Waterpeople Podcast
Waterpeople Podcast shares stories about the aquatic experiences that shape us. Hosts Lauren L. Hill and Dave Rastovich talk with some of the most adept waterfolk on the planet, exploring themes like ecology, adventure, community, activism, science, inclusivity, and surfing. It serves as a gathering place for the global ocean community to dive into watery lives lived well.
Episodes
Ziggy Alberts: Wildly Underprepared
What does it take for you to slow down?Ziggy Alberts started playing live at 17, admittedly underprepared, but fizzing. By 21, he was staring at a studio ceiling noticing the lights had gone dim, but no one had touched the switch. It led him to break down to a friend. After years of “hell-for-leather” world-touring, he'd finally stayed still long enough to feel what he'd been outrunning.
Howie Cooke: Artivism
When was the last time you had an epiphany? Artist/activist Howie Cooke shares the sudden realisation that steered the course of his life's work - a handful of decades on the front lines of marine protection via NGOs, art, music and direct action. Howie has spent 50 years boogie boarding, playing guitar and painting. He has shown in hundreds of art exhibitions around the world – in addition t
Soli Bailey: Maps to Now
There's no straight lines in the ocean - nor in a surfing life.We sit with professional surfer and Bundjalung waterman Soli Bailey to trace his lines from early talent and success, through the grind of competing and a life-threatening neck injury, to a grounded love of surfing that’s deeper than any accolades.Soli opens up about the quiet crisis that arrived during lockdowns: paddling out and
Patti Paniccia: Raising the Bar
What are you unwilling to ignore? Through her experience in pro surfing, journalism and law, Patti Paniccia is a formidable advocate for equity in the water and the workplace. Patti helped build the IPS tour from the ground up, organised the Hawaii Women’s Surfing Hui to create opportunity, and then carried that same tenacity into law and journalism—ultimately winning a landmark workplace discrim
Living the Questions: answering your queries
Ever felt the ocean fix what land couldn’t? This episode, we turn the mics on one another and answer your questions about grief, love, parenting, and crowded lineups. Hear the stories behind the sails, the garden, and the choices that have shaped us. Also: It’s time for our annual giveaway – you can enter by leaving a review of the podcast before January 15th – wherever you listen to podcasts.A co
The Rivers Run: Theory of Change (pt. 2)
What's a river to you? After cyclone Alfred crossed Australia's East Coast earlier this year, tens of thousands of fish died in our local river, Dave got a persistent staph infection and our community tousled with a question: what's wrong with our river? And what can we do about it ?How does change happen when we, and the world, seem stuck in our ways? We’re curious about how change
Sterling Spencer: Fan of the Universe
At age 8, Sterling Spencer was signed to surf sponsorship and then had a successful amateur career before chasing the Pro Tour. He was an early internet adopter who found his stride not in competitive surfing, but in making good fun of an earnest surf industry and culture. Sterling is a pro surfer and media maker from Florida’s Gulf Coast known for blending high performance surfing with comedic sk
Peter Gash OAM: Custodian of Curiosity
Not long ago, Lady Elliot Island was basically unrecognisable. In the late 1800s, it was mined for guano used as agricultural fertiliser. The island was stripped bare. This is a story about what happens when one person has a vision and refuses to let hard work, qualifications or accepted definitions of 'possible' get in the way of curiosity.Regenerating the precious coral cay Lady Ellio
Ethnomads: Ke'ili Mcevilly + Chris Miyashiro
Grief, love, and lineage shape a rite of passage as our guests recall learnings from storms, stars, mentors, and manta rays at midnight.Ke'ilii Mcevilly is an environmental scientist with a Masters degree in sustainability. Ke'ili grew up surfing in California, and is now based on the island of Oahu. She is an artist and waterwoman involved in the flourishing of traditional Hawaiian cult
Chris Miyashiro: Homecomings
A captain wakes in the night certain he’s wrecked in mangroves—only he’s on his own porch. That jarring reentry from a month under sail becomes our portal into a deeper story about attention, tradition, and becoming a different kind of person at sea with artist-sailor-filmmaker Chris Miyashiro.Chris takes us from his grandfather’s walls—painted with visions of Hōkūleʻa —to a 2,700‑mile, unsupporte
John Peck: Rebirth
What does it mean to live a life of service? Pipeline pioneer John Peck was devout to many things over this 81 years, and exploring this question was amongst them. In 2015, we hosted John for what was a precursor to this podcast - a storytelling evening in our local community hall. He was captivating - virtually no one moved for hours, as Dave's questions and John's stories interwove wit
Layne Beachley + Tess Brouwer: Mental Fitness
Two friends chart a path from pain to agency: Layne Beachley examines the drive behind seven world titles and finds a search for self-worth, while Tess Brouwer turns a hidden spinal injury and a hospital-bed reckoning into a mental fitness toolkit. Together, Layne and Tess are the co-authors of the book Awake Academy, wherein they share the life altering changes that shook their respective senses
Brenden 'Margo' Margieson: Renaissance Man
Every mid-aged Aussie bloke's favourite surfer? That's Margo. Widely recognised as the first paid freesurfer - Brenden 'Margo' Margieson is famed almost as much for his gentle demeanour as his explosive power surfing. We traced some of his undulating journey through a surfing life's highs and lows. From early days being propelled by legendary filmmaker Jack McCoy, to unexp
Theory of Change (pt. 1): Waterwomen Camp Out
How does change happen when we, and the world, seem stuck in our ways? We’re curious about how change happens – and what people are doing on the ground, in our community, to create the causal pathways to shift social and environmental ideas, norms, and policy. Listen in for stories from the 2025 Waterwomen Camp Out put on by the NGO Surfers for Climate. The Waterwomen Camp is an annual weekend of
Holly Beck: Simplicity + Therapy
Is there a particular fear that's still holding you back? Holistic surf therapist and coach Holly Beck talks us through the way she sees terrestrial life play out in the water - in terms of how we behave and how we engage with others and with the ocean. Holly spent 10 years as a professional surfer, where she pioneered new pathways for women in the industry as a competitor, savvy freesurfer
Hunter Williams: Shapes + Templates
Who's your youngest friend? We just met one of ours: 11-year-old surfer, shaper and filmmaker Hunter Williams. This year, Hunter won the grom shorts category at the Noosa International Surf Film Festival with his movie Heirloom. Informing an impressive depth of knowledge about surfboard building and design, is Hunter’s spectral surfing skill – he talks us through peak moments of tube time and
Arne Rubinstein: Rites of Passage
Rites of passage, once central to marking life’s transitions, have faded in modernity. As we navigate rising anxiety, social fragmentation, and a world where technology permeates nearly all aspects of our shared human experience, what role could a revival of rites of passage play in reclaiming our resilience and our capacity for social cohesion?Dr Arne Rubinstein is the CEO and Founder of the Rite
Bonnie Tsui: On Muscle + Movement
What moves you through the world? In the most literal sense, it's the same answer for all of us: muscle. In On Muscle, Bonnie Tsui brings her signature blend of science, culture, immersive reporting, and personal narrative to examine not just what muscles are - but what they mean to us. Bonnie attended Harvard University, where she rowed crew, snowboarded, and studied American literature. She
Dylan Graves: The Levity Effect
How much has your homebreak shaped you - your life, livelihood, the person you've become? The quirkiness of Dylan Graves' Puerto Rican homebreak shaped a lifelong obsession, and subsequent career in chasing, riding, and documenting Weird Waves around the globe. Tidal bores, standing waves, wedges, glacial calving swells; Dylan's Youtube channel shares an astonishing diversity of wa
Sarah Gerhardt: Unstable Bonds
Besides being a professor of chemistry, Dr. Sarah Gerhardt was the first woman to ride one of the world’s most feared waves, Mavericks in icy Northern California. She is a mother of two and acknowledged as the first female tow-in surfer. Amidst a tumultuous childhood, Sarah found stability in an unexpected place: The Periodic Table of Elements. Sarah learned to surf in the late '80s at Pismo
Kiana Weltzien: More with Less
When was the last time you followed a spark of curiosity all the way to some distant shoreline? Kiana Weltzien's ocean adventures began in 2016 when she left her real estate career in Miami for a year of travel. Along the way, she met a mentor and moved onto his boat; a replica Polynesian double-canoe. She sensed that this was her new way of life.In 2018, Kiana acquired her own boat, Mara Nok
Putting Tech in its Place with Helena Norberg-Hodge + friends
What's lost when we hand over skills or experiences to technology ? We sat down with localisation pioneer Helena Norberg-Hodge to learn more about the waves of radical economic and social changes she has experienced first hand. In 1975, as a student of linguistics amongst the glacial melt of the Himalayas, Helena witnessed the rapid erosion of traditional culture that followed the introductio
Gary McNeill: Make It Last
How do we make magic boards last longer? Gary McNeill and Dave have been experimenting with alternative, non-petrochemical materials for the last decade. The front runner in their experiments? Flax cloth, for board strength and durability. Stab recently ran The Electric Acid Surfboard Test, to explore the validity of their flax tinkerings. This episode features the flax master himself, shaper Gary
Krista Comer: Reading Power
How do you better a culture? How do we better surf culture? Dr. Krista Comer is a scholar of American literature and cultural politics. She has written widely about women and surfing as a way "to build bridges between university and community, or subcultural knowledges. Because we need each other to understand the worlds we inhabit, and to make better worlds. I need bridges to stay true to
Otto Flores: Stepping Up
Many professional athletes struggle to transition from their sport-as-career. The highs are often out of reach for pedestrian life - especially for pro surfers who spend their years in whirlwinds of hedonistic wave chasing. For Puerto Rican tube connoisseur Otto Flores, the key to transition was community. After many national titles and a spell on the World Qualify Series, Otto veered away from co
Gail Couper: With Bells On
Called the "most underrated sports person in Australia" and the "greatest Bells surfer of all time” Gail Couper has been both: at the centre and the sideline of surf culture and sport for the better part of her 77 years. She's seen a lot change, and helped to lay the foundation for Aussie surf culture as we know it today. Gail is a five-time national champion, and 10-time winn
Lane Davey: Body Language
How many kids from Tennessee end up devoting their life to the world's heaviest waves? At least one. That's Lane Davey: Pipe Disciple, PhD, journalist and college lecturer at UH Mānoa. Lane has dedicated much of her adult life to being present in the line-up at Pipeline – she was long the lone woman amongst the sword fight. We trace her unlikely trajectory from growing up in Tennessee, t
Danny Johnson: Don't Overthink It
We’re getting tangential. This episode is part of a three episode slip slide behind the scenes of a project that Dave’s been working on for the better part of 2024: The Electric Acid Surfboard test. It's a series that explores “alternative” surfboard design. Basically, iconic surfers on left-field, experimental surf craft. Our very own aquatic wombat, renowned question repeater, one David Ras
Jamie Brisick: Breaking the Surface
Who modelled kindness for you? Who showed you how to be kind and curious in the face of difference?Before he was a Fulbright Scholar, Jamie Brisick surfed on the ASP world tour from 1986 to 1991, and has since documented surf culture extensively.His writings and photographs have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Guardian. Jamie hosts the podcast Soundings and is the author of
Josie Prendergast: Tidal Transitions
Longevity in any career begs for reinvention. With more than a decade at the pro surfing game, Josie Prendergast has been navigating new waters in her career - by taking the reins on her own storytelling. Born in Siargao and raised in both Australia and the Philippines, Josie is a standout surfer on any craft – from 10+ gliders to fishes – and she’s expert at nasal navigation on heavy logs. We cau
Hanneke Boon: At the Helm
Did sailing have more to do with early human locomotion than the wheel? Hanneke Boon, head of James Wharram Designs, suggests that may be so. Born in the Netherlands, Hanneke grew up in a sailing family. She was building and sailing Polynesian Catamarans at the age of fourteen and joined the James Wharram team at the age of 20. A gifted artist / graphic designer / craftworker, she became James Wha
Bob McTavish: Trim & Wonder
Over the last half century, Bob McTavish has shaped thousands of custom surfboards. Always an innovator in surfboard design and technology, Bob pioneered cutting edge changes to the basic concept of a surfboard. In 1965, he started tinkering with rail and bottom design to maximise performance. This was part of the movement that would become known as the shortboard revolution, in which Bob’s role
Ruby Southwell: Natural Action
Did you feel safe in your childhood home? If not, were you able to leave, or did you have to stay? Ruby Southwell hit the road, travelling solo for years, searching for guidance. What she found was a deep and clear inner well - and a renewed love for riding waves. At age 22, Ruby moved to Indonesia’s remote Mentawai Islands, where she surf guided, taught herself how to tube ride, and lived offgrid
Brett Burcher: Deep Breaths
What's the most challenging experience you've faced? Did it ultimately hinder or heighten your self-clarity? Brett Burcher is a heavy water specialist - a slab hunter who chases the thickest waves to some of the most far flung locations. He was given an irrevocable invitation to learn to lay down, be still and breathe when he hit the reef and suffered a spinal cord injury in remote South
Levelling Breath Practice with Brett Burcher
As a follow up to our episode with heavy water specialist Brett Burcher we wanted to share a couple of breathwork practices that Brett found most practical in his own life - whether he’s dealing with insomnia, or about to drop into a bomb set wave.This is a levelling breath practice— not an upper or downer -- just a way to reconnect with a gentle balanced breath state. Send us Fan Mail...Co-Hosts
Energising Breath Practice with Brett Burcher
In this bonus episode slab hunter Brett Burcher takes us through an energising breath practice that he’s found useful when you need a little extra pep in your step. This is your reminder: breathe like you mean it. Send us Fan Mail...Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray
Nidala Barker: Where We Belong
“Whether or not you think you belong to the Earth is irrelevant, for you simply do. By virtue of breathing in you receive a gift of oxygen given by the tree and soil, by virtue of breathing out you gift carbon dioxide to the kelp so the fish may have their home. To accept our shared responsibility to the Earth, IS to remember our belonging.” – Nidala BarkerNidala is a surfer, musician and custodia
Dr. Kevin Stone: How to Play Forever
Why are some octogenarians still surfing, while others struggle to walk up the stairs? It isn’t luck. Harvard and Stanford trained Orthopaedic surgeon Kevin R. Stone, MD, believes that injuries present as opportunities to better our athletic potential - they can make us fitter, faster, and stronger than before. He is the author of Play Forever: How to Recover From Injury and Thrive. Dr. Kevin St
Pauline Menczer: The Uncensored Underdog
How to fund a pro surfing career in the 1980s? Sell stickers, Levi’s jeans, bicycles, whatever. Sleep in your board bag. Live on a diet of mushrooms and bread. World Champion Pauline Menczer got resourceful and hustled however it took to get her to the next stop of the tour. “In the 80s and 90s, surf culture was toxic, especially towards women. Pauline was a dirt-poor, chronically ill teen from B
Sung Min Cho: African Aloha
When is surfing about more than just selfish wave hoggery? Mozambique’s first professional surfer, Sung Min Cho, or ‘Mini’ for short, is writing a new story for surfing – he’s part of a burgeoning surf culture rising from the wake of three decades of armed conflict in the region. In 2018, Mini co-counded Tofo surf club, Mozambique’s outpost of Surfers Not Street Children, which empowers street ki
Torren Martyn & Aiyana Powell: Solo, Together
Ever want to pack up normalcy and set sail over the horizon? What’s it really like to live at sea for a year and rarely be further than 35 feet from your new significant other?Torren Martyn and Aiyana Powell talk us through the peaks and troughs of life aboard Calypte, a borrowed 35-foot sailing boat that they spent 12 months sailing 9,000-kilometres - from Pattaya in the Gulf of Thailand to Lombo
Annie Ford: Adventurous Activism
The loudest human-made sounds: Nuclear Bomb (224 dB), Rocket launch (204 dB). And clocking in at 260 underwater decibels is the seismic blast, part of a process for exploring for oil and gas in the ocean. Unlike bombs and rockets, however, seismic blasts "fire approximately every 10 seconds around the clock for months at a time." For eight years, Marine Biologist Annie Ford worked onboar
Sally Parkin: Sell the House
Are you investing in yourself and your curiosities? At 63, Sally Parkin sold her home to spend the better part of 2023 surfing in Australia with her family. Sally is known for "single handedly" reviving the 100 year old tradition of English surfing on wooden bodyboards. She first surfed one at age 5, and decades later, when her family's quiver started to break, she realised there
Stu Nettle: Voice & Vertigo
Injuries are mostly out of our control. But recovery offers many choices. Will we allow the scar tissue to stiffen or soften us? Stu Nettle is the editor of Swellnet, one of Australia's leading independent surf media and forecasting sites, where he has written about board design, surf industry happenings, surf science, and coastal geology since 2008. Stu is a lifelong surfer but late-comer to
Pacha Lina Luque Light: Learning the Language
Raised on a diet of deep ecology and the DIY spirit of her single mom, Pacha Light earned her first surfboard busking as a tween. She then forged her way into professional surfing as a teenager on Australia’s Gold Coast: signing a big endemic sponsor, training every day, and making a name for herself as a competitor and surf model. Until she couldn’t do it any longer. She felt she was not fully i
Tyler C. Wilde: The Missing Piece
Have you ever felt like something was wrong, but you weren't quite sure how to name it? Tyler Wilde is a teacher and bodysurfer from southern California. In 2017, Tyler won the prestigious International Surf Festival bodysurfing contest and was later voted into the Gillis Beach Bodysurfing Association as one of their youngest members. As a physical education teacher, his goal is to help his s
Tom Carroll: Under the Lip
A little fire can keep you warm; a big fire can burn your house down. Two time ASP World Surfing Champion Tom Carroll speaks candidly about his struggles to harness the power that made him famous. From the highs of professional surfing to addiction and meditation, his large life is a study in harnessing and honing one's power in mind and body. Few surfers ever perform a wholly memorable man
Christian and Ka'ale Sea: Many Beginnings
Many of us dream of laying roots in some balmy, wave-rich location far from where we sprouted - to grow food and let the ocean dictate the day. Few of us do it.Christian and Ka'ale Sea have spent the last 21 years together - surfing, diving, planting, growing a family. They have three daughters, all homeschooled on the remote West Coast of Sumba Island, Indonesia, where they own and operate N
Flora Christin Butarbutar: Kampung Life
Around 500,000 people were displaced by the 2018 earthquake that rocked the island of Lombok in Indonesia. It was estimated that 80% of all structures were levelled on the North of the island. At the time, Flora Christin Butarbutar, then in her early 20s, had taken up surfing on the Island of Bali. Originally from Sumatra, Flora was shaken by the need for help on the neighbouring island of Lombok.
Moana Jones Wong: Awakening
Can a single wave really change your life? For Hawaiian waterwoman Moana Jones Wong, one wave changed everything. She shares about the fated, sparkling bomb at Pipeline that altered both her sense of self, and her surfing career. Moana made history by winning the first ever Women’s Championship Tour event at Pipeline. As a North Shore local, she cut her teeth in heavy water, earning her the tit
Lewis Arnold and Chris Nelson: Neoprene is Toxic
What do neoprene wetsuits have to do with Cancer Alley ? The global wetsuit industry is valued at around $2.8 Billion USD."The vast majority of wetsuits on sale today are made of a synthetic rubber called Neoprene. Neoprene – the commercial name for chloroprene rubber – is the product of a toxic, carcinogenic chemical process.There is only one chloroprene plant in the US. It is owned by Japa
Felicity Palmateer: Nature’s Course
If you only had 10 healthy years left of life, would you choose to know it ?Big wave surfer Felicity Palmateer is known for her paddle-ins at Peahi, commentating WSL events, starring in Australian Survivor (twice) and holding the record for largest wave ever ridden by an Aussie woman.Parallel to her successful surfing career, Felicity has navigated tumultuous familial seas. She talks us through l
Elizabeth Nguyen: Ancestral Stream
“Each of us occupies a singular ecological niche in the web of life that is uniquely ours, and when we restore ourselves to health and vitality, we contribute to the health and vitality of our entire planet.” Such is the philosophy of psychiatrist and surfer Dr. Elizabeth Nguyen. Dr. Nguyen specialises in cross cultural psychiatry, the intersection of spirituality and mental health, and the healin
Chris Del Moro: Lead with Deeds
With gender norms up in the air, what does it mean to be a dad today? For Chris Del Moro, it means showing up for it all - good, bad, and messy - and maintaining stability for his family. Chris is an artist, surfer and devoted father to his two boys. He shares about the pivotal experiences with his own fathers and mentors that shaped him into the steadfast man he is today. Chris spent more than a
Belen Alvarez Kimble: Watch Me
When was the last time you refused to take 'no' for an answer ? Belen Alvarez Kimble shares about the life-changing instance when she pushed against cultural norms and expectations to lay down her life's path. Belen occupied one of the very few positions as a professional freesurfer through the early 2000s and worked with surf brands as an ambassador for unifying women’s surfing aro
Rusty Miller: Surfing Through Life
What's possible in the eighth decade of life? Rusty Miller will be 80 this year - and he's still rocking off at Lennox Point and taking off on the best set waves. Born in Southern Californian, Rusty was the 1965 United States Surfing Champion. He moved to Byron Bay Australia in 1970, where he has since lived, surfed, taught, and written about surfing -- and been an integral member of th
Season 5 Trailer
Welcome back for the 5th Season of The Waterpeople Podcast. Listen in as Dave and Lauren turn the mic on one another and get set for 16 fresh episodes of ocean-centric storytelling. ....Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Dave & BenJoin the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Send us Fan Mail...Co-Hosts
James Nestor: Shut Your Mouth
Is your mouth open or closed right now ? There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: we take air in, let it out, and repeat 25,000 times a day. But most of us have forgotten how to do it properly. Journalist, aquanaut, surfer and author James Nestor's latest book BREATH: the New Science of a Lost Art explores the million-year-long history of how the human spe
Laola Lake Aea: Maka'ala
Lore of the Waikiki Beach Boys is well known – those legendary Hawaiian watermen like Duke Kahanamoku and Rabbit Kekai who regulated the turf of one surfing’s most fabled beaches. But where were the wahine ?Today we’re in conversation with original Waikiki Wahine Beach Boy Laola Lake, champion outrigger paddler, surfer and ocean safety advocate. Laola grew up in the ocean front cottages of the Roy
Rick Ridgeway: Wild Life
How will we choose to spend this one wild and precious life? Rick Ridgeway has devoted his seven decades to adventuring Earth's widest seas and tallest peaks -- and working to protect the wildness that remains. Rick's earliest adventures were oceanic – sailing and surfing – but he’s recognized amongst the world’s foremost mountineers. In 1976 he joined the American Bicentennial Everest
Peggy Oki: Artful Activism
As a member of the Zephyr skateboard team in the 1970’s -- made famous by the documentary Dogtown and Z Boys -- Peggy Oki was at the top of the women’s skateboarding world while pioneering the vertical skating movement alongside the DogTown crew of Jay Adams, Tony Alva and Stacey Peralta, as the lone Z-Girl. Peggy is a surfer, skater, rock climber, and visual artist who has adventured between t
Jock Sutherland: Muscle Memory
In early 1970, Jock Sutherland enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in Vietnam. At that time, he was considered amongst the most visible and versatile surfers on the planet. The surfing world was shocked; and so was his mother. Jock never made it to active duty, but spent two years in the service, after which he was rarely included in surf media. In 1989, Jock was busted for running cocaine and spe
Bonus: Guided Meditation with Nathan Oldfield
Following on from our full length episode, Nathan Oldfield shares about his decade-long relationship with practicing and teaching meditation, and talks us through a short guided meditation that he offers to school children. …Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave RastovichSound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and
Nathan Oldfield: Breathing Room
Nathan Oldfield has journeyed into the depths of grief, and back, to make surf films brimming with reverence for the extraordinary beauty of life. He has crafted six award winning films, most recently The Heart & The Sea, and The Church of the Open Sky, which earned the Special Honor for Most Heart at the Xpedition Film Festival in Colorado. Nathan is also a poet and meditation teacher, and p
Andy Ridley: Crowd Power
Most conservation organisations mirror corporations in structure, operation, and strategy. But has that been effective? Andy Ridley, founder of Earth Hour and Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, doesn't think so. He's asking how we build the 21st century conservation operation with the citizen at its heart. "The traditional way of doing conservation is 'pass us your money and w
Karina Petroni: Gumption
What happens when you lose it all? After a successful, 14 year professional surfing career, Karina Petroni discovered that all of her earnings and assets had suspiciously vaporised. Karina was born and raised in the Panama Canal Zone, but is known as one of The East Coast's surf prodigies. In 2006, the New York Times called her one of the “scions of Florida's recent surfing tradition.&
Gwyn Haslock: First Lady
Gwyn Haslock has nearly 6 decades of surfing under her belt. She was born in Cornwall in 1945, and is renowned as one of the UK’s original surfers. Gwyn holds many competitive surfing accolades, including multiple British National Champion titles.We first heard about – and wrote about -- Gwyn’s story in 2015 after connecting with English bellyboarding enthusiast Sally Parkin, who said: “I am not
Chelsea Woody: Cultivating Kinship
For many, 2020 was the worst. Chelsea Woody, a neuroscience nurse who moonlights as a Vans surf ambassador, is clear that it was “the worst year of her life.” After getting COVID from work, and subsequently experiencing a painful loss, — while witnessing the suffering of so many through the pandemic - Chelsea wished (for the first time) that she’d chosen a different profession.Parallel to the
Jack Johnson: Time, Dreams & The Heart
In Greek myth, staring at the monster Medusa would turn mortals to stone; one needed a mirror to take the edge off. Surfer, filmmaker and musician Jack Johnson reckons music and art can play a similar role in reflecting more digestible, less paralysing iterations of the ills and obstacles facing us all. Jack studied film at UCSB, and went on to make culture shaping movies like Thicker Than Water
Kshisya Tachanskaya: Gifting Good Days
What if your homeland was suddenly the target of foreign attacks ? What would you do? Ukrainian Kshisya Tachanskaya fled with her two children, a few belongings, reluctantly kissed her husband farewell, and drove for a familiar coast -- some 4000km away (2500 miles). Kshisya is part of Ukraine’s tight knit surfing community who enjoy the couple of windswells that the Black Sea delivers each year.
Tom Wegener: The Artisan's Way
Unlike golf clubs and tennis racquets, surfboards are still largely made by local artisans. But, what sets the surfboard making industry apart from parallel industries? Why do local shapers still make boards? Master shaper Tom Wegener examines this question -- and much more -- in his PhD thesis and book Surfboard Artisans: For the Love. "How can an industry which values passio
Tom Wegener: Part 2
Part Two of our meandering conversation with master shaper Tom Wegener talking the nitty gritty of board construction, how he almost got the call to be in The Endless Summer II, experimenting with ancient techniques in the shaping bay and which mode of wave riding is stoking him out the most right now. ...Tom started shaping and glassing in 1978 in his parents garage and is best known for helping
Welcome to Season Four
Waterpeople is back with a fourth season of stories about the aquatic experiences that shape us, change us, and call us into this quirky community of water folk across the globe. This season we'll hear from 16 waterpeople - some globally renowned, others under appreciated - and learn about the moments that changed everything. In this episode we sit down for a catch up with our new sponsor t
Sam Bloom: Gravity & Buoyancy
What happens when life calls you to face your fears? Surfer, adventurer and mother of three Sam Bloom had to face that call after a 2013 family holiday went tragically wrong. Sam is a two-time world para surfing champion. She is the bestselling author of two books, and the subject of the 2020 film Penguin Bloom, starring Naomi Watts. Those three works detail the tragic accident that left Sam para
Committed to Questions
To wrap up the third season, Lauren and Dave turn the mic on one another for a meandering chat through surf adventure stories, common questions from listeners, and their own answers to the central Waterpeople question about a time or experience after which you were never the same. We'll be back with a stacked fourth season in May or June, full of fresh stories, inspiring ideas, and plenty
Fergal Smith: Grounded
What is enough to move you to action? For heavy water specialist Fergal Smith, nuclear meltdown became the impetus for a radical shift in life and livelihood. As the founder of Moy Hill farm, Fergal and his team aim to “grow worthy food, build soil, regenerate systems, plant flowers and trees, and work to leave what is in their care healthier than they found it," while also nurturing communit
Acknowledging Pain & A Living Legacy with Gumbayngirr / Yaegl artist Mick Laurie
What is lost when a language perishes? What becomes of a language on the edge of extinction ? Artist Mick Laurie is a man of story and culture, who is revitalising the language of his forefathers by making the first ever modern music in Gumbayngirr, using words spoken by his ancestors for tens of thousands of years. Mick, a Gumbayngirr / Yaegl musician and storyteller, is based near the mouth of
John Florence: Navigating Edges
Olympian and two-time surfing World Champion John John Florence masterfully navigates the edges of flying and falling. Riding big waves and sailing at high speed around the Hawaiian Islands are amongst his most instructive and inspiring moments. Seen as the most technically gifted surfer on the planet right now, John has the eyes of the surfing world focused on everything he does. His broad rangi
Regenerating Reefs with Gator Halpern of CORAL VITA
We’ve already lost 50% of Earth’s coral reefs. It's estimated that 90% will be gone by 2050 at the current pace of destruction. Coral Vita just built the world’s first commercial land-based coral farm for reef restoration in The Bahamas. They are regenerating reef systems with innovative methods that expedite the growth rate of corals, and allow for self-selection of the most resilient spec
Sachi Cunningham: Thriving On Chaos
In 2011, Sachi Cunningham quit her dream job and her psychiatric medication ( for Bipolar 1 ) in search of a deeper sense of wellbeing in daily relationship with the ocean. She and her partner hit the road for what became a 14-month-long road trip across the Americas along the Pacific from LA to Chile. Today, Sachi is an award winning documentary filmmaker, photographer, journalist, and Professo
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