Riding Giants
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:45:01
Once Mavericks came,
it was in our backyard.

:45:05
It really took time
to figure out what we had.

:45:08
It wasn't instantaneous,
even though it was gnarly.

:45:12
It took time for me
to conceptualize.

:45:14
It was taboo for us to say "20 feet."
:45:17
It was like, "20-foot waves
only happen in Hawaii."

:45:21
The thought was, "It can't be as big
and as gnarly as Waimea.

:45:24
This can't be as hard
as what they're doing there"...

:45:28
...when in fact it was way harder,
it was way more fearsome...

:45:31
...and it was way gnarlier.
:45:36
It's just so gnarly
and rocky and just violent...

:45:39
...and just hateful, it's hateful.
:45:41
I jumped in. I had the worst
ice-cream headache.

:45:45
Within 30 seconds,
I couldn't feel my hands or feet.

:45:48
How are you supposed to ride
30- to 40- to 50-foot faces?

:45:52
I'm out of here.
:45:55
You got sharks, you got rocks,
you got cold water, you got huge surf.

:46:00
Five-millimeter wet suits, fog banks,
you can't see two feet in front of you.

:46:05
Oversized boulders
from the Land of the Lost.

:46:10
They extend across the length...
:46:14
...of where the wave is breaking.
:46:23
To reach the waves at Mavericks...
:46:24
... surfers paddle
over 45 minutes...

:46:26
... through a maze of rocks,
rip currents...

:46:29
... and frigid open-ocean chop
until they finally reach the lineup.

:46:37
The sacred thing in big-wave surfing
is: What are the lineups?

:46:42
Lineups are a means of triangulating
your position in the ocean.

:46:46
So you find two reference points
on land at about 90 degrees.

:46:52
Mainly what I use is this
positioning on hillsides.

:46:55
I mean, there's a big mountain
behind and a closer cliff.

:46:58
There's a satellite dish
you can line up.


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