Original subtitles

In this day and age, you have to go a little bit further

or at least be willing to take a few extra steps

than anyone else is willing to do.

Yea boys!

Long flight.

A little crispy.

Grab that end.

We kinda got stuck in some weather and missed the best day of the swell.

It's part of what we do as surfers,

you do get skunked.

Not every single trip we have is perfect surf,

and it just works out every time.

It just doesn't work like that.

Right now, we're at the tail-end of summer,

and now my entire focus is shifting towards the Northern Hemisphere

and getting ready for Hawaii.

When they're predicting a strong El Nino,

everybody gets excited.

El Nino, essentially is just like an unusual weather pattern.

The Pacific Ocean gets warmer than normal

and it allows us to get a ton of big swells.

I really started taking it seriously

when Ian sat me and Shaun down one day

and said, "Just get ready, this could be the craziest winter in your life."

The last El Nino was in 1998.

That was an incredible winter.

There was multiple giant tow sessions at Jaws.

Extreme surf, extreme conditions,

just day after day of perfection.

Taylor Knox caught a wave off Mexico,

that stands the test of time.

A really strong El Nino happens so rarely,

that this is a massive opportunity to really see where the ceiling is,

as far as paddle surfing goes.

I think you're gonna see the biggest waves ridden

in the history of our sport.

Jaws is pretty much the greatest big wave in the world.

And Ian lives right up the street.

So he's in a very unusual position.

If Jaws is on, the whole surfing world descends onto his shoulders.

It's set up like a really good four to six-foot wave,

only except, it's 60-feet.

And something that you can surf,

you know, you can paddle into it.

The way Ian and those guys are surfing,

they're surfing it like it's a six-foot little ride slab of some sort.

You gotta laugh. It's like, hard to relate to, you know.

There's really nowhere else that offers the intensity.

One wave could drag you a hundred yards under water.

With the violence that you can't control your arms, you're hitting yourself,

you really do think you're gonna die.

Fighting everything and trying to force it

can burn more oxygen than you wanna be able to give up.

It's calculated risks that you take,

and you manage and minimize the risks by your physical preparation

and mental preparation.

325, Ian.

Nice and smooth pedaling, good job...

and stop!

Nice test.

Ian is one of our hardest working athletes.

In fact, across the whole portfolio,

he's probably participated in more of our training evolutions

than anyone I can think of.

You go from the things that are very practical, what we call tactical training.

All those things, you can see tie directly to the craft and being a better surfer.

What's interesting is, Ian's also pioneered spaces on the edge.

He's attended training projects where we challenged him,

and in that environment,

I think we're seeing an evolution of the big wave training

to sort of this idea of thriving under pressure.

Fifteen seconds. You wanna get to the next stage. Come on!

- Done, done, done, done, done! Let go, let go! - Good job, buddy.

He gets to rehearse his techniques

in terms of making the right decision at the right time,

when the stakes are really high.

If they're caught in an 80-foot big wave,

they need to be able to have all the skills and techniques

to do an emergency breath-hold that could be a minute at a time,

and have to do that repetitively,

with only getting about 15-second intervals in between.

You violent shark.

The work we put them through is equivalent of

any highly trained group that we've ever worked with.

Just knowing I put in all the work I can

to make myself feel as comfortable as possible

in the most uncomfortable environment I can think of.

He's doing 155-foot dives,

almost five-minute breath-holds.

You have to be prepared to the highest level,

otherwise eventually you're gonna find that one wave you just can't endure.

From first hand experience,

DK saved my life, without question.

I drowned at Cortes Bank.

The ambulance is on its way.

What happened?

You got pulled down and you just got...

If it wasn't for DK being there...

you know, he's a big reason why Greg's still alive.

Had it not been for him,

heroically abandoning his ski a hundred miles in the middle of the ocean

to tackle my lifeless body,

and then bear-hug me through two, three more giant white-waters...

you won't find any other support team like that in the world.

Saving someone's life, especially someone like him, so close to our family,

like, really got me driven to do what we do today.

Me and my brothers, we're all a bit younger

but at home we switch off doing safety for each other.

And that's only because of Ian and his brothers.

We used to call them "the squires."

Ian was the knight, and they were his little helpers,

and it was pretty good.

If Shaun and DK are out there, the twins, like, he's good.

Like, they will get him no matter what.

Makes it easier.

It's never easy, but makes it a little easier.

You know, what a crazy combination, the four brothers.

You know, they're a team.

He's the older brother, we all follow his footsteps.

If he was a complete derelict,

we probably would have followed him right down that path,

but he was a valedictorian at his high school.

My love and infatuation with big waves

wouldn't be what it is at all, without my brothers.

It just wouldn't work.

It seemed like even before the winter started,

he was really putting in a lot of work.

He sort of knew the anticipation was there

as far as, like, El Nino was sort of setting up and the hype was starting to settle in.

He is one of the few elite athletes within our sport.

And then the twins, they kinda have a different aspect.

They're sort of on their own natural training program, I'd like to call it.

It's really connecting with yourself

and staying physically active no matter what you do.

Besides all the science and the community to be bringing around

and to trying to help him improve in big waves,

I think it's just important that he goes and surfs for the sake of surfing.

There's no competition, the waves aren't as big as they can be...

connect with his mates and enjoy himself,

and that's really an important part of his program.

My favorite kind of surfer is the guy who can go and have fun in anything.

If it's two feet or if it's 100 feet,

he's still able to go out and surf and have fun.

Guys like Ian are the guys I really look up to, 'cause of that.

Woo!

Basically, on every single swell, you've got a decision to make

'cause there's gonna be a competition you have to worry about competing in

or are you gonna go surf the waves you really want to, which is the big stuff.

When are you leaving?

I leave tomorrow night probably, to go to Oahu

for the contest.

Oh, okay, okay.

I'd like to go out to Jaws, just to dust off the cobwebs.

How do you guys keep it all together out here? There's so much stuff.

What do you mean? You got two kids.

Yeah, kids will be easy after you guys deal with all this stuff.

I competed on the world tour for about 11 years.

Once I was finishing up, Ian was just starting,

trying to qualify for the tour.

And I was just like, "Man, there's nobody your age

who's really pursuing the big wave thing."

So, I reached out to Ian and said,

"Hey, let's become tow partners that surf big waves together."

I think he made the right call

in doing a lot of the big wave thing and still be competitive

in events and stuff.

Any waves out there?

So windy.

Man, that is so bumpy.

Check out how big this second wave is.

It'd be hard to stay in position though, with it, like, capping out there.

The swell was just kind of weak and weird,

the wind was totally wrong.

What do you wanna do?

I think I'm outta here.

I'm gonna stop in Kuau, grab trunks and I'm going.

We're really late.

Have fun over there.

You know, he decided to go to Honolulu Bay, and I think I decided to go bow hunting.

It really complicates things when you try and do what Ian does.

He's really focused on surfing giant waves at Jaws,

and really passionate about surfing in competitions still.

The swell's like one quarter of the size.

It's on right now.

My heat moved from the third day to now the second day

and that turned into a full fire drill of getting everything together

and packed up to head to Oahu.

It's just really insane, this whole contest season.

I try to help him whenever I can.

He tries to balance both acts, which is not an easy feat.

Right before my heat I was warming up on a few new boards.

On the first wave, I dropped into it and it literally broke.

I was like, "Is this... Is this really even happening?"

- On a wave. - On a wave like this?

It can only get better from there.

Welcome to the 2015 HIC Pro, a $100,000 event.

Ian Walsh, ten years ago, winning this event,

and of course, former finalist,

doing quite well at the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing last year.

If you know Ian, he's out chasing the biggest wave around the world.

Jack Robinson, 17-year old phenom from Australia.

Wow, it's gonna be a good-scoring wave for Robo.

Ian... let's see. Red, Ian Walsh.

Here we go. Jack Robinson up and running, screaming down this face.

Jack Robinson, in the white, in first, Ian Walsh, second.

He's looking to improve on a 5.67.

Beautiful wave.

As there goes the horn.

Ian Walsh, excellent surfing.

He's crumbled Robo out of first place.

Mic check, yellow leather, red leather.

Ian, nice to meet you.

Good to see more of Ian Walsh.

- Congratulations, Ian. - Thank you.

I'll just say hi to my mom's fourth grade class who are watching right now,

Pukalani Elementary in Maui.

Hi, Pukalani Elementary!

Ian did good. Uncle Ian killed it.

Back up to you guys.

- Nice to see you. - All right.

And here we go, 23 minutes remaining for two more surfers to join the final

with Kaito Kino and Billy Kemper.

This is white-water take-off for Ian Walsh.

Setting the standard so far here for semi-final number two.

Robo up and riding.

Nice carving turn in the pocket.

Here we go, Ian Walsh.

That's patented Ian Walsh, right there.

Jack Robinson on the second wave.

Well, that's gonna do it for semi final number two,

Ian Walsh and Jack Robinson moving through one and two to our finals

to meet Billy Kemper and Kaito Kino.

And we are under way with the final.

- Ian Walsh. - Ian Walsh.

Good-looking drop, nurses that bottom turn and hooks it off the top.

Aggressive turn, off the bottom again, another slice,

little more aggressive for turn number two.

Goodness, you could not wish for a better start as a competitor.

Oh, we have Billy going to town.

Let's look for this closing maneuver.

And right behind him Ian Walsh, quick to back up that 9.93.

That laid back he's been going to and in the lead.

And this is just a victory lap, at this point.

There's only a few people overall

as competent as him in small waves and especially big waves,

and testament to that, his performance at Sunset Beach.

Look at Ian Walsh, he is so stoked.

Billy Kemper, he's been surfing with 5.6 each in this event...

Your one, now, two-time HIC Pro champion,

2005, now 2015,

from Maui, Ian Walsh!

Right back onto the spin bike after this.

What a day.

Fuck, I'm so psyched!

Oh, it feels so good to win a contest.

Oh, my God, I'm so amped.

But this feels so good. So many times, I've been, like, close to gettin' that.

...to Ian Walsh,

and I'm sure all the kids at his mom's class at Pukalani Elementary...

It's now 4:30 pm.

Good job... Congratulations!

Had fun.

I'm so excited.

Thank you, guys.

It definitely couldn't have happened without all of you guys,

so, we're all one big unit, so, thank you, and have fun tonight.

I don't know about this year.

Let's just pray it's all right, everybody's safe,

'cause they're all chomping at the bit to get going.

With the El Nino's winter season upon us,

there's guys who truly believe and want to paddle

into 70, 80-foot waves out there,

and, as far as the ceiling, you know, how big a wave you can paddle into,

that's down to personal desire.

It's always gonna progress,

For me to sit here and say, "Oh, no, our generation, no one's gonna top that,"

is bullshit.

Right day, right conditions, right safety team.

Probably see somebody this year who'd do the impossible.

You can sense the tension in the air,

but I always can sense, you know, how much fun they have.

They get ready the day before, they're up by the crack of dawn.

First swell of the year at Jaws is always super exciting.

Everybody's a little nervous and excited to see each other.

There's that energy in the air you really just can't duplicate.

Almost feels like we're going into a gladiator war every time you go out there,

like, there you don't know what's gonna happen.

I wasn't really here on the buoys this morning,

so we slowed everything down rather than launching at like, six o'clock,

we decided to just move everything back

and not burn ourselves out sitting out there, waiting for the waves.

The winds are gonna come up, but there's no wind right now, so the quicker we get out there

the glassier it'll be.

First thing that you really feel is the texture of the ocean.

Then you see if it's windy or if it's choppy.

There's a lot of refraction coming off the rocks.

You feel the energy of the swell,

and that's really when everything sets in for the day.

Ian's paddling. Ian's dropping. Ian's dropping.

That was a stiff one.

Got really steep.

Keep an eye, here comes the set.

Grab the rope. Grab the rope.

Good?

All right. This is Greg.

This is Ian. This is Ian Ian is up. Ian is up.

I think I've cut myself pretty bad.

We're getting back to the boat. Ian cut his finger.

Get the boat ready.

- Can I surf still, you think? - Yes.

Just wrap it. Stitch it later.

Had a little hiccup in the middle of the day.

The back of the fins sliced my finger open

pretty much down to the bone.

Wrapped it up real quick and went back out,

and I got another fun wave that was really bumpy.

Ended up taking a breather and the waves just seemed to get kinda weird right then.

That little bit of wind makes night and day difference.

Not seeing anything and having salt water in your eyes...

you're basically jumping off a bridge without knowing what's at the bottom of it.

On a really good day at Jaws, you could go and just catch one wave

in those seven, eight, nine hours.

Kinda just finally got the whole crew in,

and I'll go get stitched up this evening,

make sure I didn't chop any tendons or anything weird.

I think it was a medium to average day, but very good start.

It's just the beginning.

Push out. Good. Close in.

Out.

Good. Now put your hand down completely.

If there's a contest, an epic swell,

you need to surf tomorrow, I could dress it properly.

It's probably better you stay out of the water for a couple of days.

Yeah, I'm aiming for the 10th.

- Okay. - So six days would be my goal.

The whole history of big wave surfing is super interesting.

You know, those guys are like, such pioneers.

They'd go out there with no leashes and no safety equipment.

There was always this idea that anything bigger than 40 feet

starts to become too dangerous to paddle, you know,

that borderline impossible size.

And then there was this sort of introduction of tow surfing.

Basically, if you could stand up on a surf board, you would get towed into a big wave.

You can ride 10 or 15 of those types of waves

because of how much more you can position yourself.

Got a machine that can go 40 miles an hour,

and if the wave is 50 feet that direction, go get it.

Guys wouldn't surf all year, then they would come out and tow 50 feet.

It's insane.

You take any average person to paddle surf out at Jaws,

they're not gonna catch a wave, and if they do, they're gonna get absolutely annihilated.

What the tow revolution did, was show us that it was possible to survive

waves a lot bigger than we imagined.

Tow surfing just really helped develop the jet ski as a tool for water safety

and anything you're gonna do in the ocean.

That was really the stepping stone for the next evolution of big wave surfing.

I used to race competitively with paddle boards,

and had this idea I could just really make these boards paddle faster.

That's when Ian, and Greg, and a handful of other guys

started paddling these things.

We made that conscious decision to stop tow surfing

and go back to paddling.

All the speed that the wave travels once it gets over 50 feet

is too fast for your average board design. Everything has to change.

Are they ready? I'm not sure.

No one's ever done this before, so nobody knows.

Chris Christenson, he keeps details

that I don't think any other shaper really does.

So I think finding something that we can hold a higher line

and whenever I get really pounded,

it's 'cause I'm drifting a little bit too far down the wave.

After every major swell he surfs,

we get in touch with each other right after it.

Having that more parallel rail up here will allow the board to work better in the pocket,

we're able to get you to paddle in faster with the wider shoulders

and then having that wider tailbox is what's allowing you to be a little looser.

If they can be confident in me before they get into the water,

that's, right away, they're ahead of the game.

The forecast is looking really good,

probably the best of the year.

You think this is the size Ian is looking for?

Uh, no, Ian wants pretty much as big as it gets.

It just... it feels like the swell is not really here yet.

I don't know, the buoys just aren't diving out at me.

I think we're just gonna launch right now and stick with our plan

and get out there at first light

and hopefully it starts to pick up through the morning.

Best conditions ever right now.

The fact that the forecast showed really light winds

generated a lot more interest from surfers all over the world.

The crowd in the morning was a little bit lighter,

so you could position yourself and kinda start lining up the waves

the way you want to with where you want to take off.

I think a guys' board went right over me at the end of the barrel.

And then, as the crowd thickens,

it dictates where you take off based on where you're stuck in the crowd.

You know, when you're turning around, trying to paddle into a giant wave,

and you've got people on your left, on your right,

rooting, calling you off...

Media's there. There's helicopters flying everywhere,

there's freaking drones buzzing in your head,

boats are running into each other, it's just freaking chaos.

I've surfed at Jaws for 15 years,

and I don't go there anymore because it is just a crazy zoo.

It's no fun, it's too dangerous.

The last thing I wanna do is drop on somebody and have him get hurt.

That's when you're gonna make mistakes.

You know, you're surfing according to the crowd, not how you actually want to.

When there's 50 people out there, I'm definitely not comfortable,

Ian, on the other hand, he seems to thrive.

Being with my brothers in the water at Jaws is something I can't even explain.

It's probably one of the most special moments.

There's nothing we can't be, it's the best feeling in the world.

On most days, we're trading off, doing safety for each other,

and that gives all of us a chance to surf.

Only three or four really good sets came in today,

over an eight or a ten-hour period.

The weather and everything's here, but the swells aren't.

They're way too small.

I'll be blown away if they actually call it right.

A huge contribution to the evolution of sport is in fact, the safety.

And the most notable is the inflatable vest that we've developed.

I came up with the idea of an inflatable wetsuit

from having a near-death experience at Mavericks.

I was getting older, I was married, having kids,

I just felt like it was way too risky for me to justify it.

It was something that was needed, because the sport went to such a level

that we were losing people.

You know, that wasn't acceptable.

When you wipe out, you pull a cord,

and the thing will inflate and bring you to the surface.

You don't wanna go, "You know what? I'm safe because I've got the vest on."

You don't want that attitude at all.

What happens when you get into a situation where your vest pops?

Or the situation where your vest doesn't pull?

So, because of the vest,

you have a lot more people who would never be out there otherwise.

The crowd, at certain spots, have become uncontrollable because of it.

That's the paradox for sure.

It saves lives, but it's also, in a way,

I feel, like endangering lives of those people out there who probably shouldn't be.

If you're gonna surf anywhere in the world,

you should have a safety plan and a backup plan,

and a backup plan after that.

Most people feel that the vest is the safety plan.

And they just assume that the twins are gonna pick those guys up.

It was definitely hard morally, at the beginning of it when it started getting really crowded.

I could never live with myself knowing

I was supposed to be out there working with this group,

who I consider my family,

and something happens 'cause I wasn't being responsible for them,

I was being responsible for somebody else

that has nothing to do with our operation.

I don't think it's anyone's right to say can or can't,

but when you cross that line of not kind of following this proper safety protocol,

as being able to look after yourself first,

you kind of, you've crossed the line and need to rethink what you're doing out there.

If you look at the inflatable vest,

yes, it's a nightmare, on certain days, on certain waves...

but the sport has just become incredible because of it.

For the 15th, we had a swell that was forecasted to be

bigger than anything we've had all winter,

maybe in my lifetime.

So it's kinda lining up to be a monumental day for paddle in surfing.

Big set!

Whoa!

Bringing tow boards was part of the discussion,

but I'm pretty stubbornly set on trying to paddle.

Think we're all a little scared,

and kind of concerned about how big it's gonna be out there today,

but hopefully it's somewhat manageable.

I'm actually really nervous right now,

got to surf in that.

I don't know, I have this weird eerie feeling.

Definitely rattled. Not a day to show up feeling...

I'm a little out of it, that's for sure.

Greg was basically sick the whole time.

He wasn't able to surf. So, Greg ended up running safety.

It's really hard to pull yourself out of a day like that.

You know how much time you've spent waiting for a day like that to be able to surf.

Everything that we looked for, chasing around big waves, was leading up to this day.

I've never seen Jaws break like that in my life.

Two hours, we're gonna be towing.

Watch.

It just felt like you're scratching just to get a little bit of momentum into it,

because the wave is moving so fast and there's so much water coming up the face.

Perfect example of "be careful what you wish for."

Warm up!

Shane, get on!

Shane.

Yeah, Shane, that was fucking awesome.

You got such a sick wave, huh?

It just felt like the ocean was in control.

It wasn't like a normal day where you could have fun like, everybody was on that...

Let's go, come on.

Get on, come on.

- You okay? - My neck.

- What? - My neck.

This is Shaun Walsh.

DK has a possible spinal cord injury.

I'm super tingly and my neck's fucked.

Take me with Shaun.

I could look in everyone's eyes,

and like, "Oh, my God, this is like, what happened at Cortes."

It was like a fully switched situation.

DK was there, he saved Greg's life, and now Greg is doing everything he can.

It was just kind of all surreal.

Like, my heart sank, you know,

I didn't know how bad, or what was going on.

DK, do you want 911?

I need an ambulance.

Don't call Mom.

Doesn't matter how good the waves are, that's the priority, no matter what.

We got him in really safely.

The goal right there is just to move him to a higher echelon of care.

Once that happens, there's not much else we could do.

Shaun, he and Luke, everyone's trying to go with me,

but looking at how good the waves were, I wanted them to stay.

Once in a lifetime conditions in that size.

We've stayed out and that morphed into a really pivotal day in my lifetime.

I just had a weird wave in the face

and I just couldn't get my edge in for a while.

I saw him whip it and go on this wave,

and right when I saw him get to his feet, I was like, "He's too deep."

And, you know, when you're out there, you sometimes just have to take that risk.

And he was on his toes the whole time he was going down the wave.

I thought he was gonna jump.

You know, what happened, some of the rides out there today,

that's, you know, history was made, for sure.

Yeah, today was incredible, but as soon as I kicked out of that wave,

reality hit, and all I could think about was DK.

Nothing was broken, nothing was fractured.

All the MRIs and everything came back good.

Now for the next month or so, I gotta wear this neck brace,

and just kinda lay low for a while and hopefully let my body heal.

This has been an intense January.

A week ago, we had one of the biggest days I've ever seen

with clean winds, in my entire life here.

It just felt like we might never really see everything come together like that again

till we're all too old and we're cheerleaders on a cliff.

And then another huge system popped up in the middle of the Pacific,

and here we are.

Just to have another chance with conditions like this

is... it made me kinda take a step back and have a lot more appreciation

for the swells that we're getting right now.

I thought my winter was done after getting out of the hospital,

then I got word back from the doctors in LA.

He said everything's in place.

I'm so thankful. I never thought that was gonna happen.

And it sucks for him to not be able to surf, but he is, without a doubt,

probably the best guy in the ski, doing safety.

So I think the entirety, the line up feels a lot more comfortable and confident

just having him in the water.

All right, this is Greg.

Keep an eye on Greg, boys. Keep an eye on Greg.

I got him, I got him.

Victory.

In this sport, you definitely wanna see your friends do well.

For Greg, he had a wave a few years ago

that was one of the best barrels ever ridden at Jaws.

And as it spit, he fell flying out of the barrel.

He calls it tripping across the finish line.

You just see how much time and energy goes into every one of these waves that are ridden

and how long it takes to even get to a day like this,

and it was really cool to see everything come together for Greg today.

He got the barrel and rode out into the channel. You could almost see

all the energy and work that went into that wave,

like, pour out of him.

Yea, Greg!

We got Dorian up. We got Dorian up.

Part of what Jaws is, is like,

you surf for six hours, you might only get one really good opportunity on a wave.

About four hours later, I got one of the best waves I've ever had out there.

Everything finally clicked.

Rather than just being focused on one goal of riding the biggest wave of your life,

it's more about taking a step back

and appreciating all the little things that lead up to and follow these days.

The last El Nino was in 1998.

There's only really been four real El Ninos in 40 years.

The best big waves I've ever seen.

I've been surfing big waves for 25 years.

Ian's chosen a path that really suits him.

I'm just really blessed as a dad.

Yeah.

Part of surfing is just always looking at what's next.

It's true what they say.

The greater the adversity, the greater the accomplishment.

And for me, whether it's the size of the waves,

or stepping into the unknown,

That's where I wanna be.