Topic
21 facts from 2 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
Undated
Laird Hamilton says he learned to swim as a child at what he calls the most dangerous beach in the world.
“We moved to the most dangerous beach in the world, and and I that I learned how to swim, uh, at the most dangerous beach in the world.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says his mother started the first helicopter touring company in Hawaii with help from a friend who was a Vietnam veteran.
“And so she started going to work and eventually started the first helicopter company, um, in Hawaii that toured, cause she had a friend that was a Vietnam vet”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says an early job driving inflatable boats like those used by Navy SEALs gave him the driving skills for early tow-in surfing, and a friend had the same experience.
“So I knew how to drive, and I had another friend that had the same experience.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says he did stand-up paddling for eight years before anybody else did it.
“I did stand up paddling for eight years before anybody ever did it”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says tow-in surfing was criticised and not respected for roughly eight to ten years before the Tahiti ride.
“the truth is that Towing was really not respected. People were were kind of slandering it for a good solid eight to ten years.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says he cried after the Tahiti session and was thirty-five at the time.
“I cried after after that, that session. I had tears in my eyes just because it had been, and that was when I was thirty-five.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton compares the effect of his Tahiti ride to the breaking of the four-minute mile, saying it changed how people thought about what was possible.
“And then, I mean, I describe it a little bit like the four-minute mile. After that, once they understood what was possible, it changed the whole thinking.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says early big-wave riders did not wear flotation devices, and flotation is now standard.
“In the beginning, we didn't wear flotation devices. Now, all big wave riding, everybody's wearing flotation, right?”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says his only two-wave hold-down happened while foiling in giant surf in the early days of the sport.
“I've been held down two waves one time, and it was, uh, it was foiling, and in the early days of foiling, we were doing, we were riding, foiling in giant surf”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says that in very large surf a two-wave hold-down lasts more than a minute, because the waves are spaced farther apart.
“So if you're doing a two wave hold down, you're gonna be down for more than a minute.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says he estimated the waves at 80 to 100 feet by counting four to five seconds for the lip to fall.
“The waves were taking four to five seconds for the lip to fall, so it was one one thousand, two, one thousand, three, one thousand, four, one thousand, five before they hit.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says surfers hit a limit in paddling, created towing, hit a limit in towing, and then created foiling.
“First, we hit a ceiling in paddling, then we created towing, then we hit a ceiling in towing, then we created foiling.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says recent findings link the microbiomes of surfers worldwide to those of water mammals.
“we just learned recently that the surf surfers microbiome actually are v- v- very closely tied to water mammals.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton describes Drake's Passage, near Cape Horn, as a place where many ships have sunk and where he hopes to ride huge open-ocean waves.
“There's a famous passage called Drake's Passage, and it's it's where a lot of ships sink.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says people approach dangerous activities through denial, ignorance or experience, usually in some mix.
“I always say there's three ways people go about doing dangerous stuff. There's denial, ignorance and skill, or experience, should I say, so you have denial, ignorance and experience.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says he has towed with the same partner for twenty to twenty-five years.
“I have somebody that I've been towing with for, you know, twenty, twenty-five years.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says he once built a prototype safety device from a hippity hop ball with a waist belt and a CO2 bottle, and it did not work well.
“I had one of those as a prototype and with a waist belt, and I had a fanny pack, and then had a CO2 bottle.”
Undated
Laird Hamilton says modern jet skis reach about sixty miles an hour, while older ones barely reached twenty.
“now the jet skis are s, you know, sixty miles an hour out of a box, and they used to be, you know, you'd be lucky to get twenty out of them”
Undated
Sean Callagy, who is blind, says he is committing to try to ride a giant wave with help from Laird Hamilton's team.
“That I am 100% committing to take that to the highest level, um, and see if I could get up on a giant wave.”
Undated
Sean Callagy says Laird Hamilton told him his biggest wave day involved waves of at least 80 and probably over 100 feet.
“he said, at least 80, probably 100 ft plus on that one day”
Undated
Sean Callagy says the largest wave ever ridden was at Nazaré, Portugal, at roughly 101 feet, and asks listeners to fact check it.
“is at Nazaré in Portugal, and that was allegedly, you can fact check this. I think it was like 101 feet or some”
Episodes