All language subtitles for 100.Foot.Wave.S01E01.720p.WEB.H264-BIGDOC

The idea of surfing
a 100-foot wave,

it came purely from
trying to get the rush.

There was no wave too big.

It was just looking for
bigger, and bigger, and bigger.

The 100-foot wave has
become this phantom legend.

- Does the 100-foot wave exist?
- Yeah, I think, yeah, it does.

Is it surfable? I don't know.

It's a very fine line,
surfing big waves.

It's, like, very exhilarating,
but quite scary, too.

You have to have that mental
attitude to be willing to die

and die again, and
again, and again.

And that's wave after
wave, day after day.

You start to fear for your life.

Whenever you fall in a big wave,

you don't have any control
of what's about to happen.

You're blasted this
way, blasted that way,

down and up, all over the place,

and you're holding
onto your last breath.

There's panic, and there's fear.

The goal is to face fears,
to go straight at the fear,

to release it, to free it.

In doing this and
facing this fear,

I'm gonna discover
a part of myself

that I didn't know was there.

Check out these monster
100-foot waves off Portugal.

The biggest wave ever surfed,

as high as 100 feet.

To put that in perspective,

that is taller than an
eight-story building.

Surfers are always looking
for the next great thing.

It often breaks those brave
or crazy board riders.

Severe wipeouts and waves
of mind-boggling heights.

What happens here happens
nowhere else in the world.

- Biggest wave ever surfed.
- The biggest wave ever.

- Biggest wave.
- The biggest wave ever...

The 100-foot wave.

- My name's Garrett McNamara.
- I'm an ocean explorer.

I just feel real
comfortable in the ocean,

probably more comfortable
than I do on the land.

Garrett McNamara, known for
discovering and pioneering

and surfing the biggest
wave in the world.

Garrett is an American
professional big wave surfer

and extreme...

Big wave rider Garrett
McNamara has ridden

what could be the
world's biggest wave.

This daredevil Hawaiian is
still pushing the envelope,

chasing one final prize,
to surf the perfect wave.

Hey, baby.

- The waves are coming, huh?
- Yeah.

Trade winds offshore?

- Yeah, it's gonna be trade.
- It's like 15 miles an hour.

Perfect.

- Yeah.
- All right, bye.

I've always wanted to ride
a wave over 100 feet...

And there's nowhere in
the world that I found

that's anything like
Nazaré in Portugal.

That's the only place
that I see the potential

of a 100-foot wave.

Ha-ha!

One, two, three.

I am getting ready physically,
mentally, spiritually

to go back to Nazaré.

This year I am
very, very confident

that we're gonna ride the
biggest wave ever ridden

out there.

I been surfing my whole life,

and it's pretty much been
a dream the whole way.

When we were younger, I
would spend my last penny

to go hunt for a wave.

I would literally not have any
money left at the location,

and I would have
to sell surfboards

to get a plane
ticket out of there.

I would do everything
and anything you could do

to get to that next big wave.

But at 35, I gave
up on my passion.

And I opened a store
because I thought

it was the responsible
thing to do.

I thought it was what
we were supposed to do.

I had three children
with my first wife.

And I didn't think there
was a future in surfing.

Since I'd surfed my whole
life up to that point,

I felt like, okay, I
already got to surf till 35,

so working for the rest
of my life isn't too bad.

I should be very happy
to just work now.

My brother's T-shirt,
see him on the shirt.

Um...

After about two or three years,

I was pretty miserable
going to work every day.

I was driving to the store,

and I was passing perfect waves,

and I was getting depressed.

I thought to myself,
man, I really want

to give the surfing
one more chance.

I wrote a business
plan to keep surfing,

basically a road map.

Keep surfing was the goal.

Training, focusing,
manifesting was

what I felt was the
way to achieve that.

We're in the parking
lot of the store

that I very fortunately
got to close.

It was doing well.

You know, it was a
successful business,

but it wasn't fun.

When friends came in talking
about how good the waves were,

I would just be like,
don't even tell me.

I don't remember it being red.

Garrett, I don't really
remember hearing from him

for a while, but when
tow surfing emerged

right around the
turn of the century,

that's where Garrett
reinvented himself.

In the beginning, there
was paddle surfing,

and it started out in
smaller waves where

if you could just make it
outside was a challenge.

- There was no jet skis.
- There was no flotation.

So we went as far as we
could go with our arms.

At some point, all
the Northshore breaks,

they're all just so crowded.

It was just so hard
to get the good wave.

It's like being in a ski resort,

and there's just hundreds
of people on every run,

and then there's
mountains in the back.

Laird Hamilton,
Darrick Doerner, and I,

we went, well, maybe if we
take my Zodiac out there,

we can start tapping into
these back mountains.

The very first day that we
implemented the technique

in large conditions,

it was Thomas Edison
and the light bulb.

Everything lit up, and
we were like, oh, yeah,

we're onto something.

I was on the beach
watching that first day,

and I was instantly like...

Just watching them
ride wave after wave,

I felt like I was
a cartoon character

with the jaw dropped
on the ground,

and I'm just watching.

We knew that it was
something special.

We knew that it was
gonna change the way

we rode giant waves,
but I don't think

we had any idea to what extent.

When we started
towing these waves,

it was like an
untapped resource,

but it was kind
of a risky thing,

especially with the Zodiac.

The challenge with the Zodiac
is there's a propeller.

That thing will chop you up.

So Zodiac can't really
go in and rescue you.

So the only way to
catch it once it gets

over like 50 feet tall
is with a jet ski.

We took both the WaveRunner
and the jet ski over to Maui,

and then we found out
that it can handle as big

as Mother Nature can send.

Using a jet ski allowed
access to these outer reefs,

and it turned out those
waves breaking out there were

much, much bigger than
anyone really realized.

There were suddenly
50-foot waves

and 60-foot waves, and
they were everywhere.

Now there was no waves
that were too big to ride.

You could surf anywhere.

Garrett really kind of
burst back on the scene

in about 2001, 2002.

There was a series
of swells at Jaws,

and one of them was for
the Tow-In World Cup.

So then there was
a contest at Jaws,

and I got invited somehow.

I thought winning the event
was the way to keep surfing.

I remember the very first
day that he came to Jaws.

It was probably one
of the better days

that I've seen at Jaws.

The waves were
really, really good,

and it was a giant day.

I had never been to Jaws,
and it was terrifying.

I was so afraid.

First wave I panicked.
I chickened out.

And I was, like, kind of
embarrassed and shamed.

And then he put me on another
wave right in the right spot,

and I just ran... whoa!

Got to the channel,
kicked back...

Oh, whew, and then the next one,

yeah, ahh, and the next
one, started to turn,

started to have fun.

Right at the horn, we
got the third wave.

We ended up winning.
It was a $70,000 purse.

Highest purse ever won
with the biggest waves

ever competed in.

And then I wanted
to get barreled.

I saw so many guys riding so
many waves not in the barrel.

And so the next year,
went and got barreled.

- Yeah!

- Yeah!
- Oh, my God.

- Whoa.
- Holy shit!

I was in the water

shooting a big 35
millimeter camera rig.

It was, like, you know, 50-foot
day, and I turn in the water,

and I just zoomed in enough,

and I just saw this
wave barreling,

and it just spit, and then
this little guy came out,

and it was Garrett with
his hands over his head.

That was the deepest
anyone had ever gotten

inside a barrel out at
Pe'ahi, and come out.

It was something that
we hadn't been doing

quite like that.

We had been moving
a lot more slowly.

We were just trying
to survive it.

I have a saying, you know,
ride to ride another day.

And I think Garrett's
saying is, you know,

ride to ride today and
maybe not tomorrow.

When Garrett caught
that giant barrel,

I was sitting in a tree

with my younger brother
and my best friend,

and we could not
believe our eyes.

Part of me thinks he came
from another dimension.

Get sucked up into the barrel
and then like a cannon,

just...

Opened my eyes, looked up,
my hands up, and just went,

"Thank you, God.
Thank you, God."

That ride was, like,
the biggest barrel

ever gotten to date.

It's still probably the best
barrel ever ridden at Jaws.

That stands the test of
time almost 20 years later

as one of the
biggest, best barrels

that any human being
has ever ridden.

That wave revitalized
my surfing career.

I closed the store, and...

And then it just went bananas.

He won some awards
with that wave.

It was massive.

Winner is Garrett McNamara!

That was the turning
point for him to say,

"Hey, you know what,
I'm gonna focus

on catching the biggest
wave in the world."

- I don't know.
- I'm at a loss for words.

It happens once in a while.

He got so focused on chasing
the biggest, gnarliest wave.

Any time there was
a swell anywhere,

you knew Garrett
was gonna be there.

And he was frothing.
I mean, he went mad.

He just went everywhere.

Garrett's really found his niche

by being somewhere acceptable

by the surf industry,

but largely being a maverick
out doing his own thing.

He's never ever been comfortable

just being part of
the surfing herd.

And because of it,
he's really stood out

and had one of the most
spectacular careers

that's come out of
big wave surfing.

- Look at that!

There's traditional surfing,
and there's extreme surfing.

I prefer to do extreme surfing,

put your life on the line
every time you go out.

Everybody always just
thought I was crazy.

They'd think I was
out of my mind,

but they don't realize
that I was focused.

I had a plan every big swell.
I was going after something.

I was gonna get it.

I'm in search of the
biggest waves to ride,

and it'll take me
all over the world.

I'll ride a 100-foot wave.

Actually, I have no
interest in a 100-foot wave.

I want a 120-footer.

That way there'll be no
ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Big wave surfing has been one
of the strangest evolutions

just over the last 20 years.

There was a time when the
only place that had big waves

was Waimea Bay in Hawaii.

And every few years,
just out of the mist,

would emerge another place.

Mavericks suddenly emerged.

And Jaws really showed that
there were 60-foot waves,

70-foot waves, 80-foot waves.

Cortes Bank put the whole
idea of the 100-foot wave

out there.

And the most recent one to
shatter everyone's notions

of big waves was Nazaré.

And for sure, Garrett was
the first to go there.

When I met Garrett, he had
all these brilliant ideas

and all these goals

and all these things he
wanted to accomplish,

and one of them was
riding the 100-foot wave.

I really wanted to
help him get organized,

and so I traveled
everywhere with him.

Every swell, I was always there.

We were inseparable.

At that time, nobody
knew about Nazaré.

It was not a surfing town.

I've been involved in
surfing for a long time.

I was at "Surfing
Magazine" in the '80s.

I did a lot of
traveling in the '90s

and a lot of surf
exploration around the world.

I had never heard of
Nazaré prior to Garrett.

In fact, I'd never even heard
of big waves in Portugal.

First time I heard about Nazaré,

I got an email from Dino.

He was working for the
city hall of Nazaré.

I was walking, and I stopped
near place to see the view.

And I took a picture of a
perfect, incredible wave.

I didn't realize how special
that wave and that picture was

until I arrived home.

I immediately think that
I need to do something.

I found Garrett's website,
and I sent him an email

with this picture saying
that we had a giant wave.

- Oh, 53 feet?
- That's over 100 feet!

He asked me,

"Can you come see if my
wave was big and good?"

And he sent me a picture,
and it was amazing.

We emailed back and forth
for about five years,

never really got anywhere.

Then Nicole saw the email chain.

That's... that looks big.

She said, what is this?

And I said, oh, some
guy in Nazaré wants me

to come check out his wave.

I think he had just been
watching these waves

his whole life ever since
he was a little boy,

and he wanted to see
somebody surf them.

When I was a kid, I
was always passionate

about the giant waves.

And that was a passion
that I cannot explain you.

Every time that we
had a giant swell,

I walked to the lighthouse.

I spent there four hours or
five hours just enjoying.

And I always want to share that.

So I found the email,

and then I was like,

"Well, do you want to
go?" and he said yes,

and then in a month
we were there.

It was just Garrett and I,
and we had zero expectations.

We were in love, and it
didn't matter what was here.

We were gonna have a good time.

So literally the first place
we went when we arrived

was the lighthouse.

This is incredible, beautiful.

So we get out.

We could barely
open the car door

'cause the wind was
just pounding us.

So this is the first day.

Wow. Wow.

This is crazy.

You can feel the
power from here.

You can feel the shaking.

That thing's probably
50, 60 feet tall.

Wow!

Holy shit!

You'd die right
there, guaranteed die.

This is incredible. This
is big and dangerous.

Crazy.

It's gonna be a fun trip.

At that time in my life,

I would almost surf
anything that broke,

and nothing was too big, and
nothing was too dangerous.

I was real hungry and real
focused and determined

to find this 100-foot wave,
and I thought with Nazaré,

it was possible.

Got lucky.

The one thing that
defines Nazaré,

the unique aspect under
the water is the canyon.

It's three miles deep,

three times the size
of the Grand Canyon.

When the swell comes
down on the canyon,

it moves faster and
gets compressed.

And that's what draws the
waves and magnifies them.

They cross up at the right time,

and it just creates this wedge.

40-to 60-foot wave is
all of a sudden 80-plus.

These waves come out of
a 10,000-foot deep trench

and just lurch up
out of the ocean.

I mean, they're
basically sea monsters.

The scariest thing overall
is the unpredictability.

It's a 100-foot beach
break, and it's over sand.

What that means is
waves break everywhere.

There's almost no
predictability to it,

whereas Jaws is a
solid reef bottom,

and the wave'll break
in the same spot

just about every time.

Nazaré is very different

than almost any other
spot in the world.

Jaws, Waimea Bay, Mavericks,
they all have a big channel,

which is a spot off to the side

where the water's super deep
where waves will never break.

And you're able to sit
there on your surfboard

or in a boat or a jet ski and
just watch what's going on.

And if you do ride a wave,

you can get off to
safety rather quickly.

Nazaré is different
because there is no channel

for you to go to
where it's safe.

Oftentimes you're going
through the rinse cycle

where you have to keep
going through wall

after wall of white water.

- It looks totally unrideable.
- There's no safe zones.

I don't know how I was thinking

that we could ride it,
but luckily we stayed.

So we have big storms
forming in the northern part

of the Atlantic and waves
progressing from northwards.

But this is a more typical
winter condition for us.

19, 20. We're in the canyon.

We need a camera man right here.

- That's the wave.
- That's where it'll break.

See the swell?

Garrett came.

He saw, really, the
magic of Nazaré.

And he literally put
his life on hold,

and he studied these waves.

He learned these waves.
He put the time in,

because he believed
in this place.

I guess I was just really
hungry for adventure

at that time in my life.

We got to see the
wave out there.

It's huge. I don't know.

I think probably 100-feet
waves are out there right now.

Did anyone come
here before Garrett?

- Yes, of course.
- A lot of surfers were here.

And it was crazy,
but nobody thought

that it was possible
to ride those waves.

So the first time
I witnessed Nazaré,

it was in 2005.

When we rocked up, it
looked like 100 feet.

Perfect pipeline... I'd never
seen anything so perfect.

And it looked like you
could make the wave,

but then I don't know
what you're gonna do.

You'd just get washed
up onto the beach.

Ross Clarke-Jones was
pretty much my mentor

when it came to huge waves.

He's a pro.

For some reason, he
decided not to go out,

I think mainly because it
looked possible to ride

but not possible to rescue.

I regret not going out
to get that one wave

in Nazaré the first time,
but the skis weren't right.

They were like puddle
jumpers back then.

So no one was either
keen or capable

of trying to rescue
someone back then.

The first year we
went to Portugal,

we decided to build a brand
with the town of Nazaré.

It was called the
North Canyon Project.

When we built the
project in 2010,

Nazaré was really known and
famous because of its summer,

because it's a really
beautiful place

with a lot of traditions.

The beach is amazing in summer.

But during the winter days,
it was a really quiet place.

And that's why we
built the project

to show the waves to the
world and to give reasons

for the people to visit
Nazaré also in the winter.

Just like Jaws is on the map

as one of the biggest
waves in the world,

Nazaré, the goal was to
put it on the map also.

Is that to go through the waves?

Just like a knife to cut...

- The waves?
- The waves.

There was no money, no
sponsors, no nothing.

What we did have was the full
support of the city hall.

It's a big pleasure.

The first year was
real barebones.

The main guy was Paulo Caldeira.

He is pretty much the only
reason we made it to Nazaré

because he organized it all.

Then we had Pedro Pisco.
He was our right hand.

He was in charge of getting
us where we needed to go,

and what we needed to do,
and how we needed to do it.

Jorge Leal got brought
in by the city hall

to just document
whatever we were doing.

He was mainly a
still photographer,

but he knew how to
hold a video camera.

Celeste supported the
North Canyon Project,

and she gave us
so much good food.

Thank you.

Then there was Pitbull.

When Garrett arrived
to Nazaré, was like,

everything was new
and different for us.

And he started putting
people in places.

And he decided that I
should be a safety driver.

I never had went on a jet
ski almost all my life,

so I was learning.

Garrett taught all these
guys how to handle a ski,

and how to take care of a
ski, how to maintain a ski,

how to put the sled on,
how to put the straps on.

That was all from
the first project.

We were such a tight team.

We did everything together,
planned everything together.

The early days was really easy.

It was just us, so there
was no distractions.

- Yeah!
- All right.

There weren't very many
people or businesses

that supported the project
in the first early years

because they didn't
believe what was out there.

Hey, Garrett.

- This is Lino.
- Nice to meet you.

But Lino believed in
what we were doing

and saw what was possible.

Lino did work for the
city hall basically.

When the project came in,

the city hall didn't have
money to fund anything,

so Lino actually
supported everything.

Nazaré was a small
village, fisherman village.

In the past, there
was no harbor,

and the boats had to
enter on the sand.

The big waves, they put
fear on the fishermen.

Many times fishermen
died doing that process.

My great-great-grandfather
died on the sea.

And that's the history of most
of the families of Nazaré.

- The scariest day was...
- Garrett didn't know the place

very well yet.

He was by himself
without a jet ski,

and he was like, oh, I'm
gonna stand up paddle

from the village
all the way around,

and I'll catch a small
wave on the other side,

and I'll come in.

And he decided to do this in
his board shorts in November.

The day that Garrett
decided he wanted to surf,

the waves were not that big,

but the inside was
so much current,

and I tried to stop
him, but he did,

"No, no, no, I'm going,
I'm going, I'm going.

People, trust me. I'll
do it, I'll do it."

So he paddles around,
he catches a wave,

and he wipes out.

Ah, oh, no...

I was panicking.

I was thinking that
he wouldn't make it.

I was swimming in, and it
kept sucking me back out.

Swim in, sucking back out.

I was getting very winded.

He had a really hard time
getting to the beach.

He was exhausted.

If he didn't make it
to the beach, like,

we didn't have a jet ski.

There was nobody to save him
'cause there was nobody here.

He would have just
been swept to sea.

I think that day
was decisive for him

to learn what
Nazaré is all about.

This wave is powerful.

This is nothing to
mess around with.

You gotta have a
really good driver.

You gotta know exactly
what you're doing.

It's so gnarly.

That showed Garrett the
respect that you have

to have when you go out there.

Go that way.

My only concern, it's
the safety of everybody.

I was really concerned
about what I did,

sending the picture to Garrett,

inviting Garrett to come.

And I have all the
weight in my shoulders

of the responsibility of
if something bad happens

to someone.

- Don't go now, Garrett.
- I'm just gonna look.

- Garrett!
- I'm just gonna look.

- Garrett...
- You might fall

- because the rocks are, um...
- Wet.

- What, slippery?
- Yeah, slippery.

- Nah.

Be careful 'cause
the rocks might...

Go down, go down!

We were a little afraid
of what could happen.

We didn't know
Garrett that well,

and we thought that
if this goes wrong,

somebody's gonna die.

We knew that all the big
wave spots around the world

already had guys dying.

The power of the
wild California waves

has been a magnet for surfers
from all over the world.

Tonight one of the very
best, Mark Foo, has died.

32-year-old Kirk Passmore
of Hale'iwa was last seen

wiping out on a huge wave.

Amid the wild waves, a tragedy,

a surfer found floating
face down and unconscious

in Stillwater Cove.

We knew that guys
died here and there,

and we thought Nazaré
was more dangerous.

If somebody dies,
somebody's gonna come to us

and say, "What the hell?
What did you guys do?"

On the first day that
Garrett went out,

it really was giant,
and we were on

the top of the
lighthouse just shaking.

We were, like, really scared

because we were
responsible for that.

We were on the cliff, and
we were seeing the waves,

and we were trying
to guess the size.

And then we saw the
jet skis arriving,

and because the jet
skis were there,

you have something to
compare, you know, finally.

And we were all looking at
each other like, what is this?

The waves were looking huge.

When we saw Garrett
on the water,

we finally understood
the size of those waves.

Okay, go!

When Garrett caught the
wave, it was magical.

We were like, the guy survived.

For us, was like
a dream come true

because we really didn't know
if that could be possible

or not, if somebody
could surf that or not.

We understood that we
have found the gold.

Then we went to the harbor,
and he was so relaxed, like,

"Ah, this is doable.
This is nice."

Garrett fell in
love with Nazaré.

Oh, the corner must
be fun right now.

Look, see those little waves?

So we stayed that first year
learning as much as possible.

Look at how beautiful it is.

During that time, my
brother came to Nazaré

to surf with Garrett.

2010, yes.

Yeah, in 2010, that was
my first time to Nazaré.

I actually was in
Guadalajara, Spain,

and I was playing a season
of volleyball there.

Garrett said, "Yeah,
come by for the weekend."

So I went for three
days over to Nazaré.

We had surfed
together, and he said,

"You know, you surf well enough.

"I can teach you how
to drive the jet ski.

"I can tow you in

"some of the biggest
waves of your life,

and, you know, you
can just learn."

- Oh, yeah!
- He say, we say.

And I was just blown away.

I didn't know what was going on.

I ain't tying it too much.

You with the He-Man
grip, the gorilla grip.

- Your hand...
- You got the grip.

Give me your hand.

- Fuck, man.
- You got more meat.

Yours are like salchichas.

My first impression
of the waves was,

why are we here? Like,
what am I looking at?

You know, can I be out in
those waves and have fun

and not just be
getting washed around?

And it was mostly just faith
in Garrett at that point.

I'm the only guy you
listen to out here,

and I'm the only guy
who pretty much talks

unless you have a question.

Nobody tells anybody
what to do except me.

- I'm seri... I'm not joking.
- I know, I'm sorry.

I know.

Only time you don't listen to me

is if you're
absolutely 100% sure

that what I'm telling you
to do is gonna kill you.

Other than that, you
listen to me in the water.

All right.

He hadn't steered me wrong,

and he still hasn't, really.

He was just egging
me to go out and,

"This is what we're gonna do,
so I'll put you on the wave.

We do this, super easy.
We go catch some waves."

I'm like, "All
right, let's do it."

Just take your time and relax!

Yeah!

Hey, stay here! You're
gonna go like that!

Whoo-hoo, go!

Cut back, cut back!

- Whoo-hoo!
- That's your brother!

Yee-haw!

- How was that?
- That was perfect.

So yeah, he brought
me out into the waves,

and I just got a couple waves.

He drives so perfect. He
put me right on the spot.

15 feet, 20 feet at
the biggest, the face.

And yeah, that was my
first tow-in experience,

getting a little
bit bigger waves.

So we just got done towing,

and CJ went out
for his first time.

- How was it out there, CJ?
- I am officially hooked.

I gotta work on my upper body
strength a little bit though.

I couldn't hold on any longer.

Just the stamina, you just
gotta do it a few times.

I was getting that choppy,
smacking feeling on the drop,

going pretty fast.

The hardest place in
the world to train.

If you can do it here,
you can do it anywhere.

Technically, I'm the first
girl to ever tow surf Nazaré.

My dad's a surfer, so I
grew up surfing small waves,

but I love stand up paddling,

and I love stand
up paddle surfing.

The day Garrett took me out,
it was not a pretty day.

It was freezing
cold. It was stormy.

And he says to me,

"Don't worry, we'll just
tow around a little."

And then this wave just
came out of nowhere.

He's pulling me up.

I'm not even fully up...
Standing up, and he's saying,

"Go, go!" and he's
like, "Let go!"

So I held on too long,

and it, like, flung
me down the wave.

But I was like a stone.

I just skipped on the
face of this wave.

And then you can see
I go over the falls,

and you can see my little arm,
like, sticking out of the wave

when it's crashing down.

I was kind of disoriented
'cause I was so cold.

And then at that point, I
was kind of towards shore,

and he's like, "Stand up!"

But, like, it's just
sucking you back out to sea.

It doesn't spit you out.

And then finally I
got far enough up

that this little wave, like,
came and, like, pushed me up.

And you can see me
like a starfish,

just, like, floating.

I couldn't breathe
for, like, three days.

I really have PTSD.

Like, just going out on
small waves freaks me out.

I love to breathe,
and I just don't want

to be held underwater.

I love breathing so much.

People really take
it for granted.

Where is Chris? Where
was Chris going?

He's gonna go dive with Billy.

For a husband and wife
who work together,

we've learned how to really
effectively communicate

with each other.

So this is really cool.

Garrett is an idea man,

and I'm more of the
practical woman,

so sometimes the idea,
and the practicality,

and the logic interfere.

But we have an amazing life,

and we've been really,
really blessed.

There's one spot
around the corner

that's one of the most
beautiful places in the world.

There's a pod of dolphins
that we hang out with a lot.

Swimming with the
dolphins here in Hawaii is

just euphoric.

You're just
connecting with nature

in the ocean, in the saltwater.

Just super special...

Especially with the family.

Oh, no!

Garrett's very intense,

but, at the same time,

he's a very loving,
caring, sensitive person.

And he loves his family.

I really don't know any
other big wave surfer

who travels with his
family the way we do.

But it's challenging
for him for sure.

Garrett's not at
peace with himself.

I feel a deep sense
of responsibility.

I should just focus more on
my family and being present.

But I just still feel
like I need to do more

for some reason.

I know my purpose.

It's riding big waves.

That's a good swell.

So this big swell was
coming, and we're like,

okay, who's Garrett
gonna work with?

We needed somebody
with experience

to drive... jet ski.

I definitely wasn't
towing him in,

especially after my episode, and

we heard about this
Irish tow team.

Big wave riding
is an opportunity

that even the most experienced
surfer might turn down,

but for two Plymouth surfers,

it's more a case of
the bigger, the better.

Normally you have to sort
of travel to the other side

of the world to surf
waves that sort of size.

You know, Hawaii,
Australia, places like that.

But it's sort of surprising

that they're actually
right in your backyard.

We were sort of
surfing big waves...

Trying to surf big waves,

but there wasn't really any
professional big wave surfers

in Ireland at the time,
so we didn't have anyone

to show us or tell us anything

about how to set a jet ski up.

We were just watching
YouTube videos and trying

to work out how you tow surf.

At that time, these big waves,

they only existed
in people's minds

in Hawaii and California.

They didn't exist in Ireland.

Before I met Cotton,
I was struggling

to find somebody who had the
same sort of vision as me,

that wanted to
ride bigger waves.

And I was sponsored by a
company who made surfboards.

And Cotton was the guy
that fixed the surfboards.

And he also was working
on a building site

as a plumber's
apprentice at the time.

He told me he'd ridden
a couple big waves.

And he wanted to come over
and see what this was like.

So anyway, I invited him over.

So within about the first week
of Cotton coming to Ireland,

I took him out to
Mullaghmore Head

'cause there was a
gigantic swell coming.

- We're gonna go tow surfing.
- Should be fun.

I'd never driven a jet ski,

and I wasn't the
quickest learner.

I was having a terrible time.

He was struggling to
get me on the waves.

So I then got on the
jet ski and said,

"Look, I'll put you
on a couple waves."

And like that, bang, bang, bang,

and he got like three waves.

Then he's like, "Right, I
want to get you on one."

He gets on the ski, and there
was a big wave coming through.

Like, it was proper
Mullaghmore 40-foot,

thick, big, angry thing.

I remember, like, in slow
motion just thinking,

like, "This is going
terribly wrong."

No!

- Oh, no!
- Ahh!

- Oh, my God!

- Fuck, fuck, fuck!
- Oh, God, fuck.

Jesus.

The wave had, like, swung
wide out to like 100 meters,

and I couldn't outrun
it, and I was like,

I've gotta get off
the ski... I'll jump.

He positioned the ski
where I should've been,

and basically, he went
for the surf with the ski,

and I didn't.

When I look back
at that footage,

it's like, what are you
doing? Like, there's no...

But we didn't... I didn't
know what I was doing.

I'm paddling.

It took me about 20 minutes
to get back to shore.

And then I spotted the
ski and him on top of it

way out off the coast.

The jet ski wouldn't start.

Somebody who happened
to be onlooking

from a nearby house
called the Coast Guard.

Helicopter's now overhead.

They removed him
from the jet ski

and took him out of there, but
the ski was gone, disappeared.

That was the end of it.

It was a pinnacle point
because for me, it was like,

give up now, just,
like, sack it all off,

and just actually ask
for your job back,

and go out, you know.

Or, you know, you gotta
really make it happen.

It was actually,
like, thanks to Al.

He was like, "Oh, no,
we're gonna do this.

"We'll get a new ski

and we'll, you know...
We'll come back harder."

So we surfed big waves
in Ireland for two years

or three years.

And then that's when Garrett
reached out to me and Al.

October 2010, we had
surfed this new location

off the coast, and
it was really big,

really perfect, and it got
a lot of media attention.

And at that time,
Garrett was in Portugal,

and I think he'd seen this.

Look at that! Holy shit.

And at the time, I
believe he was struggling

to find people who
wanted to surf Nazaré.

When Garrett went to
Nazaré the first time,

I was actually doing the
stand up paddle world tour,

and I can remember him
asking me to join him to go.

I think he couldn't find
anybody else to go at the time.

He was out telling me and
all the guys here were like,

"Uh, no, I'm not going there."

Yeah, yeah, okay, sure,

there's a giant
wave in Portugal.

I don't like cold water and
halfway around the world,

it's like, ahh... no.

I tried to recruit a bunch
of people, lot of people.

Nobody came.

I don't think I'd met
Garrett before this point,

but when he phoned me,
I-I immediately said yes.

How do you feel your
level of driving is?

I was kind of out of my depth.

I wasn't really that
confident on the ski,

and I think Garrett
realized that.

Like, I think he was
on a search for people

that were obviously good
but also willing to learn.

Oh, you're pretty tall there.

Andrew Cotton and
Al Mennie came.

We became fast friends.

Meeting Garrett was
kind of surreal.

We went from having the worst
luck or driving skills ever

to, like, being asked to
drive around at Nazaré

on a jet ski with one
of your surfing heroes.

Cool.

That next morning,
Garrett drove the car

up the hill to the
lighthouse, and at that time,

the lighthouse was a
kind of out of town area

no one really went to.

There's a dusty road
down to this old fort

down on a very
prominent headland

off the west coast of Portugal,

and there's a real feeling
about the west coast

of Portugal and
these big headlands.

It's an end of
the world feeling.

You feel like you're on
the edge of the world.

You know what I mean?
It's, like, it's raw.

On that morning, I remember
standing down there,

and the explosions of the
waves hitting the rock

in front of the headland.

It was, like... it was
literally earth-shattering.

It was going...

And the waves were
hitting this rock

and pouring up over the top.

It felt like it was
almost reaching for us.

It was, like, reaching
up, and then as it got

to the edge of the path,
it just dropped down.

And you were like, whoa.

Garrett, he actually asked
the question... he said,

you are doing this for your
own reasons, aren't you?

That you're doing this
'cause you want to do this?

Which made me
realize he understood

that this place is
very, very dangerous.

He understands the ocean
in terms of big waves

as well as, if not better than,

any other big wave
surfer on the planet.

So for him to tell us
that this is serious,

this is dangerous,

that really made me go,
hmm, how dangerous is this?

I think part of the reason
that big wave surfing

resonates with so many people
is because everyone's been

to the beach and played
around in two-foot waves

and been tossed around
by this little wave

that will hold you
down against your will.

And if a three-foot
wave is gonna do that,

what's a 60-foot wave
going to do to me?

Falling on a 60-plus-foot
wave is like being

in a car accident
for a solid minute.

It's just the most violent,
ragdolling experience.

If you try to fight it,
you feel like your arms

and legs are just gonna
get ripped clean off.

It is so much power.

You're underwater getting beat,

and you don't know
which way's up.

It gets dark down there, and
you're just getting spun,

and you just let
your last breath out.

There's always this
feeling, oh, my God,

is this ever gonna let up?

It's really terrifying.

The reality is that riding
big waves is dangerous,

and you can die from
it, and people do.

It's not a joke.

Whoo, nice!

I got the rush fully, more
than I do in the wave.

- Just go, I'm done.
- Yes, it's done.

We're done.

Coming from Ireland,

I was a self-sufficient
big wave surfer.

Everything I did was by myself.
I organized everything myself.

But turning up in
the harbor in Nazaré,

all these local Portuguese men,

they were setting
up jet skis for us.

They were, like,
towing them around,

putting them in the slip way.
I was like, what is this?

I started to realize this was
a huge passionate endeavor

by the local crew.

Most people can't
get the funding

to run a local contest,

little small wave surf contest.

But they had managed to
get this crew of people

and the backing of
their government

to fund and help support Nazaré

as a big wave surf destination
without even knowing

if it was possible
to ride at size.

There was definitely
an air of concern

from the local guys, and
you could see it in them,

and you could feel it
in them, and rightly so.

Nazaré's a very dangerous place.

The first time we surfed
together in Nazaré,

there's a lot of pressure.

You doubt yourself.

Your anxiety, your
fear, you're stressing

that the wave's gonna be big,

don't feel like you're
gonna be good enough.

The system we were
trying to develop

for doing this safely was that
we were gonna use one surfer

being towed by one
driver on the ski

and another jet ski to
track the first team

as a safety precaution.

That was something that
hadn't happened before

in the world of surfing.

This was my first
time. I'm on the ski.

Garrett's driving.

And we go around the edge of
the rock, and I'm talking.

We were rounded about three
seconds, and Garret's going,

"Get on the rope!
Get on the rope!"

And I'm going, what?

And there's like 50-foot
peaks just going...

Everywhere.

This was like a war zone,

peaks of waves coming
in from every angle.

It felt like you
were being hunted.

That's honestly
what it felt like.

And he's shouting, "Get on
the rope, get on the rope!"

I'm like, "Would you shut up?
Let me have a look at it."

Nazaré isn't like any
other big wave spot.

It's a different animal.

It comes in, and taller
and taller, and it wobbles,

and it moves, and it
shifts, and it breaks a bit,

and it breaks a bit
more, and then, whoa-ahh!

What'd you think of the waves?

This looks heavy.

That's the first time
I've seen it, you know?

So it's nerves, a bit of fear.

You know, we've surfed
on tight beaches,

but nothing...
nothing like that.

When we first got there,

a couple of really
big waves came,

and it seemed really big.

And it just seemed to
get bigger and bigger

and more water moving.

It seemed giant.

When we first drove
out there this morning,

Garrett was like a
kid at Christmas.

And I'm sitting there going...

Look at how crazy
it looks in there!

I heard you were the
king of the morning.

You got the biggest one.

I got... I think I got
a big one, yeah, did I?

Yeah, it seemed
pretty big, yeah.

As I started down the wave,
all I heard was Garrett

shouting "To the bottom!
Go to the bottom!"

And he's driving the ski.

Whoo!

Ahh!

Yeah, it's definitely gonna
be a memorable session.

There's no doubt about
that. I'll never forget it.

It was big and a
lot of water moving,

and the drops were...
never got to the bottom.

Never got to the bottom, right?

Did you get to the
bottom of any of them?

No.

It was like, you look
around... nothing,

and all of a sudden you start
riding them, and it's like...

You're going down
'em, but it's scary.

Scary, right?

From speaking to the
locals afterwards,

there was a real
turning point that day

because when Garrett
fell in a wave,

both Andrew and I immediately
skied straight in after him.

We went straight in
through all the chaos,

where all the huge
whitewater's rushing through,

where we had never been before.

And we got him, and then we
raced all the way to shore.

And we fought our way back out.

And I think that
was the first time

that ever really happened.

Nobody had really had to
go in and do that sort

of a rescue before.

But it made us realize
that this was possible.

You were a champion in there.

It's like a cowboy.
I was like, yeah!

When I was on the back of
his ski, I felt really safe.

Well, that's good,
that's a result.

The first day I
surfed with Cotty,

I really had an amazing
connection with him

and really felt comfortable.

At that point, I was
a plumber from Devon.

You know, like, not many
professional surfers

would have trusted
a plumber from Devon

to go tow in at Nazaré.

He gave me the time.

He didn't care where I
was from, my background,

so I think that just speaks
volumes for me, yeah.

It was just the
right time for me.

I was just at a point
where I hated plumbing,

and I was just so
into big waves.

It was just a dream
to be doing it at all.

Surfing with Garrett in
Nazaré opened my mind

to how you approach a big wave,

like, not just how you
physically approach it

but how you mentally
approach it,

what you can survive,
and what that takes

to surf the biggest
waves in the world.

I was just like a sponge.
It was just amazing.

So what's next for
you, going back to...

- So you're used to barrels.
- Yeah, yeah!

Used to lots of water, aren't I?

Usually leaking
everywhere.

Today's our last day.

We're gonna go paddle
around and just really get

to know the canyon
and its surroundings

and just enjoy it and
get ready to come back.

I got invited here to Nazaré
by Dino and the city hall,

and it far exceeded
my expectations.

The waves are giant, and
powerful, and challenging.

And I consider it
a second home now.

I've surfed waves
all over the world,

chasing swells everywhere.

There's all these guys searching

for this 100-foot wave,

and everybody wants to
ride a 100-foot wave.

I know it's here, and
I know it's for real,

and I know it will
happen, so mark my word.

We'll be riding one
out here someday.

We're gonna be riding
the biggest wave we've ever seen.

There's a potential
of not coming home.

Garrett and the whole crew...
- Big set.

Figured out a lot of
systems for big wave surfing.

I can see myself
sitting in the pub saying,

"Ah, I could've done
that, but I didn't."

He's had traumas
throughout his life.

His childhood was
far from great.

It's disturbing.

I'm happy for him that
he's doing what he wants to do.

There's the flip side, which
is that it's dangerous.

People
love a good wipeout.

Our destruction,
your entertainment.

They had no idea
what they were dealing with.

Those waves were
a place of death.

Nobody would
believe that Nazaré

would have the biggest
waves in the world.

Those hopes and dreams
are now going to be a reality.