At the age of 3, Laird Hamilton chose his future. While his natural father had taken off for parts unknown, he met legendary surfer Billy Hamilton. The champion took Laird surfing, and the child, who had learned to surf by then on the front half of broken board, asked him to become his father. "Come, I want to introduce you to my mom!" At the age of eight, his father took him to the 60-foot cliff and Waimea Falls, where Laird looked down, looked back at his dad and jumped. "He's been bold since day one," says Bill, "and hell-bent on living life to the extreme." Laird Hamilton is indisputably the most respected big wave surfer in the world. Accomplished athlete, shining spirit, determined, willful, he has always had in him the desire to excel at everything. Dividing his time between the big swells of winter in Hawaii and summers in Malibu, he knows, thanks to his sense of innovation and determination of spirit, how to dominate some of the biggest waves on the planet, and has given surf a noble title. But he didn't just acquire this expertise by chance.
After school each day he would ride longboards, shortboards and tandems, already developing the well-rounded skills that would later characterize his style. At 16 he turned towards windsurfing, but as with surfing, he quickly realized that he wasn't particularly interested in competitions or the subjective assessments of the judges. But that didn't prevent him from accomplishing his legendary exploits. At 22, with little experience and no training, he entered a speed course in Port San Louis in France and established a European record of 36 knots. Talented in all the gliding sports, he is always pushing his own capabilities and inventing something new.
Paddle boarding between the Hawaiian islands, windsurfing, jet skiing, body boarding, Kite surfing and stand-up paddling only begins to describe some his nautical activities. Laird is a throw back to an earlier time when surfers prided themselves on being all-around watermen.
His predilection remains surfing, though, a sport in which he excels. Extraordinarily innovative in the water, he asserted his skills in the North Shore of Hawaii in the 90's, confronting gigantic tubes and surfing terrifying waves with a disconcerting ease. As he took on progressively bigger waves, he found that the limits of paddling speed prevented him from safely entering the giants he strove to ride, and began to use a Jet Ski to tow with, getting him up to speed and launching him into the wave just as it was breaking.
"There always remains this mythical spot, where people say 'it's too fast, it's too big,' but today with tow-in surfing, it's all over, there are no longer spots that are too big or too fast," he says.
This notoriety has never driven him into the isolation of an ivory tower, nor has it diminished the spirit of generosity and passion he extends to his friends and acquaintances.
Laird, with his friend Dave Kalama, discovered the now-famous wave of Peahi, also know as "Jaws." A monster wave, which only explodes a few days a year with incredible violence and size, is only accessible by tow-in with foot straps. In waves this big, preparation is an exact science. From the heavier boards, the straps, to the towline, everything must be dialed in. It's also crucial to choose the team, as these conditions can be deadly, and you have to have the confidence to put your life in your team's hands. Dave Kalama has the strength and personality to react with confidence when problems arise, having extracted Laird from numerous potentially deadly situations.
August 17th, 2000 will forever be ingrained in the history of surfing. On that day, Laird Hamilton yet again pushed the limits of imagination by surfing the wave at Teahupoo in Tahiti, in conditions that people believed to be impossible to surf. Reputed as being one of the most savage in the world, not just because of its height, but also because of its almost square shape and its sped of uncoiling, the waves at Teahupoo break on a barrier of coral, higher than the level of the beach at low tide, and with a lip that is one of the thickest and most massive of all.
By dawn, Laird had already successfully surfed two huge sets, when in the distance some indescribable sets came into view. Pulled by Jet Ski, he was released full speed into the biggest and steepest face in all of surfing history. Never has a surfer gone so fast on a board, feet threaded into the foot straps to stay in control, taking a tight and limpid line in order to escape this superbly smooth, but actually very hostile wall, which broke on a reef covered by less than two feet of water. Mastering this mass of liquid, where the slightest error could have been fatal, he exited the tube with the same exceptional ease and style he brings to every ride. By mastering what the surfing world has called ‘the wave of the century' Laird has received the respect and admiration of many, but even this has hardly satisfied his quest for progress.
After pushing the boundaries of kite surfing to enjoy himself on the water when there's no waves but plenty of wind, and having created Tow-In Surfing in order to rush down the biggest waves ever surfed he searched even further, creating the progressive Foil board. Unlike anything in surfing, the hydrofoil design at the bottom of the five foot ‘fin' lifts the surfer and his board above the water, dramatically reducing drag and cutting through surface chop like a knife. "The sensation is quite different from a conventional surfboard. You are above the surface of the water, with the feeling of flying because you don't feel the chop from the waves. The speeds attained are phenomenal."
During this time, Laird met with Carver, having come across the innovative trucks thorough mutual friends. It dovetailed perfectly with his search for new ways to surf and train. The ergonomically accurate sensation of surfing and the ease of pumping provided by the new Carver trucks sparked an interest in collaboration. Some of those early skate sessions were real eye openers, in which Laird not only dropped in on some of the steepest hills on the Westside, but, upon reaching the end, bottom turned and pumped back up them. Watching Laird pump up the local hills put into a new perspective what can be achieved through training and shear force of will. Carver proudly offers Laird's only signature skateboards available on the market.
Laird continues to glide on the cutting edge of boardsports, bringing his eye for technology to his stand-up paddle surfing. A cousin to traditional longboarding, and inspired by early Hawaiian and Polynesian cultures, it allows a rider to paddle into waves even earlier by using a specially designed paddle to pull deeper and longer strokes. And because the rider is already standing, they're surfing the wave before it even breaks, all on human power alone.
