Mushy Longboard Waves and Riding Giants

Since I wasn't in Mammoth enjoying 16" of the Sierra's finest, I felt compelled to make my way down to Tourmaline (San Diego) to catch some waves this morning. I was pleasantly surprised. It was great longboard conditions...3 foot waves which which you could seemingly ride forever. While not nearly as good as skiing powder or skiing steep chutes, catching a good wave is pretty damn nice!

Speaking of surfing, I just recently saw the movie "Riding Giants." It's a documentary covering the history of big wave surfing. As much as I love Warren Miller, it puts any ski porn that I've seen to shame as far as quality. Besides just being a great story, what struck me about the movie was how similar the big wave surfer ethos is to skiing.

Like the ski mountaineers who continually push the limits on first descents, the pioneers of big wave surfing did the same with 30 foot walls of water. Some lost their lives, others like Mike Stang in Waimea Bay became legends. Similar to the best mountain guides, they were experts in their environment. They knew where every break was and how the weather would affect it. When their boards were limiting them, they experimented with new designs and materials that would allow them to surf still bigger waves. Also like skiing, in the beginning, there were few women out there. The waves were the love of their life. Similar to Alta Gold powder, it was an addiction that kept them come back and back for more. It was their life.

Riding Giants continues on to the 1969 "Swell of the Century" (similar to weather channel "Storm of the Century" references???) that hit Hawaii. Big wave surfing legend Greg Nolan attempted to surf and was completely annhilated by it. Like the best ski moments, unfortunately no photos were taken. The moment was too pure to disturb with a camera. Even though he only just made it down the crest of the wave before it crushed him, he described it as being right up with the birth of his first child. In skiing, we says that if you're not falling, you're not trying hard enough. It's the same in surfing. He pushed the limits and he fell...but so what.

The story continues on to the development of the Bonzai Pipeline, the discovery of Maverick's (like the best powder stashes kept secret from the general surfing community for 15 years) in Northern California and Laird Hamilton's introduction of the jet ski to hit bigger waves than previously thought humanly possible. I must compliment the director on his choice to include numerous shots of ex professional volleyball player/supermodel Gabrielle Reese talking about her husband Laird Hamilton. Unlike skiing, surfers do get all the cute women today.

All in all, its an awesome movie. While touching on the history of skiing, Warren Miller's movies are not in the same league as "Riding Giants". I would love to see a serious movie about the evolution of skiing...dealing with everything from the first Austrians in St. Anton to the first single chair lift at Mad River Glenn to some of the first descents in the Chugach today.