for him.

Cyrus: Did Pearson have his second shop yet at that point? I know it recently closed.

Jed: The one in Capitola you mean?

Cyrus: Yes.

Jed: I don't know. This was at the warehouse. I worked at the factory. At the time it was the all star team for up north as far as shapers go. And I was just a young kid, only been shaping a couple years.

Cyrus: Mid 90's?

Jed: Yeah, it was '95.

Cyrus: That was a great time to be there.

Jed: It was amazing. Flea, Barney.

Cyrus: Ratboy.

Jed: Yeah. All these guys were all team riders. Of course Jay was around, Matt Tanner, Kevin Misk. Wingnut! He was on the Pearson team and actually that was right in that transition, and I better be careful because they don't like whatever happened right there. (Laughs) That was an amazing time as far as from a surf team standpoint and shapers. It was like the all-star of all-stars for up north.

Cyrus: And the groms then were Kieran Horn, Homer Henard, Omar Etcheverry, all those guys.

Jed: Absolutely.

Cyrus: That's a crazy era. And then so you basically dialed your shaping skills making Pearson Arrow surfboards, and then you open your first place. Was it strictly a shaping room in Santa Ana?

Jed: Well, no, in 2000 I went out on my own in Santa Cruz and I shaped from there until about 2003 or something. For about three years there, basically, I worked out of an old and just shaped. There was no retail, no nothing. It was just a barn that we did our stuff in. And then as business started growing, I couldn't get the glassing done because the majority of everybody up north who was doing a lot of production was all in house. So literally, if I wanted to get a board glassed at, let's say, Pearson's, guess who's at the last of the line? For good reason, right? Hey, it's the way it goes, and that's the way it goes. It doesn't matter where you're at, that's the way it is. All these guys would do some stuff for me here and there, but I couldn't keep up, basically, and so I ended up, through Sonny Vardeman, a guy out of South County L.A. or whatever you want to call that, he told me about the Waterman's Guild in Santa Ana. And so literally, I kind of drove a batch of boards down, saw what was the deal, and they just did fantastic work and they can do 80 boards a week which was completely different than what I had available up north.

Cyrus: Is the Waterman's Guild still around?

Jed: Yeah, they're still doing my boards today. Greg Martz is the owner of that. He's been glassing for 40 years. He was doing Plastic Fantastics back in the day. And then all the way through. So, yeah, there's still glass in my boards, but that was the whole deal, I ended up finding a place who could do really good quality and high volume glassing, and so, because I started whole selling boards and shipping them and doing all these things, it just made sense. For a while I was getting boards done up in Santa Cruz, I was getting them done down here, driving back and forth and it was just wasting time and gas and I was then traveling to Spain and shaping over in Spain. Europe, in the U.K., in Japan, I was just all over the place. I was constantly traveling.

Cyrus: So business was good.

Jed: Yeah, for a 23, 24 year-old kid. It was 25, whatever it was at that time. I guess I was 25 or something. Yeah, it was a lot of fun because, again, I was traveling all over the place.

Cyrus: And anybody who knows anything about surfing knows who your dad is, of course, Greg Noll. In terms of your family, how many siblings are there? Do you have brothers and sisters?

Jed: I've got two half-brothers and one sister.

Cyrus: And the sister's a full sister?

Jed: Yeah.

Cyrus: Are the half-brothers older or younger?

Jed: Older.

Cyrus: There's another Noll-associated surf shop up in Crescent City where you grew up, correct? What's the difference between that one and this one? And what's that one even called? Noll Surf Shop?

Jed: They kind of changed the names a few times, but I think it's just Rhyn Noll Surf Shop, I think is what it's technically called now. It's based off my half-brother. He's the one who started it.

Cyrus: How much older is Rhyn than you are?

Jed: About 13 years, something like that.

Cyrus: How old are you now?

Jed: I'm 35. Turned 35 in December. So, he shapes boards and he started that shop and, I could be wrong, but I bet it was almost 20 years ago now.

Cyrus: It's been there forever.

Jed: It's been there a long time. He was really into shaping at the time. Over the years, it's kind of progressed more into a kind of local artsy crafty kind of a shop. Not a whole lot of surfboards, not a whole lot of that. Kind of a hodgepodge. Not in a bad way, but kind of hodgepodge mix of, like I said, local people's work and kind of whatever else that they do kind of thing.

Cyrus: Are you and Rhyn close? Are you and your half-brothers close?

Jed: We have been in the past, but he's moved to Hawaii.

Cyrus: Oh, he's not even in Crescent City?

Jed: No.

Cyrus: Just so you know, I lived in Arcata for two years (a small college town located approximately 80 miles south of Crescent City). So I know that area pretty well.

Jed: Oh, you did? He moved to the islands. He moved him and his family to the islands and so, to be honest, I haven't been in the shop in the last couple years.

Cyrus: Who runs it now?

Jed: Well, I think his Mom does still. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. But again, I haven't even been in there the last couple of years. To be honest, since I've moved down this way, I haven't been in close touch with him.

Cyrus: Well, it's far.

Jed: Days these days are just, what it's Thursday? What, we're almost halfway through 2012? Is that what you just said? It's amazing!

Cyrus: Was Rhyn the oldest of the four?

Jed: No, Tate is the oldest. He actually still lives in Crescent City. And, in fact, him and I have the same birthday, 16 years apart.

Cyrus: When is that?

Jed: December 27th.

Cyrus: You get the combo Christmas and Birthday present. Thanks everyone!

Jed: And a brother. So everybody wants to go to lunch. Yay, thanks. (Laughter)

Cyrus: Is your sister older or younger than you are?

Jed: My sister's older.

Cyrus: So you're the baby.

Jed: Yeah, I'm the young one.

Cyrus: And are all four of you great surfers?

Jed: My sister doesn't really surf at all. She hasn't been surfing much at all. She kind of enjoys the ocean, but she doesn't really surf much at all. Rhyn is an avid surfer. Tate was a surfer, and I guess a really good one at the time, and I can't remember what the year was but I know I think I was only a couple years old at the time, but he actually got in a head on collision with a drunk driver when he was in, I think it was his late teens. And long story short, lost part of the feeling and use, I guess, part of, not completely, but the left side of his body, and so basically he hasn't surfed for a long time. He went through a whole rehabilitation period, and he was boogie boarding and doing some stuff for quite a while, but, shit, he's 51 now, 16 years older than I am. So, pretty difficult, he's kind of wheelchair-bound at this point

Cyrus: I'm sorry.

Jed: Rhyn's a pretty avid surfer and part of the industry, I guess, or has been in the past. Like I said, since he's been to Hawaii he's kind of changed a little bit of a mode.

Cyrus: In terms of kind of slowing it down.

Jed: Yeah.

Cyrus: It's crazy what happens out there. The aloha vibe. It's not a myth. But personally when I go, and I've been to all the islands except for Kauai and of course it's beautiful and it's amazing, but there is a hint of frustration at times by how slow it is.

Jed: Yeah.

Cyrus: They just are not in a rush to do anything. It's crazy, but it's healthy. It really should be the way we all live though.

Jed: I think so, right?

Cyrus: Maybe.

(Laughter)

Jed: Like you said, man, it's kind of hard to handle sometimes.

Cyrus: And then now you own Noll Surfboards in San Clemente. How did this all come together? Was this really just you? Was your dad involved, did you have other partners, how did this get started?

Jed: Well, the shop initially started from, again, I moved to the Dana Point area and I just loved it. I kind of fell in love with this area. I liked surfing San O, I liked surfing Trestles, Salt Creek at the time when I moved down here. Coming from Santa Cruz there's so many good waves in such a small area. Coming down here it was very different.

Cyrus: Night and day.

Jed: Everything was kind of far apart. It felt like everything was paying for parking and everything was just different. And so, when I kind of ended up spending some time in Dana Point, I just realized between Salt Creek and San Onofre right here, you've got a pretty good group of waves and you've got a little bit of everything in between literally Salt Creek and San Onofre. And I just kind of dug it, and Dana Point and San Clemente both have a little bit smaller town feel. If you don't want to come here you don't have to. You've got to turn off the freeway, basically, to get here. The freeway doesn't go through it, it goes right by it. So, I just kind of felt like it was a little bit more my style and so, I just decided I wanted to try and find a place to just shape down here and just keep my trip kind of more consolidated rather than driving all the way to Santa Ana.

So, when we found this place, it was basically Candice (Jed's wife) and I and we just decided to take the risk. I was looking for shaping rooms and I found the building that was much bigger than what we needed, but it was kind of perfect for what we hoped to create long term in our minds. A lot of, "What ifs?" were going through our heads at that time, and with my family, my mom and dad's support basically saying, "Yeah, if this is what you guys want to do, you can do it. A lot of hard work and a lot of time, you guys can do this type of a thing." We kind of jumped in with both feet at once, and in conjunction with that, at the same time, we started meeting with a group of people who were interested in bringing back the black and white board shorts. From that stemmed my family and I creating this surf shop with basically a place to sell some t-shirts out front, some Noll t-shirts, have a gallery to show our wood boards which is what my dad and I work on together which we'd never had a place to formally show before. The only place we've ever shown them would be at ASR shows or things like that. Which a lot of people had seen, but we never did any advertising. Everything was word of mouth, and literally the only place we exhibited was at the ASR shows and expos sometimes, but we hadn't even done that in quite a while.

Cyrus: Those are beautiful boards.

Jed: Thanks.

Cyrus: I have a hard time believing people buy them to ride them.

Jed: Not very many people do.

Cyrus: There's no way I would ever ride one in a million years. I wouldn't want that gloss to ever leave.

Jed: Yeah, that's the hard part.

Cyrus: They're gorgeous.

Jed: So, basically we decided, let's show people what we do and let's see what happens, and that combined with having a shaping area which is what I ultimately need and wanted and that was the whole driving force. And since we found a place that we could kind of combine all three of those things, it was kind of like, "Let's give it a shot. What's the worst that can happen? I don't know." So, we just did it. So we kind of put everything together with my friend Steve Thomas. We would, by ourselves basically, build the place up, stripped it down literally from the ground up, put everything in, and just did what we did. And, again, that took a period of time. In the meantime, like I'd mentioned, we had started talking to a group of people who were interested in bringing back these black and white shorts. After talking to these guys, they're very successful businessmen and outside of our industry, very smart, college graduated, all this great experienced crew of guys. So, as we started talking more, and talking about all the assets and things that we had that my family has held onto over all of these years and what we were currently doing, the consensus was kind of like, "Well, what if we did more than the black and white shorts?" There's just so much more to the brand, there's so much more to the family name, to the history and all those things. So we just continued to brainstorm, we continued to talk, ended up forming an LLC together which we all are partners in, which basically was to manage the Noll name and rights to kind of expand, explore, whatever you want to call it, in licensing opportunities and or private label stuff. Whatever it may be, but basically we all decided that with all of us kind of put together, with everybody in different areas of expertise, we made a pretty good team. And so we all kind of trusted each other and decided to form this LLC which is then what has now brought us to where we are today, which is with the expansion of the store, which is with all the clothing and apparel, the private label t-shirts and apparel and things that we've done and, ultimately, has brought us to the collaboration with Billabong.

Cyrus: Right, and so then all the Jail House stuff.

Jed: So, technically speaking, the group now has got our Jail House shorts. We reproduced them, and we did it through the collaboration with Billabong, but they did the authentic version of the black and white shorts which is the limited edition of 200 hand-signed and hand-numbered by my dad, made out of a cotton canvas, as close to the old originals as they could basically make today in a production facility.

Cyrus: That's crazy.

Jed: They come in this great box and all this stuff, so we're very proud of that. And, of course, Billabong's also making the four-way stretch super technical zero gravity.

Cyrus: You don't want chafing.

Jed: Yeah, a technical piece that we all get to wear and go and surf with and all that stuff.

Cyrus: So the clothes are coming out of Billabong's factories?

Jed: Yeah.

Cyrus: It makes it easier on you though, doesn't it? They're doing all the heavy lifting.

Jed: Well, that's exactly it, and that was one of the things that, collectively, from Noll Worldwide, that's what we do. The Noll Worldwide, collectively, we decided. Again, the expertise of my family and I is the story, the craft of shaping surfboards, and the assets. All the other team members, whether it's a photographer, whether it's a wordsmith, whether it's a COO, whether it's a CFO, blah blah blah. Down the line, everybody's got their deal, and everybody brings something to the table and even Garrett McNamara has his face and a team. All those things put together, we made this great team but none of us had any manufacturing and distribution. We all had growth management plans, we all had, again, assets and sweat equity and all these things, but nobody had manufacturing and distribution put together.

And so that's where we looked at the idea of, "Hey, let us do what we do which is manage the brand, focus, tell people the correct story. Give people the story we want them to hear, and then let somebody who can do all of the manufacturing and distribution, and let them do what they do good."

Cyrus: And that's where Billabong came in.

Jed: That's where they came in.

Cyrus: It seems like a great role for them in this partnership.

Jed: Well, yeah, and they've been phenomenal. You can see the stuff that they've built.

Cyrus: Noll Surfboards in San Clemente is like a museum. It's not like any other surf shop. You're going to be in here and you're not going to leave any time soon because literally every room has stuff designed by you or your dad. Some of it's new, some of it dates back decades, but it all just has a legitimate piece of surf history. It's a beautiful shop. And what's a long term vision for this place? It seems like it's something that's still in the middle of evolving.

Jed: Well, that's it. I think our long term goal, and it is evolving and so I don't want to pigeon hole ourselves but, at the same time, our long term goal is to have this be somewhat of a collective and a community center as far as a place to hold events, a place to have other people hold their events. A place for people to come and see a piece of history, see something new, something innovative, but also maybe be able to learn something about where this innovative product came from which, from our history, basically dates back to my father and what he did in his exploits and how he tackled things and went through his modern era of surfing and surf exploration, and surfboard building and manufacturing and on down the line.

And that's why here, as you mentioned, I've got pieces, I've got original boards on the ceilings from the '60s in his heyday. We've also even got components of his old shop. This stuff is from 1965, we're looking 50 years. It's like a half of a century old. When it comes right down to it. So we've got things on display that date back that far, and it also gives examples of where we get our inspiration because, ultimately, that's where we are getting our inspiration.

We all sit down together and we talk about what are we going to do, what our new t-shirt's going to be, or what are we going to try and do new this season, whatever it is. Well, what everybody keeps kind of coming back to when we open the archives is the simplicity of the times. We talked about this earlier. Everything moves so fast, everybody's so connected. If you don't have your cell phone on, you're going to have x amount of messages and people are going to be like, "Where were you at? You don't reply to your emails." It's just the way that it is, and good or bad. Shit gets done at least today. There's no joking about that, but you're so connected, and when we open up these archives, literally everybody kind of just takes a second and kind of trips out and is like, "Man, look at this. This was hand done. This logo was hand drawn originally. This photograph was taken with x whatever film, and remember when you could get that film? Remember when that was the only film that you had besides this film?" Everybody talks about these old things and it kind of pushes a lot of the stuff that's happening right in front of you away. And so, we just kind of see or end up kind of visualizing that simpler time. There was a little bit more freedom, there weren't so many laws. You know what I mean?

Cyrus: Yes.

Jed: That's how these guys were able to do the things they did. They had new experiences, surfed new places. The stories that my dad tells, it's not like he was off pounding his chest. They were literally doing what they enjoyed.

Cyrus: I've interviewed your dad before, and I'll go back and read the interview because it's so entertaining (the interview with Greg Noll is available in the book Dogwild & Board: Stories, Interviews and Musings from a Surf Journalist). There are a lot of crazy stories in there, but the ones that are perhaps the craziest are his stories of going out there when the surf was huge and wild because there was no surf forecasting back then. You didn't even know what was coming. That trips me out probably the most about surfing then versus now. Every time you went out, it was completely rolling the dice because three hours from when you went out there could be, all of a sudden, triple overhead swells coming in that could annihilate you. And those are the stories that just blow my mind when it comes to your dad. Him going out to Waimea and not knowing what's going to happen. I don't know if that's a good example of how things have changed.

Jed: No, that's exactly it. Think about going to the North Shore with literally nobody there. And then when you really think about it, too, you're talking like I said, 50 years ago. That's not that long ago. Literally, it was 50 years ago, it was 1950, and I shouldn't call out this date, but it's got to be '53, '55, something like that. Maybe '53 that they were making their first trips to the North Shore. That wasn't that long ago. And there was nothing there, literally nothing. He tells the story going through Waianae and coming across the pineapple fields and then, all of a sudden, you see that stretch of beach laid out in front of you, and just seeing these beautiful lines in this open territory. And, literally, you get down and go through Haleiwa and come out the other side there and it's like every time you go around a bend, there's another wave they'd never seen.

Cyrus: Your dad was one of the pioneers. My opinion on big wave surfers is that to be a big wave surfer you have to have at least a screw loose. It takes a certain level of insanity to do what they do. It just does, because it's madness. Did you inherit any of the insanity, the craziness from your dad?

Jed: I think I have. Actually, he says this a lot, that I have a lot of my mom's genes in me and she's a much more level headed person. So, no, I like the adrenaline but I've never dedicated myself to it, and that's what it takes. To be a big wave surfer you've got to want that adrenaline rush. You've got to want it, and you've got to want it bad. Because, obviously, what you've got to go through to do it, and as much as I enjoy it, I've never really wanted it. Whatever big waves that I've ever surfed has always just been because that's what it's been. I've never gone there to be like, "I'm going to go surf big waves today." I've gone there to go surf and it's been big and so I've surfed. That's kind of been the way that it's gone. So, no. I guess I didn't get that gene. I got my mom's emotional side.

Cyrus: You're sane is what you're saying.

Jed: Well, it depends on who you ask, I guess, because they say I might be crazy in other arenas when it comes to perfectionism or things like that in shaping but, no, I didn't get the adrenaline one.

Cyrus: For customers that come to Noll Surfboards in San Clemente, are your customers primarily those looking for boards? Are you starting to get more people coming in for the clothes? Your clothes have that great soft feel to it where you can either go out and look stylish or you can just go to bed and it can be your pajamas. That's my barometer for how good clothes are, and you have that. So your clothing angle you seem to have dialed, but then of course you have the boards. That's your true level of expertise. What are customers coming in for now and what do you hope they come in for in the future if it's different?

Jed: Well, the boards are what started this whole thing even all the way back. If you go all the way back to the first thing that started Greg Noll Surfboards. It wasn't Greg Noll clothing; it was Greg Noll Surfboards, 1951 basically. So, that's what's driven this whole thing, and that's what continues to drive it today. We are a destination spot at this point because we don't carry a lot of brands. We carry our own products. That's our focus, and so we are a destination spot and the surfboard is a very big part of that.

People come in to order custom boards. That's really what our expertise is here, and that's my favorite part because that really is my expertise. The retail side of this is something that I've come to learn to kind of love and enjoy. I've always been around it. I've always been around surf shops and I've worked in them in the past and things like that, but really, you don't know retail until you do it. Right?

Cyrus: Yes, that is definitely true.

Jed: (Laughs) I've learned to kind of love it or really enjoy it. My first love is shaping because, at this point, it's almost my alone time.

Cyrus: You have a family now.

Jed: When I get in there, I can put my music on, I've got my time, it's me in the room. There's nobody else in there generally, and at this point shaping is so second nature that it's relaxing. It's not a lot of work. I'm not thinking about what I'm doing and so it's not stressful. It's fairly relaxing. Granted, come hour six, seven, eight, shaping all day, you get fatigued but, at the same time, it's a good tired. It's not an exhausted; it's just a good tired. Fatigue, but, again, when I'm in my shaping room at this point it's very relaxing like I said. I can kind of think about whatever it is and just kind of get into my groove and do my thing and even when I'm shaping custom boards for people who want to come in and watch or what not, it's still enjoyable because I'm still going through the motions and generally I'm just talking to the people.

Cyrus: You have people that actually request to watch you shape their board?

Jed: Yeah.

Cyrus: Is it through a glass window, or how do they watch?

Jed: Well, generally, I rough the board out, do most all the planar work, and then they'll come in and watch me kind of just screen the rails and things. So, in the back I've got the exhaust fans, I've got everything set so they can literally kind of sit outside the room and just kind of watch me finish it, things like that. Or sometimes they'll want to come in and do the template with me, and then I'll shape the rest of it.

Cyrus: You mean like on the computer?

Jed: Well, we can do that, yeah. If somebody's savvy enough to kind of know exactly what they want or they've got experience in sitting with people who do computer work, then absolutely. I can sit with them and do that, or if it's literally just off the blank and they want to see, physically, what the board's going to look like.

Cyrus: What do you prefer to do? It seems that the trend seems to have gone where most shapers, there's certain software now that shapers use where you can do all the work on the computer first. Do you follow that school of method or are you really old school still?

Jed: Both. And it might be a little cliché, but if you're only one or the other you're missing out. You just are. It's almost like only surfing a short board at this point.

Cyrus: Is that the norm? Is that how most shapers do it these days, they mix it up?

Jed: I don't know to be honest. There's quite a few guys who primarily computer shape at this point. There's not a whole lot of guys who primarily hand shape anymore. There's a few, but not many. Most everybody has gone to the computers. And, at this point for us, there's such advantages to the computer. There really is as far as consistency and replicating people's surfboards and stuff. That component you can't overlook. I think it's been going on for long enough that people understand what, like I said, the computer is good for and that you still hand finish it. And so, again, replicating surfboards, there's nothing better. For team riders, for people who surf a lot, who get a lot of boards, who get a lot of the same board. It's an amazing tool for that.

Cyrus: Is your client list primarily the average surfer, or do you have some pros who are buying your board?

Jed: We make boards for a lot of people and I'm not going to namedrop because they're not team riders. But yeah, we've got our local group.

Cyrus: You'll get them in trouble?

Jed: Well, yeah. (Laughs) I'd rather not go there, but we've got our local crew here who are R and D (research and development) and I have a great time with. We've got our standard team riders, Julie Cox, Steve Thomas, Travis Edwards, Josh Edwards. I'm probably going to miss a bunch of people, so I guess I shouldn't even tell the names. For instance, we're making a board for Garrett here this month for a big paddling board. I know I can say his name because we're going to be making a paddling board for him for the outside reefs in Hawaii.

Cyrus: Is his goal to break Sion's record? Sion Milosky, who tragically passed away recently. I believe he set the record for the biggest wave ever paddled into?

Jed: Yeah.

Cyrus: Is that what Garrett's looking for you think, or has he said anything?

Jed: I don't know. No, he hasn't said anything with that. He just said that he just wants to paddle into some monsters.

Cyrus: Fair enough.

Jed: That's all he said, and so what we're actually doing. We've got a few of the guys who have seen my dad's board that he surfed at Makaha in 1969. That big, famous wave and all that stuff, we have that board here on display. We also have the board from 1964 that he's in the picture which John Severson took surfing at Third Reef Pipe which is a little premature, or I guess a little bit too archaic, so to speak, but this 1969 board, the boys see it, notice it, look at it, look at the templates and things. So what we're kind of doing is we're going to take some of the elements from what my dad used for that time period and kind of mix them in with what the guys are paddling in with now, so that's kind of our concept. We've got a couple people that we're going to do some really fun projects with that dad's going to be a part of as well. That's going to be the key. I'm going to do a lot of the heavy lifting, but dad's going to be a part of the design, the boys are going to be part of the design as well. Obviously, they've got their current boards they're going to be bringing in, we're going to take some concepts and see if we can make them something that they can paddle down into some monsters with.

Cyrus: That's great.

Jed: Yeah, that's going to be a fun project that's coming up.

To read the rest of this interview, visit USA Today's action sports website BNQT.com.

Ragner Johnson Wins What May Be First Surf Contest Ever Held at Fort Point

2012-05-08T15:25:13-04:00

Sun care company Sun Bum hosts a unique surf contest around the world. Calling it the Bum Rush Tour, the contest is held without any advanced warning as judges show up to an undisclosed location unannounced, blow a horn, and 20 minutes later the judges will name a winning surfer from those who were already in the water surfing. The contest doesn't have any qualifiers, entry fees, or applications. The winning surfer, who is almost always caught off guard and very surprised by the champagne shower and ceremony they receive upon coming to shore, is given a winning prize of a large $1,000 check. Recently, the Bum Rush Tour made a visit to Northern California, where they awarded local surfer Ragnar Johnson a check for $1,000 for winning the Bum Rush Tour contest at Fort Point in San Francisco.

"It was a close race between Ragnar, Bryan Dickerson, and few others," said Kevin Campion, who is one of the three judges who decided the contest. "But the wave that really sealed the deal was when Ragnar took off on a swing wide set that started with a few solid turns and ended with a legitimate tube section."

Conditions last week at Fort Point were sunny with solid overhead waves. When the judges were set for the contest, a crowded lineup wasn't aware that they were suddenly competing for a $1,000 prize. "I wasn't sure what the deal was, but I decided to just surf it like I would, and maybe get a lucky wave like I did!" said Ragnar, shortly after being awarded the winner's check. "I'll probably use the money to take my wife and 8-year-old son surfing in Central America."

When organizers of the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco were making their initial assessments and organizational decisions last year, Fort Point was a brief consideration. The iconic left hand point break under the Golden Gate Bridge is one of the rare point breaks located on the West Coast north of Santa Cruz, and while currents and rocks can be imposing and challenging, for a pro surfer it has the potential of being an amazing wave. Logistical concerns mainly with parking and traffic at Fort Point ended further discussion of holding any portion of the contest there and the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco was held at Ocean Beach. It is believed that Fort Point has never held a contest prior to the Bum Rush Tour holding their impromptu event.

The organizers of the Bum Rush Tour weren't finished with Northern California after the completion of the Fort Point event. A similar contest was held days later at Steamer's Lane in Santa Cruz, with 14-year-old Ben Coffey winning the $1,000 check and receiving lavish praise and attention after coming to shore.

"The surf was in the waist high range with a few bigger inconsistent sets rolling through," said Event Director Dustin Smith. "It was a close race between Ben and another longboarder. However, Ben prevailed by connecting several long rides with numerous stylish carves all the way to the cliff. In fact, some rides were so long he would hop out of the water, run past the judges and back to the top of the point for another."

Congratulations again to Ragnar Johnson and Ben Coffey, both winners of the Bum Rush Tour in Northern California.