A rare glimpse into what motivates an athlete who has everything to lose to push his body and mind to the limit.
Laird Hamilton
Kai Lenny
Gerry Lopez
Robby Naish
Jason Polakow
Martin Lenny
Pete Cabrinha
Robert Richman
Chuck Patterson
Jace Panebianco
Johnny DeCesare
#surfmovie #surfing #surfskate #surfingwaves #surfers
ROBBY NAISH: My entire life I’ve had a purpose; ROBBY NAISH: working really hard, training hard, waking up early, getting to the beach before everybody else. ROBBY NAISH: When you’re competing, ROBBY NAISH: that’s what you do, that’s what you’re all about.
ROBBY NAISH: Your whole life is targeting that objective ROBBY NAISH: where I am going to absolutely attack that. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: I’m not ready to hang my hat up. ROBBY NAISH: I want to keep really pushing myself. KAI LENNY: Growing up, Robby Naish was the superhero.
He was equivalent to like Superman in water sports to me. CHUCK PATTERSON: Robby is one of the best multi-sport waterman CHUCK PATTERSON: in the world. CHUCK PATTERSON: He’s a windsurfer, kiter and a great stand-up paddler. An insane competitor. JASON POLAKOW: For the longevity that he’s had in his career
JASON POLAKOW: and the level that he’s still at now at his age JASON POLAKOW: and to be at the top of three great water sports, he’s definitely a freak of nature, I think. GERRY LOPEZ: There’s always been freak athletes, GERRY LOPEZ: whatever their sport,
GERRY LOPEZ: but the champions are just another level. Robby is a champion. He’s a cut above the best. PETE CABRINHA: Robby has a 24 World Championships. No other pro athlete has had a career like his. LAIRD HAMILTON: Robby’s one of the greats.
LAIRD HAMILTON: He’s one of the Jordans. LAIRD HAMILTON: He’s one of the Woods. LAIRD HAMILTON: He’s one of the Carmichaels. He’s one of the all-time greatest athletes you need to know. ROBBY NAISH: This is paradise. You can run around naked. ROBBY NAISH: I can shoot my guns.
Nobody to bother you. ROBBY NAISH: My wife pretty much designed the whole place ROBBY NAISH: and it took us about two years to build it. ROBBY NAISH: Mid-summer you get the sunrise and the sunset over the ocean ROBBY NAISH: because of the way the property sticks out.
ROBBY NAISH: It’s like a peninsula that goes out into the ocean. ROBBY NAISH: It’s really quiet and quite sort of peaceful. JOE BERLINGER: It’s not a bad life that surfing has provided you. ROBBY NAISH: Yes. JOE BERLINGER: Doing what you love. ROBBY NAISH: I’ve been really lucky forever.
I mean I was in a sport that had no path to follow. You know, now if you’re a basketball player or a football player, or even a skateboarder or a snowboarder, you can look forward and say, “well that.” I mean unless something major changes it.
There’s a path, you can see how that guy went and how you can go and… potentially make a career out of something. But the sports that I’ve been involved with didn’t exist until I was doing them. There’s definitely no plan. [MUSIC PLAYING] COMMENTATOR 1: The summer sport, the new wave in Hawaii,
COMMENTATOR 1: this is the world’s newest, most exciting response COMMENTATOR 1: to the universal challenge of wind and water. COMMENTATOR 1: Anyone can do it, no matter where he lives COMMENTATOR 1: and no matter his age. COMMENTATOR 1: This is the ultimate free ride.
My dad invented windsurfing in 1967. He was friends with Hobie Alter, who did the Hobie Cat, and Tom Morey who did the Boogie board. MATT SCHWEITZER: They all would hang out on the beach MATT SCHWEITZER: and the wind would always come up MATT SCHWEITZER: and blow out the waves.
MATT SCHWEITZER: And my dad was just thinking, MATT SCHWEITZER: “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a sail on a surfboard?” MATT SCHWEITZER: And, kinda snowballed from there. When I was really young, there was no such thing as windsurfing.
LAIRD HAMILTON: And then, Hoyle Schweitzer put a sail on a surfboard. That got my attention. LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s kind of a combination LAIRD HAMILTON: of board riding and flying. PETE CABRINHA: Along comes this sport that has a 12-foot board, PETE CABRINHA: this bagged out sail,
The booms back then that you hang onto were made out of teakwood PETE CABRINHA: and they were eight and a half feet long. PETE CABRINHA: Everything was just super low-performance, PETE CABRINHA: but, it was right on the cusp of evolving. ROBBY NAISH: There were a half-a-dozen or so windsurfers
ROBBY NAISH: in Hawaii at the time. ROBBY NAISH: Ken Kleid, Mike Horgan, Larry Stanley, Dennis Davidson, ROBBY NAISH: just a small group of kind of hippy Kailua guys ROBBY NAISH: that discovered the sport ROBBY NAISH: and I just luckily met them one day at the beach.
ROBBY NAISH: It’s really intriguing because I was a sailor and a surfer ROBBY NAISH: and I’m like, “Wow, this is kind of cool.” ROBBY NAISH: I couldn’t even get the sail out of the water. ROBBY NAISH: I wasn’t tall enouh or strong enough.
ROBBY NAISH: And, so my Mike Horgan took me tandem. ROBBY NAISH: So, I held onto the boom inside of him, ROBBY NAISH: got going and then he’d let go… and I’d sail along until I’d crash and then he’d go and get me started again.
ROBBY NAISH: And I was just blown away ROBBY NAISH: on the sensation of the whole feeling. Harnessing the wind and you’re making it all happen, you know, pull the sail out of the water and grab that boom and lean back
ROBBY NAISH: and there’s reallya complexity of things going on there. That sensation was just unreal. It was like surfing with the wind and it just grabbed me. And that was what I wanted to do. MATT SCHWEITZER: My family heard about, Robby Naish,
MATT SCHWEITZER: a little kid that’s really good once he gets the sail up. MATT SCHWEITZER: He was so small for so long. MATT SCHWEITZER: We never thougt he would be taller than five -foot ten. But when he grew up, it was all over with. [MUSIC PLAYING]
The legend of, Robby started when he was, you know, like 13 years old, LAIRD HAMILTON: first time he ever beat all the men at a championship. ROBBY NAISH: In 1976 I went off to Nassau, Bahamas ROBBY NAISH: to the World Championships by myself.
JOE BERLINGER: How old were you? ROBBY NAISH: Thirteen. JOE BERLINGER: I’m surprised your parents let you go. In hindsight, I can’t believe my parents let me go. A free trip to the Bahamas, we were certainly not gonna say no, CAROL NAISH: but we couldn’t afford to go with him.
CAROL NAISH: I sent him with his vitamins and his peanut butter CAROL NAISH: and the staple things that I figured he’d need. ROBBY NAISH: That was cool, a 13-year-old kid, ROBBY NAISH: running around the Bahamas by himself ROBBY NAISH: There were over 400 competitors in the event,
ROBBY NAISH: huge European contingent. PIETRO PORCELLA: Robby Naish was a phenomenon in this kid, 13 years old, PIETRO PORCELLA: competing with grown men. And at the start was already 30 yards in front of everybody. RANDY NAISH: I think at the time he didn’t even weigh 60 pounds.
So he just flew past people. [MUSIC PLAYING] PIETRO PORCELLA: His sail going, kickass to everybody. RANDY NAISH: He just slaughtered everybody. CAROL NAISH: Robby called, it was Randy that answered the phone. Sorry. CAROL NAISH: And he ran out the front door screaming,
CAROL NAISH: “He won! He won! He won!” They were all surprised. ROBBY NAISH: I came home with all these massive trophies. It was awesome. RANDY NAISH: You get to that point, RANDY NAISH: if you get that good, where do you go?
RANDY NAISH: I mean you’re 13 years old and you’re the world champion, RANDY NAISH: what do you do? Go downhill or stay there? And he won a whole lot more after that. PIETRO PORCELLA: He won racing. He won slalom. He won wave. PIETRO PORCELLA: And he won overall.
PIETRO PORCELLA: Number one. Number one. Number one. Number one. U.S. one, one, one, one. [MUSIC PLAYING] RANDY NAISH: I’d go to these contests and I’d hear like, RANDY NAISH: “Yeah, we’re gonna get Robby this time,” and I’d look at the guys and think, “It’s great that you guys have
This positive attitude but it’s not gonna happen. RANDY NAISH: Unless Robby breaks his mast and swims the entire heat, he’s going to beat you.” [MUSIC PLAYING] PETE CABRINHA: Rob was just a machine and everybody feared him. PETE CABRINHA: He was focused, intense,
PETE CABRINHA: aggressive and more powerful. PETE CABRINHA: All the things that world champs need to be to get the job done. RANDY NAISH: Robby takes some credit for the explosion of windsurfing around the world because he always won. COMMENTATOR 2: Naish pumping for air.
COMMENTATOR 2: Yeah, Robby Naish with an incredible 360. COMMENTATOR 2: Oh, goodness! SCOTT CARVIL: What happened is that discipline started getting separated. Wave sailing became more specialized. Racing became more specialized. SCOTT CARVIL: And Robby eventually left the racing SCOTT CARVIL: and went straight into the wave sailing
SCOTT CARVIL: and changed the paradigm and made everyone look up SCOTT CARVIL: “Okay, that’s what we’re gonna do.” COMMENTATOR 3: Robby Naish, surfing well or not, is still adored by his fans. PETE CABRINHA: In the ’80s when it really started to take off,
PETE CABRINHA: windsurfing became this craze, especially in Europe. PETE CABRINHA: It was like a really weird, crazy scene PETE CABRINHA: and it had the backing of all the advertisers PETE CABRINHA: and it really mae its way into the mainstream. And that was super exciting.
ROBBY NAISH: We’d have events and you’d have ROBBY NAISH: a hundred thousand people come, ROBBY NAISH: just massive events. ROBBY NAISH: We had indoor events in Paris ROBBY NAISH: that would sell out the Paris Bercy Stadium
ROBBY NAISH: with a line of fans and a little swimming pool ROBBY NAISH: with metal ramps to jump off of. [CROWD CHEERING] ROBBY NAISH: Twelve-thousand screaming fans with painted faces ROBBY NAISH: and holding up signs, it was an incredible time. [MUSIC PLAYING]
ROBBY NAISH: I’ve spent probably six months of my life ROBBY NAISH: on a little tiny island ROBBY NAISH: in the North Sea off Germany called, Sylt ROBBY NAISH: right at the Germany-Denmark border. ROBBY NAISH: It’s been the longest running World Cup on the Pro Tour.
ROBBY NAISH: It’s a pretty special place. ROBBY NAISH: I mean not just for me but for windsurfing in general ROBBY NAISH: and the history of windsurfing. ROBBY NAISH: This is the last remaining big event on the tour. ROBBY NAISH: We used to have a lot of them. Japan was huge.
ROBBY NAISH: France was huge. ROBBY NAISH: Holland was huge. ROBBY NAISH: There are a lot of big events and this is the last one. ROBBY NAISH: I’m not competing anymore. ROBBY NAISH: But I still go to that event promotionally every year. [CROWD CHEERING]
WOMAN 1: Can I get a photo with you? Yeah, sure. MATT SCHWEITZER: Windsurfing at one point MATT SCHWEITZER: was the fastest growing sport in the world MATT SCHWEITZER: but not nowadays. Just like any sport, it goes up and down and it tapers off.
PETE CABRINHA: Windsurfing is a pretty niche sport. PETE CABRINHA: You know, for example every year we get this report PETE CABRINHA: that ranks the size of all these different sports and windsurfing in terms of participation ranks below snowshoeing as a sport.
Not to knock snowshoeing. I’m just saying it’s just… PETE CABRINHA: That gives you some idea about scale. ROBBY NAISH: I think for windsurfing we kind of developed the sport ROBBY NAISH: out of the realm of accessibility for a lot of people. ROBBY NAISH: The equipment got too extreme.
ROBBY NAISH: The conditions required to ride at that high level ROBBY NAISH: are too hard to find. ROBBY NAISH: Windsurfing is tough. ROBBY NAISH: It’s not the easiet thing in the world to learn. ROBBY NAISH: You are gonna get wet, you are gonna fall down,
ROBBY NAISH: you are gonna get discouraged ROBBY NAISH: and a lot of people just can’t get over that hurdle. They’re like forget this, I’m gonna do something easier. ROBBY NAISH: And then what eventually happened as well, ROBBY NAISH: is other sports came along
ROBBY NAISH: that were more accessible like kitesurfing. ROBBY NAISH: Something like kitesurfing is a lot easier, ROBBY NAISH: everybody gets good. Or stand up paddling now, you know, anybody can do that. ROBBY NAISH: This is a range of paddles for 2016,
Which includes everything for the sport of stand up paddling from our Keiki Kids Paddle. CHUCK PATTERSON: Robby was one of the first big companies CHUCK PATTERSON: that really started doing a lot of great R&D and started to come out with some really high tech stuff.
CHUCK PATTERSON: And his company ended up CHUCK PATTERSON: being one of the bigger brands CHUCK PATTERSON: in the boarding industry. ROBBY NAISH: You know, I love these sports ROBBY NAISH: and the lifestyle that they represent,
ROBBY NAISH: but I wouldn’t do it if it was just about making money. ROBBY NAISH: To just make money, there’s better ways. ROBBY NAISH: I’d probably do way better if I just sat ROBBY NAISH: behind my computer all day for a few years and really just did that.
ROBBY NAISH: But that’s not to e what life is about. [MUSIC PLAYING] A little breakfast. For me, the most difficult part of my career life whatever it is right now is not having that thing that I’m targeted ROBBY NAISH: because now I do al these things, I ride, I’m still good,
ROBBY NAISH: I’m not out of shape, but without competitions, it’s like what are you doing. And it’s not the pressure from other people, it’s from inside just needing that bull’s eye that you’re trying to throw the dart at the center of.
And I was freakin’ hitting the center of that thing all the time and now it’s like I’m not even throwing a dart anywhere. ROBBY NAISH: In my head, I’m a professional boardrider. ROBBY NAISH: This is what I do. ROBBY NAISH: And if I’m not thee doing that, who the fuck am I?
I need something, that I’m consciously and subconsciously driven by. ROBBY NAISH: And for me, I was always into big waves ROBBY NAISH: and windsurfing opened up massive outer reef breaks ROBBY NAISH: that were not rideable or accessible on anything else.
ROBBY NAISH: And I loved that aspect of it. ROBBY NAISH: And rode Jaws windsurfing for the first time, ROBBY NAISH: the winner of ’95. Jaws is probably hands down one of the biggest famous big waves that we have here in Maui.
LAIRD HAMILTON: Robby and I were both surfing in giant surf LAIRD HAMILTON: years before everybody else. I can go back and bust a video out if you want but… GERRY LOPEZ: Robby is known as this champion windsurfer. People don’t realize what a great surfer he is.
GERRY LOPEZ: I think he’s a better surfer than I am. And I’ll tell you a good story about Robby that probably nobody knows. GERRY LOPEZ: Robby Naish came out with us GERRY LOPEZ: on one of the early Jaws ventures. GERRY LOPEZ: So I’m sitting on the boat
GERRY LOPEZ: and he starts looking at my board. I go, “Well, give it a try.” GERRY LOPEZ: And this was one of those special waves that just blew up and started forming this cavern that was just enormous. GERRY LOPEZ: He made the turn
GERRY LOPEZ: and he was the firt guy to get in the tube at Jaws like that. GERRY LOPEZ: Before that, all we were doing GERRY LOPEZ: was trying to survive and now suddenly, GERRY LOPEZ: “Wait a minute, we can get in the tube.”
GERRY LOPEZ: You know, the rest is history. ROBBY NAISH: There’s kind of a scene in big wave surfing right now, ROBBY NAISH: like when Jaws is breaking ROBBY NAISH: there’s 50 guys in the water. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: They’re young and they’re hungry
ROBBY NAISH: their picture taken and that’s awesome. ROBBY NAISH: I don’t want to tae anything away from it. ROBBY NAISH: They’re taking thee sports to new levels. ROBBY NAISH: These days the expected thing was to go ROBBY NAISH: do a movie about big wave riding.
ROBBY NAISH: But I just want to expand into other things ROBBY NAISH: and finding waves that I’ve never ridden before. ROBBY NAISH: Instead of riding the biggest wave at Jaws ROBBY NAISH: and getting a 50 -yard ride and kicking out,
I want to ride the wave from beginning to end and connect turns ROBBY NAISH: It’s not like I wat to stop riding Jaws, ROBBY NAISH: but I need more than that. LAIRD HAMILTON: If you’re someoe who’s spent your life competing LAIRD HAMILTON: and then you stop, then there’s a void.
And we have to fill the void. And so how do we fill the void? PETE CABRINHA: I think it’s good for everybody PETE CABRINHA: to put a carrot in front of them PETE CABRINHA: and go after it. You always need that.
PETE CABRINHA: I think for Rob, he’s done a lot PETE CABRINHA: of extremely big things in his life. PETE CABRINHA: That carrot needs to be something big. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: Riding one single wave ROBBY NAISH: as long as it goes, from beginning to wherever it ends.
ROBBY NAISH: With stand up paddling, you can really have fun on waves ROBBY NAISH: that aren’t that great for anything else. ROBBY NAISH: And some of those long waves are like that, ROBBY NAISH: there are flat spos in the middle or sections
ROBBY NAISH: that are hard to get across like if you’re shortboarding, you get shut down. ROBBY NAISH: You know, you have to stay too much in the peak ROBBY NAISH: and then a flat section comes and just can’t get through it
ROBBY NAISH: and the wave runs away ROBBY NAISH: and on a stand up you can connect all those sections. ROBBY NAISH: And that’s challenging. [MUSIC PLAYING] PETE CABRINHA: There’s a lot of skill involved in riding a wave PETE CABRINHA: as long as you can
PETE CABRINHA: to actually find where the power points are PETE CABRINHA: and stay with tht power for all that time. PETE CABRINHA: If you’re comparing it to riding the biggest wave, riding a long wave is a little bit more personal. [MUSIC PLAYING]
ROBBY NAISH: Trying to quantify the longest waves around the world, ROBBY NAISH: it’s something that I can kind of grab a hold of ROBBY NAISH: and sink my teeth into and know that I have an objective. [MUSIC PLAYING]
ROBBY NAISH: The Skeleton Coast, the Skeleton Bay in Namibia right now ROBBY NAISH: has one of the longest waves around ROBBY NAISH: and it’s a barreling, zipper, full-on performance wave. FRANK SOLOMON: So, if a magazine had a competition
FRANK SOLOMON: to find the most perfect wave, then guys would just searching on Google Earth to find it. FRANK SOLOMON: There’s no place in the world where you can get FRANK SOLOMON: a two-mile long sand barrel. ROLLY NAISH: I think the first time I saw footage of it,
ROLLY NAISH: I was convinced it was faked and that they had looped a section of a wave over and over and over again. ROLLY NAISH: It really looks borderline unnatural. ROBBY NAISH: There’s one in Peru called Chicama ROBBY NAISH: that with the right conditions
ROBBY NAISH: could be the world’s longest rideable wave. MIGUEL VAN OORDT: It is a tip of land that goes into the ocean and with all the southwest swells it will just wrap and go all along the coast. MIGUEL VAN OORDT: Peeling and peeling, peeling perfectly.
LAIRD HAMILTON: And it is just a huge ruler LAIRD HAMILTON: that just sets a giant line, a wall and then it just goes for something like two and a half miles. KAI LENNY: I think it’s incredible that Robby wants to ride
KAI LENNY: the longest wave in the world. Who wouldn’t want to do that? KAI LENNY: You know, he’s choosing a perfect craft to do that, KAI LENNY: which is stand up paddling because when you can catch one, why wouldn’t you want to catch two,
Or three or four or five of the longest waves ever? I’d like to see that or maybe I’d like to, you know, give him a run for his money for that one. LAIRD HAMILTON: Kai Lenny’s a prodigy like Rob. He can do everything.
LAIRD HAMILTON: He can do stand up. He can do prone. LAIRD HAMILTON: He can do foil. He can do kite. LAIRD HAMILTON: I mean three -quarters of the things that he can do, 90% of the people don’t even know how to do.
Kai, I have been riding with him since he was 8 years old. ROBBY NAISH: He’s like six-time SUP world champion. ROBBY NAISH: Super competitive windsurfer. ROBBY NAISH: Would be a competitive kiter if he wanted to be. ROBBY NAISH: Motivating to be around
ROBBY NAISH: because he’s like Energizer Bunny, ROBBY NAISH: just wants to go all the time. Robby and Kai are so similar in that they both started pretty young. And I would say that Kai’s yearning to want to be a big athlete
MARTIN LENNY: was because he saw that the path was laid out by Robby. PIETRO PORCELLA: He had the best example from Robby PIETRO PORCELLA: and knowing tht the big guru is behind you PIETRO PORCELLA: gave him the confidence that not even the father could give.
MARTIN LENNY: You know over the years MARTIN LENNY: the relationship has definitely changed. MARTIN LENNY: It went from being “Here’s my idle” MARTIN LENNY: to being a fellow competitor MARTIN LENNY: to the point where both of them are looking at each other MARTIN LENNY: with mutual respect.
KAI LENNY: Robby is somebody that I’ve always looked up to. KAI LENNY: He’s a mentor. He’s a sponsor. KAI LENNY: So I feel like I have to be the best, KAI LENNY: you know, to prove my worth to his brand.
KAI LENNY: But at the same time, I know Robby’s so competitive KAI LENNY: that he wants to kick my butt and prove that he’s still the man. KAI LENNY: I love getting on the water and pushing it with him.
KAI LENNY: I can go a little deeper and jump a little higher. KAI LENNY: Then by all means I’ll rub it in his face. PETE CABRINHA: In surfing, there’s a kind of friendly competitive PETE CABRINHA: drive that people have. You want to one-up the next guy.
PETE CABRINHA: You want this guy to do something PETE CABRINHA: that’s gonna like get you fired up. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: I wanted Chuck to come along ROBBY NAISH: ’cause Chuck’s like Captain America, blonde hair and big puffed up, tan muscly guy, but he’s a charger.
ROBBY NAISH: He rides 100 miles an hour day and night. KAI LENNY: Chuck Patterson is always doing something innovative. KAI LENNY: He’s one of the first guys to surf giant waves on skis. KAI LENNY: Being a guy known in the ski world
KAI LENNY: for jumping off 200-foot cliffs, it’s pretty insane. KAI LENNY: Being 48 years old, he’s still charging KAI LENNY: without any phase of the consequences. KAI LENNY: I think he’s like an illustration that came to life
KAI LENNY: when you see that huge grin and that giant smile. CHUCK PATTERSON: It is a good mix. I mean, you know, CHUCK PATTERSON: Kai being kind of the young gun CHUCK PATTERSON: and then myself, I’m closer in age to Robby
CHUCK PATTERSON: than I am with Kai, CHUCK PATTERSON: but I’m still a kid at heart. [MUSIC PLAYING] JOHNNY DECESARE: Namibia or Peru first, what are we thinking? Chicama has been pretty consistent, it looks like. ROBBY NAISH: If you had the forecast that looked good
ROBBY NAISH: for Skeleton Bay for that window, you should take it because that wave breaks good much less often. Hey Frank, what do you see in the next 10 days for Skeleton from your, JOHNNY DECESARE: you know, expertise right now? What have you got going?
Yeah, I mean it’s looking really promising actually, like, now that the winter is starting, it’s a great time of year. FRANK SOLOMON: The storms are starting to form a little bit FRANK SOLOMON: off South America, FRANK SOLOMON: which is a great sign
FRANK SOLOMON: because those are the ones that kind of push up to Namibia. ROBBY NAISH: And with all of these things are very weather, ROBBY NAISH: swell, tide dependent. ROBBY NAISH: Hitting the right swell from the right direction ROBBY NAISH: with the right wind, the right tide, etcetera.
ROBBY NAISH: And the problem with a lot of them is they’re really remote. ROBBY NAISH: So, you can kind of set it up but you’ve got to get there at that time as well and be lucky with the weather.
ROBBY NAISH: Alright, well we’ll see you in a couple of days ROBBY NAISH: and hope that we get lucky. I’m feeling kind of lucky. ROBBY NAISH: I got my cold this week instead of next week at least. Alright. So, we’re gonna regroup in a couple of days?
ROBBY NAISH: Sounds like it, all good. JOE BERLINGER: Alright, thanks guys. See ya. Oh, man, what happened? Oh, kind of fucked up. Just crashed the landing kiting. Just came down from a jump, didn’t even, You know, it wasn’t a crash or anything, nothing spectacular,
Nothing that I haven’t done a million times. I landed fine and then as I loaded up, my back foot came out of the strap, front foot stayed on the board, just kind of tried to split me in half, I felt something pop. And I thought it was my back.
But sitting there on the beach, I sat there for maybe a half an hour. I was like started getting lightheaded. All of a sudden just went flushed, started feeling queasy and I guess I just fell over backwards and passed out.
And I guess the reason I passed out is I had all this internal bleeding. So I popped my pelvis, I broke my pelvis. He just isn’t supposed to put the left foot down. So they taught him to get into cars backwards, but they didn’t know that he’s got cars this big.
You have quite a commanding position on the road. Yes. -Ooh! -Sorry. They air-vacced me to Honolulu to Queen’s Medical Center over there. Had surgery. Had a really good guy. Put it back together. DR. JEFFERY HARPSTRITE: If you can see the mouse,
DR. JEFFERY HARPSTRITE: this is where he splayed the pelvis here. JOE BERLINGER: So that opening is the break? Yeah, it’s the… He actually didn’t break a bone, DR. JEFFERY HARPSTRITE: he tore the ligaments between the bones here. DR. JEFFERY HARPSTRITE: So, that opening shouldn’t be…
DR. JEFFERY HARPSTRITE: It should look like… DR. JEFFERY HARPSTRITE: Should look like that. DR. JEFFERY HARPSTRITE: So that’s the space between… DR. JEFFERY HARPSTRITE: There is a normal space there. JOE BERLINGER: Go back to the first one please. ROBBY NAISH: You just want to look at my junk again.
Yeah, if you really want to know, we can use our imagination here. JOE BERLINGER: So when you saw that, JOE BERLINGER: were you concerned for him given what he does, you know? Oh, I mean of course. It’s not a typical athlete’s injury.
You know, I mean I trained in trauma and so trauma is… I mean I went to Afghanistan to take care of guys getting blown up and in our wars and guys get in big car accidents, so this is kind of a 60-mile an hour accident
Blown up from an IOD type of thing, not so much of a sports injury. You don’t see this in sports too often, you know. So it’s kind of a more on the extreme side. JOE BERLINGER: How fast were you going in your head? Not that fast, but water is pretty hard.
-Yeah. -You know, it’s… -And the kite carries power too. -Yeah, that’s the thing. -The kite carries big time power. -The kite doesn’t slow down. DR. JEFFERY HARPSTRITE: This thing’s gonna hold it… RICK NAISH: It’s not unusual for people with that kind of an injury
RICK NAISH to die in the first five minutes. To rupture a femoral artery and then you’re toast. You know, I think we’re lucky to have him still with us. -Is it kind of right in the back– -Yeah… ROLLY NAISH: At the same time,
ROLLY NAISH: with Robby doing the things he’s been doing ROLLY NAISH: for as long as he’s been doing it, it wasn’t like a surprise. Like, “Oh my God, he hurt himself?” It’s like, “Wow, he actually hurt himself this time,” you know, usually gets away with murder. What’s the prognosis?
I’m gonna guess somewhere six months to a year. And it’s really hard to predict from the injury. You know, you think about like, you read in the paper every day guys tear their ACL, right? Probably the most common injury you read in the paper. That’s nothing.
It’s like it’s just a walk in the park compared to what he had. So, it’s a big injury. He’s gonna have that same type of process and, you know, all the sports he does are so core dependent. So, I mean even if–
PETE CABRINHA: Every time you get injured as a pro athlete, PETE CABRINHA: there’s that moment where you’re just like, PETE CABRINHA: “Alright, this is it.” I mean breaking your pelvis especially at that age, PETE CABRINHA: how’s this gonna impact
PETE CABRINHA: what I’m gonna do for the next 30 years? I thought I might be dancing out of here without crutches but, you know, maybe that was a bit optimistic. So the six months to a year is a little scary but that’s alright, we’ll make it faster.
We’ll go for six months instead of a year, that’s for sure. WOMAN 3 I can get the door. We got it. -No, I got it. -Okay. ROBBY NAISH: My plan is to come out the other end of this ROBBY NAISH: better than I was in the way in.
And I think most people at my age, if they had this injury, they’d go, “Okay, it’s time to throw in the towel and slow down.” ROBBY NAISH: It’s more of a kick in the butt ROBBY NAISH: to actually get a little better than I was.
RANDY NAISH: The thing is that Rob’s got a pretty good RANDY NAISH: self-preservation gene. I mean he does some pretty crazy stuff but it’s all calculated. He’s not reckless in any way. RANDY NAISH: He calculates the risk and either RANDY NAISH: throws the dice or doesn’t.
But it’s not an age thing that he’s getting old and… No, no, no that’s not why this accident happened. This accident happened because the dice came up crap. [MUSIC PLAYING] Kai. What’s up? So, the cameras are here and then you come to say hi. Of course.
It’s his first time saying hi in six weeks of dying here in my bed. Well, I’ve been trying to call him but he just doesn’t like calling back, you know, even when he’s injured, so… Ringers’ off. You got the big scar there? Yeah, you see that? KAI LENNY: It’s pretty solid.
ROBBY NAISH: It’s where the baby came out. [LAUGHING] KAI LENNY: Oh, man. So, you’re not gonna get injured for a long time after this– This was it. This is the last injury. -Last one. You’re done. -Yeah. Pow, got it out of the way.
Knock on wood. Or is this wood? Really wood? ROBBY NAISH: No, it’s fake. You can use some window, so… This is plastic paneling. They don’t make houses like this anymore. It’s just like 1965 prime. Well, don’t worry, it was super epic yesterday but you didn’t miss it. Oh, wow.
KAI LENNY: It was biggest it’s been for a while. ROBBY NAISH: Like, mast high? – Oh, well over. – Oh, fuck. Sorry, to break the news but… ROBBY NAISH: When you can’t go, you don’t want to know.
KAI LENNY: There was spray going over the trees onto the road like, -I’ve never seen it that big before. -Fuck. And here I sit. KAI LENNY: Robby never had really a major injury in his entire career and here he just got worked.
KAI LENNY: And I don’t know if it’s really a sign KAI LENNY: that maybe he should mellow out a little bit KAI LENNY: or maybe he should just stretch a lot more because really, you know, getting injured is so unfortunate but it’s about how you bounce back.
Alright. Well, you should get out of here and just have some fun. -Thanks for stopping by. -See you, Robby. -Catch up with you later. -Alright. See you. Keep calling me every day the way you have been. -I really appreciate it. -I will.
ROBBY NAISH: Actually let me knw how La Perouse is tomorrow, rub it in. Okay, I’ll send you pictures. -Are you on Snapchat? -No. -You should be. -I know. That’s why I’m not. -Okay. See you. -Alright. Okay. It’s good to… -Spend some time? -Yeah, reconnect.
KAI LENNY: I do believe that in your mental state it’s how you spin things that result in the outcome. And for him, I think, yeah, he has a big metal plate right over his pelvis KAI LENNY: but I don’t think that’s gonna actually slow him down.
I’m gonna walk without my crutches. Sometimes it’s nice when you take a break for a little bit to recollect everything. You don’t realize how, you know, some things could be in a disarray, just your perspective of the sport, how you’re riding.
KAI LENNY: So I think it’s gonna be a positive for Robby KAI LENNY: because I know that’s how he’ll spin it. LAIRD HAMILTON: Injury is the great teacher. I can say I learned more about my body, about who I am, about what I want from injury than any successes.
LAIRD HAMILTON: Successes, you don’t analyze it, you don’t dissect it, LAIRD HAMILTON: you don’t appreciate it. LAIRD HAMILTON: I wish success was a better teacher but it only leads to, you know, more success. Oh, Dad, I’m glad you’re out and walking around. -Hello. -Hi, Dad.
I’m so glad you came and stopped by. So my dad made this for my mom in ’81. Senior year of high school or junior? -Senior. -Senior year. Classic. So it’s, you know, part of a– -Foam and airbrush. -Foam. -That’s cool. -Windsurfing board? -So sweet. -2/14/81. NANI NAISH: For Valentine’s Day.
That’s pretty awesome. [LAUGHING] I’m going to embarrass him some more. Look, this is him and my mom when they were in high school. NANI NAISH: They had me very young. NANI NAISH: My mom had just turned 19 but my dad was still 18.
NANI NAISH: My dad, Robby and my mom, Bitsy NANI NAISH: were high school sweethearts. NANI NAISH: And after their senior year they had me. PIETRO PORCELLA One time I remember Robby won the first Panel Cup,
PIETRO PORCELLA then he went to the hospital to see his newborn daughter. PIETRO PORCELLA He came back and he won the other race. So in the same day we won the two race of the day PIETRO PORCELLA: with the interval to go to the hospital
PIETRO PORCELLA: and see the newborn girl. NANI NAISH: I think there might have been a level of a immaturity or not, NANI NAISH: it’s like that show “16 and Pregnant”, what do we do. And here he is at the most amazing point of his career being a superstar.
NANI NAISH: Thank God, Carol and Rick, my grandma and grandpa, NANI NAISH: they’re so hands-on and they really raised me a lot too. CAROL NAISH: Becoming a father at such a young age CAROL NAISH: requires a lot of maturity, which he really did have,
CAROL NAISH: but he also had his work which demanded travel. PETE CABRINHA: You know, I’ve been with family PETE CABRINHA: and a incredible swell pops up on the radar and you’re like, “Hey guys, gotta go,” you know. PETE CABRINHA: And, you know, you sort of take yourself
PETE CABRINHA: out of these family events PETE CABRINHA: and things like that to go do this thing that you do. PETE CABRINHA: Your whole goal is to be the best that you can be. JOE BERLINGER: Do you think his lifestyle impacted the marriage? Yeah. That ended it.
NANI NAISH: I would blame being young and famous for that. ROBBY NAISH: I married my first girlfriend, ROBBY NAISH: so that was sort of doomed. We never fought. We just, grew and I went windsurfing at her house, I went to her wedding, you know, it’s not like we’re enemies.
We stayed quite good friends. Saw her last week on Oahu. It just would have been good to been, you know, there with Nani more but the time we did spend together was really, really good. ROBBY NAISH: And better than what a lot of ROBBY NAISH: parent-kid relationships are like
ROBBY NAISH: where they spend their entire childhood ROBBY NAISH: seeing their parens every single day. [MUSIC PLAYING] NANI NAISH: My dad was always traveling, NANI NAISH: but that was normal to me because that’s what my dad did. He will go and he would windsurf, I knew that.
And then when he came back, we would have a lot of fun together and then he would go again. NANI NAISH: I never really knew for how long or what time NANI NAISH: but I think that kind of added to the excitement
NANI NAISH: because when we did see each other, it was so much fun. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: I would have had a really different life ROBBY NAISH: had I not been traveling ROBBY NAISH: through the ’80s, ’90s and… But that’s who I am.
ROBBY NAISH: I can’t even imagine who I would have been ROBBY NAISH: and what my life would have been like if I were doing something different. ROBBY NAISH: I wouldn’t have ben a pro athlete for sure. I couldn’t have done one and not had the other consequence. Hi, girls.
What are you doing with that one’s? Why am I using those? Because I hurt myself. Look, I have a big owie. -Hi, Lili. How are you? -Look, I got a owie too. I got an owie too. -You got a owie too? Where? -On my foot. On your foot?
Momma, your flower. Your flower, momma. NANI NAISH: This accident made him sit down and relax and focus NANI NAISH: on what he wants and what’s gonna make him happy. NANI NAISH: When you’re constantly on a plane and going to new places NANI NAISH: and traveling around and on new adventures,
NANI NAISH: you don’t sit down and face your issues NANI NAISH: if you’re so easily able to just get up and go. JOE BERLINGER: Does he have issues to face? I’m sure he does, doesn’t everybody? [PHONE RINGING] AUTOMATED VOICE: You have an incoming call. Hey, Katie.
KATIE NAISH: Hey. Just want to be sure KATIE NAISH: you’re getting here today, right, Thursday? I’m on my way right now. KATIE NAISH: Okay, awesome. I figured. I figured. KATIE NAISH: I just felt a little weird. KATIE NAISH: Just wanted to make sure. Yeah, no, no.
KATIE NAISH: ‘Cause I didn’t– -Always good to check. KATIE NAISH: Okay, awesome. Well, have fun you guys. KATIE NAISH: Thanks, Robby. -Thank you. Bye. AUTOMATED VOICE: Call ended. Did you get that? What is she saying, “What’s going on?” Hi. Hello, beautiful. -See you tomorrow. -Thank you.
Did you get graded on your book report yet? -How’d you do? Yes, awesome. Fives! What do you think? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. I know, you were worried that it wasn’t gonna be cool but I think you’re gonna like it. I’m just gonna look through the window. I like it.
ROBBY NAISH: Pythons digest every part of its prey except for the fur and feathers. What do they do with the fur and feathers? They spit it out. Oh, yeah? They don’t poop it out? I don’t even think they have a butt. ROBBY NAISH: Maybe we can Google it. -Pythons… -Images… Alright.
Okay. Here we are. I do not need to see that. We can make that part of your report. Look, it looks like a lifesaver. Oh, my God. A red lifesaver? A red lifesaver. ROBBY NAISH: Getting divorced is challenging, painful. It would be good to have it behind us
Both for Katie and Christina and myself. So, working on that a lot. [MUSIC PLAYING] MATT SCHWEITZER: Being a professional waterman, MATT SCHWEITZER: there’s a solitude about it for sure. You’re in your own little world out there. And that’s I think what draws people. Any worries you have, you’ll pretty much forget them
When you get out in the water. JOE BERLINGER: So this is your spot? This was my spot for an awfully long time. I can’t really say it is anymore, but, yeah, these cliffs, it’s kind of the main break right in front.
ROBBY NAISH: As a kid, I was pretty shy, kind of a loner, ROBBY NAISH: I really enjoyed doing things on my own and I was never really the best at anything until windsurfing. ROBBY NAISH: And there was something that, ROBBY NAISH: you know, I didn’t like claim it
ROBBY NAISH: but I knew I was pretty good at it. And that feels good, you know, and makes you want to keep doing it. PETE CABRINHA: Every time you go on the ocean, PETE CABRINHA: you feel something, PETE CABRINHA: you’re tapping into this energy
And you get to a point where you kind of need to do that, like, on a regular basis. And when you don’t, something just doesn’t feel right. CHUCK PATTERSON: Injury and Roby definitely don’t mix. CHUCK PATTERSON: He was always game on. CHUCK PATTERSON: So this is a whole new chapter
CHUCK PATTERSON: that he didn’t want to open CHUCK PATTERSON: but it found him. And when we have injuries and stuff, we do what we can to fight through them and we just tell ourselves, “Okay, we’re healing now.” Fuck, it’s nice over here. CHUCK PATTERSON: Robby’s a warrior.
CHUCK PATTERSON: He’s gonna be back like nothing happened. MATT SCHWEITZER: Robby Naish is very tenacious. When he puts his head to something, he’s gonna do it. JOE BERLINGER: So, do you think we’ll be making our trip to Namibia? One hundred percent. I’m not even concerning it.
If not, I’m gonna be like, “Come on Robby, don’t be a wuss.” [LAUGHING] This actually might be a really good board for those waves too just to pump me down the line. CHUCK PATTERSON: Oh, yeah, no, I think… I mean that one is… ‘Cause it’s a way fast and rocky.
We might fight over it, you never know. KAI LENNY: We’re going to Namibia. KAI LENNY: Just scrambling to get all my stuff kind of last-minute. KAI LENNY: Leaving a day earlier than expected. And you know how that goes. Just total rush. It’s good though. It’s what it’s all about.
[MUSIC PLAYING] PIETRO PORCELLA: Life can change your situation anytime. PIETRO PORCELLA: An accident, a sickness or a fortune or another thing can lift you up or put you down. PIETRO PORCELLA: And Robby has been in so many crossroads in his life.
PIETRO PORCELLA: Now is a moment of his life PIETRO PORCELLA: where you want to discover other things like the longest wave and put his signature on that. [MUSIC PLAYING] Oh, no. WOMAN 5 Do you have an address of where you are gonna be? No? I don’t have any.
In the middle of the desert. MAN 1: No, no, I know. So we’ll see what we can do. ROBBY NAISH: Okay. JOHNNY DECESARE: The very first flight of Robby and Chuck, JOHNNY DECESARE: they basically didn’t get their boards on the plane.
JOHNNY DECESARE: Everything else made it but their boards. JOHNNY DECESARE: I got the airlines to get them on board some flight. They sent us some photos of the boards being loaded somewhere. I don’t know where, but they were going on some plane.
JOHNNY DECESARE: Kai flew separately and his boards actually showed up. JOHNNY DECESARE: We’re hoping that Robby’s and Chuck’s boards JOHNNY DECESARE: show up soon. MAN 3: So do we not have enough more bags? I don’t know what those guys have, so I can’t say.
KAI LENNY: I’m pretty sure no other boards came. At least all mine made it. So, we got all our stuff? -Not all of it. -No? Yeah, I think you have… Did Chuck get his yet? -Do you guys are have anything? -Nothing.
ROBBY NAISH: We kind of need our kite stuff out here, it’s so windy. I got two kites, one bar. I got nothing. We’re still missing four bags. ROBBY NAISH: What a bummer. CHUCK PATTERSON: Are they all at Johannesburg or no?
ROBBY NAISH: No one knows. CHUCK PATTERSON: No one knows. One a day, Chuck. We will get one a day. And then we’ll get the one with the little boards in it and they’ll be broken in half. [LAUGHING] [MUSIC PLAYING] FRANK SOLOMON: There’s like 300,000 seals, it’s pretty crazy.
FRANK SOLOMON: We’re in the middle of Africa, there’s not a blade of grass. Isn’t it a crazy place? It’s pretty sick looking crystal. CHUCK PATTERSON: We’re gone pretty much almost halfway around the world CHUCK PATTERSON: and of course, you know, we hit a couple pitfalls.
CHUCK PATTERSON: Losing our boards, CHUCK PATTERSON: it’s like suddenly this huge stop sign hit you straight in the face. It sucked. CHUCK PATTERSON: You start to think about what else could go wrong. It’s like half the size it was yesterday.
You can see the buoys just spiked. So I mean it’s… It spiked and then started going down… -Yeah. -Like really rapidly. Yeah, which was the forecast more or less, so. -The swell nearly hasn’t gotten here. -Yeah, just wait. ROLLY NAISH: Robby goes nuts if he doesn’t do something every day.
ROLLY NAISH: He’s that guy that has to go surfing, has to go sailing or gotta get some adrenaline going in his system every single day, it’s just the way his brain works. ROLLY NAISH: He’s just an entirely different person on the board.
KAI LENNY: Dude, that’s actually like a legit wave right there. Yeah. I bet she could pump around the whole thing. [LAUGHING] GERRY LOPEZ: Surfing’s a very unique sport. It’s very challenging, very demanding, GERRY LOPEZ: but it gives you just enough GERRY LOPEZ: that you keep comig back time and time again.
JOE BERLINGER: Why is that? Why does it matter? It’s just the way it is. That one looks right. Oh, yeah, but get one of the sets up there and ride it all the way across. But it gets in you at an emotional subconscious sort of, like, you know, one of those heavy…
Like I said, talk about the universe and stuff. I don’t do drugs but just what you’re getting out of it is kind of the same thing as what we get out of surfing. FRANK SOLOMON: And almost like a drug addict,
FRANK SOLOMON: I mean if you don’t do it for a couple of days, FRANK SOLOMON: you start feeling like you need it, you know. JOHNNY DECESARE: Robby’s boards have finally come in. JOHNNY DECESARE: So we have all the gear. JOHNNY DECESARE: It took us three days,
JOHNNY DECESARE: a six-hour drie in the middle of the night. JOHNNY DECESARE: But we have boards for tomorrow. JOHNNY DECESARE: The boys are sleeping and, I don’t know, JOHNNY DECESARE: we’ll see some surprises on their face tomorrow. We’re very happy, very happy. People want to cry.
Here is the most important part. Now all we gotta do is hope we have waves. [MUSIC PLAYING] KAI LENNY: This is the smallest it’s been. Wow. KAI LENNY: I was envisioning lie it’s gonna be bigger, but man. CHUCK PATTERSON: I was envisioning it way bigger, like scary bigger.
CHUCK PATTERSON: Just like wondering how to paddle out. LAIRD HAMILTON: You go around te whole world looking for something, LAIRD HAMILTON: you fly around, LAIRD HAMILTON: you’re half-cocked, you haven’t slept, LAIRD HAMILTON: you don’t have your stuff, LAIRD HAMILTON: and then you have sub level conditions.
LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s frustrating. You got to go, no expectations, no disappointments. They’ve done it a long time, they’ve gotten plenty of barrels, they want the big long all the way to the bottom barrel. JOHNNY DECESARE: They’re here all across the world
JOHNNY DECESARE: because they want to get that really good wave. JOHNNY DECESARE: And I don’t blame them. You know it’s tricky when you put pressure on it. I mean, these waves don’t like these cameras. They run from that stuff. -This is actually– -Actually you know what–
Shut up, I’m talking right now. [LAUGHING] This is all we do when we are not in the water. It’s like just sit here and just try to pass the time. PETE CABRINHA: As a pro athlete where you’re just traveling the world PETE CABRINHA: and you’re looking for waves,
PETE CABRINHA: you’re really trying to make something happen, there’s that moment where you’re just like, “Alright, is this it?” PETE CABRINHA: And then from that point PETE CABRINHA: it just becomes what you make of it. KAI LENNY: I think it’s hard to tell
KAI LENNY: what’s going through Robby’s head necessarily. He kind of jokes mostly about his problems than actually like talks in like, gets actually emotional about it, at least in front of me. ROBBY NAISH: At least it’s windy and cool. CHUCK PATTERSON: What’s the update?
Uh, 17 to 9, Dodgers are winning. [LAUGHING] KAI LENNY: It’s just being a world champion for so long, KAI LENNY: he’s probably using what he’s learned KAI LENNY: competing his whole life. KAI LENNY: He’s applying it to this. And he kind of got to step back
And remove the emotional side of things because if you get emotional in competition, you can crumble and he’s not one to crumble. KAI LENNY: So it’s just being a world champion for so long, maybe he’s more that than he is, you know, just a, you know, relying on his emotions.
I don’t know, you got to ask him. CHUCK PATTERSON: I think this is a challenging year for Robby for sure. I mean he’s dealt with probably one of his worst injuries he’s ever had. CHUCK PATTERSON: You know, he’s dealing with business side of things CHUCK PATTERSON: in his company,
CHUCK PATTERSON: and then also some family things are going on. CHUCK PATTERSON: And that’s a lot to take on. Just one of those for any average person is a huge hurdle. I think I’m gonna go kite, yeah. CHUCK PATTERSON: Deep inside, those things
CHUCK PATTERSON: definitely have something to do with his moods. CHUCK PATTERSON: But at the end of the day, CHUCK PATTERSON: I think for him just being in the water was probably the one place that he can release everything and be himself. PETE CABRINHA: I think the common denominator
PETE CABRINHA: in all these sports that we do is surfing PETE CABRINHA: and I think if you have a love for surfing, PETE CABRINHA: you’re gonna try to do it as many ways as possible to keep you on the water.
CHUCK PATTERSON: As you can see, today the swell is taking its time to basically get here, but the wind is smoking. So, it’s a perfect alternative to get out there CHUCK PATTERSON: and, you know, kiting is kind of a mix CHUCK PATTERSON: of surf and sailing,
CHUCK PATTERSON: you know, speed sailing. CHUCK PATTERSON: Riding these waves, they’re just gonna be CHUCK PATTERSON: smoking down the line. CHUCK PATTERSON: Just got to go out and enjoy what we have. [MUSIC PLAYING] Robby likes to command the board or the kite
PIETRO PORCELLA: because in his 50s he is still a young kid in his mind. PIETRO PORCELLA: When he get to the ocean, he wanna play. [WAVE SPRAYING] LAIRD HAMILTON: Multi-discipline watermen, they have that open mind, LAIRD HAMILTON: the ability to go and do things that are new.
It’s foundational philosophies that both Robby and other waterman have. KAI LENNY: There are so many different ways KAI LENNY: you can ride the win, ride the surf, KAI LENNY: it’s all about using the right equipment KAI LENNY: for the right conditions.
KAI LENNY: I don’t look at them as sports so much KAI LENNY: as I look at them as tools. Don’t define me by, you know, what I ride but how I ride it. [MUSIC PLAYING] LAIRD HAMILTON: That mentality sets you free. And that created kiting.
LAIRD HAMILTON: And it was something new. It was something new for us. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: Kitesurfing is like three-dimensional windsurfing. ROBBY NAISH: And what really attracted me to in the beginning ROBBY NAISH: was that you could jump off with nothing. ROBBY NAISH: So that to me was really intriguing
ROBBY NAISH: when we first started doing it ROBBY NAISH: and developing crazy new gear and trying it. ROBBY NAISH: It was like all new experimentation again and developing. ROBBY NAISH: That was fun. PETE CABRINHA: There wasn’t anything really, really new PETE CABRINHA: in surfing equipment wise.
PETE CABRINHA: And then suddenly you had these people just throwing kites and trying to pull themselves around. PETE CABRINHA: Suddenly there ws this freshness in surfing. LAIRD HAMILTON: When kiting came along, LAIRD HAMILTON: a thing about Rb that really impressed me
Was how quickly he became incredible at kiting. LAIRD HAMILTON: Flying through the sky at 30 knots, LAIRD HAMILTON: 50 feet in the air trying to push the edge, LAIRD HAMILTON: he was doing a lot of radical stuff.
LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s like being a flying fish or something, you know, LAIRD HAMILTON: where you can swim and you can fly LAIRD HAMILTON: and then there’s just, you know, LAIRD HAMILTON: where do you want to go from there. PETE CABRINHA: I think Robby’s biggest contribution to kiteboarding
PETE CABRINHA: was being one of the first PETE CABRINHA: to actually deliver at this sport. PETE CABRINHA: That really got it around the world and it really got a lot of people into it. ROBBY NAISH: Kiting was a brand-new sport
ROBBY NAISH: that a lot of peope wanted to try. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: You could do it in more places ROBBY NAISH: without the complicated expensive equipment ROBBY NAISH: that you needed for windsurfing. LAIRD HAMILTON: You know, 10 masts and 20 booms and sails
LAIRD HAMILTON: and just all the stuff that you needed in windsurfing, LAIRD HAMILTON: it would be just a kite and a board LAIRD HAMILTON: and you could just go to the beach and throw it up and go. LAIRD HAMILTON: He’s been smart to adapt to,
You know, windsurfing is dying off, we’re going to kiting. LAIRD HAMILTON: I attribute a lot of Robby’s success LAIRD HAMILTON: to being excited about continuing to try new things. Robby told me, “Pietro, what we did in windsurfing in 20 year,
PIETRO PORCELLA: kiteboarding is gonna be four, five years PIETRO PORCELLA: it’s gonna have the big peak and it’s gonna stay there.” PIETRO PORCELLA: And he was right. [MUSIC PLAYING] PETE CABRINHA: I think we kind of revel in that, PETE CABRINHA: let’s try something different,
PETE CABRINHA: you know, let’s keep it fresh. I think this is something that that Rob and I have a lot in common. ROBBY NAISH: If you look at the whole evolution of the sport, ROBBY NAISH: there was so much of being in the right place
ROBBY NAISH: at the right time, it was crazy. ROBBY NAISH: Just as one thing was may be slowing down, ROBBY NAISH: another sport will come along and add gas to the fire. I need someone to hold this for me, the kite won’t go anywhere. [WIND HOWLING] It is so fucking windy.
MAN 4: Wind is flexed on you, Naish. Unbelievable. So strong. So fun though. Fuck. MAN 5: You were ripping. Such fun waves. Unbelievable. ROBBY NAISH: God, I’m glad we brought kite gear. ROBBY NAISH: Imagine coming all this way sitting and watching waves
ROBBY NAISH: and wind and only having surfboards. CHUCK PATTERSON: It’s so good to see a smile on your face. CHUCK PATTERSON: You were just killing it out there. It was so fun. Dude you were hacking the crap out of it. That was awesome.
It just got way too windy. They got so… -It’s like 30 knots. -Yeah. Look at that. ROBBY NAISH: The 50 yard floater. No way. Still going. ROBBY NAISH: Still going. ROBBY NAISH: Pull in, pull in, yes. [LAUGHING] That was just so good.
KAI LENNY: The problem is that you get that, like, kiteboarding, KAI LENNY: like kitesurfing and you’re just like boom, boom, boom. If it gets any windier, it’s not really gonna be kiteable. I mean just since you’ve been in, it got 10 knots more. [OCEAN RUMBLING]
JOHNNY DECESARE: Right now it’s just way too windy. JOHNNY DECESARE: This is like really windy. This is 45 plus knots, JOHNNY DECESARE: more dangerous than it is fun, even though the waves have come up quite a bit. JOHNNY DECESARE: It’s just nuking.
JOHNNY DECESARE: Basically it’s one of those, like, JOHNNY DECESARE: better to just let her be. She don’t want to be ridden right now. It actually hurts. [WIND HOWLING] This is crazy. ROBBY NAISH: We were hoping the wind will get lighter in the afternoon
ROBBY NAISH: but clearly it’s going the other direction. JOE BERLINGER: What was the forecast? JOE BERLINGER: Or is it just not paying attention to the… Yeah, the forecast was nothing like this. JOE BERLINGER: Forecast was wrong? ROBBY NAISH: We thought maybe as the tide went down,
ROBBY NAISH: the wind would go down. ROBBY NAISH: But this is like 40 knots. It’s crazy windy. JOE BERLINGER: So, bummer or just the way it is? ROBBY NAISH: Bummer, just the way it is, yeah. ROBBY NAISH: Definitely not worh flying 34 hours for.
KAI LENNY: Robby’s perfectionist and I think he was definitely not stoked. KAI LENNY: We didn’t score. I mean I think he had fun, KAI LENNY: but there’s really a difference between having fun KAI LENNY: and scoring the longest wave. [MUSIC PLAYING]
ROBBY NAISH: I’ve been travellig basically my entire life ROBBY NAISH: looking for waves ROBBY NAISH: that are really big, very destructive ROBBY NAISH: and in other places there’s really good waves ROBBY NAISH: that last a long time. ROBBY NAISH: This was not at all what I expected,
ROBBY NAISH: especially with a documentary team. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: I’m trying to maintain like a performance level ROBBY NAISH: that would be comparable to that if I were competing. ROBBY NAISH: It’s not just going through the motions
ROBBY NAISH: and “Oh, yeah, this is great.” That’s not fun. ROBBY NAISH: I’d rather not do something if I don’t have a pretty good chance of being there. Just to go do it. I’m not one of those people. ROBBY NAISH: I don’t want to mae just some crappy thing.
CHUCK PATTERSON: Today was a nice surprise, CHUCK PATTERSON: I mean for the swell being small. CHUCK PATTERSON: Robby got a bunch of really good waves on the outside. It was amazing. Yeah. JOE BERLINGER: How are you feeling, Robby?
I’m just getting a little bit hung up on the performance I had, you know, the long-wave side. I mean it’s an amazing place, we’re having fun, but it’s not exactly visually… KAI LENNY: It’s not what you’re looking for. Striking, stimulating from a performance standpoint. But that’s out of my control.
But, thank God for the foil. Oh, my gosh. KAI LENNY: Like, if you could somehow document these super long-foil waves, KAI LENNY: that’s mind-blowing KAI LENNY: because originally the foil was meant KAI LENNY: to ride the biggest waves ever ridden
KAI LENNY: and just turns out it’s actually better KAI LENNY: for riding the smallest waves ever ridden. She is ready to fly. ROBBY NAISH: Foiling is another way to sort of ROBBY NAISH: take advantage of junk waves ROBBY NAISH: or almost no waves.
And it’s funny because it’s been around, you know, for decades. But things go in circles and now it’s back and trendy. It was never really trendy before but if it’s on the water at this stage, it just got foils on it. PETE CABRINHA: Since I got into windsurfing,
PETE CABRINHA: there’s been four or five new spin-offs, but foiling being one of the latest is really something that’s just… It’s taking over and it’s really got me. MATT SCHWEITZER: Instead of just windsurfing and just kitesurfing MATT SCHWEITZER: and just stand up paddling,
MATT SCHWEITZER: when you introduce another new sport, like foiling, it’s so different, it gives you a variety of things to do. MATT SCHWEITZER: He already knos how to do all the sports, MATT SCHWEITZER: so now he just has to go out and do it.
ROBBY NAISH: I’m not that into it. Kai is super into it. ROBBY NAISH: Some of my guys are. I still like good old fashioned riding on top of the water most of the time. Put it forward. -Yeah? -Yeah. KAI LENNY: I always go as far forward on these ones.
KAI LENNY: This is where your love for hydrofoil KAI LENNY: is going to come into play KAI LENNY: because the worst wave is gonna seem so much better. [MUSIC PLAYING] LAIRD HAMILTON: Everybody starts off thinking that foiling isn’t gonna be this thing like it is. They don’t realize.
LAIRD HAMILTON: Once you get the first flight, LAIRD HAMILTON: when your board isn’t touching the water, it’s over. If you’re a surfer, any board rider, anybody, it’s over. LAIRD HAMILTON: Foiling is the highest evolution. LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s the apex until we have some new thing
LAIRD HAMILTON: that we don’t know what that is yet. [MUSIC PLAYING] KAI LENNY: The common misconception about foiling KAI LENNY: is that you’re not touching the water KAI LENNY: and that means you’re not connecting to the water.
KAI LENNY: For my own personal perspective, I feel more connected KAI LENNY: by hydrofoiling than I do on a surfboard. KAI LENNY: The foil is touching a deeper source of the wave energy. KAI LENNY: I’m touching the part of the wave
KAI LENNY: that I never knew existed prior to doing it. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: Because of the injury, I missed the beginning ROBBY NAISH: of the evolution of it. ROBBY NAISH: So, I’m a little behind the ball.
ROBBY NAISH: And it’s honestly the first time I’ve been behind the ball ROBBY NAISH: of something new within the sports that I do. ROBBY NAISH: Windsurfing, I was there right from the beginning. ROBBY NAISH: Kiting, I was there right from the beginning.
ROBBY NAISH: Stand up, I was there right from the beginning. ROBBY NAISH: It’s a little out of my comfort zone ROBBY NAISH: in terms of normally being pretty good at stuff. [MUSIC PLAYING] As far behind Kai as I am, it’s a little discouraging but it takes…
– You can’t do it in an hour. -That’s what you pay me for! Exactly. You pay me to try to be better than everyone else. Exactly. A few more hours, we’ll be able to go have fun together. KAI LENNY: Ah, just a few more hours and you’ll be– To have fun.
No, it’s funny because most people, it take them a year and Robby just needs time on it. ROBBY NAISH: Normally if I’m gonna do something, ROBBY NAISH: I go do it off on my own ROBBY NAISH: with nobody around and get good at it,
ROBBY NAISH: not have six cameras on me ROBBY NAISH: in the early stages of kind of being a kook. ROBBY NAISH: So, that’s uncomfortable. [ENGINE REVVING] RICK NAISH: From the very beginning Robby worked at windsurfing and he would go off somewhere.
I don’t know, he didn’t practice at breaks where he would have people who would see him, RICK NAISH: and he practiced particular things RICK NAISH: like learning to go upwind RICK NAISH: and sailing out and making however many he’d count, RICK NAISH: maybe 25, maybe 30 tacks.
And if he missed one, he’d start all over again. He had a drive to be excellent. ROBBY NAISH: I was willing to work however hard ROBBY NAISH: it took to stay good at it. JOE BERLINGER: What did that mean? Like, what does working hard mean?
You know, avoiding distractions, not partying, sometimes not having fun that I would have otherwise had if I wasn’t being so targeted. ROBBY NAISH: Waking up early, getting to the beach before everybody else, ROBBY NAISH: rigging up all my gear so when they come to the beach,
ROBBY NAISH: all my stuff’s already laid out ready to go and they’re like, “Fuck, he’s already here,” just whatever it took. RICK NAISH: Back when I was racing Hobie Cats here, RICK NAISH: I was winning pretty much everything for a few years RICK NAISH: and I expected to win.
And so I felt like a real jerk when I didn’t. But I tried not to make a big deal of it. RICK NAISH: I hope it didn’t shw to my kids that I had a big head RICK NAISH: and I expected to win all the time.
JOE BERLINGER: Did you and Robby compete at the same time? RANDY NAISH: Oh, of course. JOE BERLINGER: Tell me what’s that like competing with your brother. RANDY NAISH: It sucks. It sucked competing against him ’cause he always won. RANDY NAISH: You know, as good as I was,
RANDY NAISH: I knew that on my best day I still can’t beat him. RANDY NAISH: I mean on his worst day and my best day, maybe. RANDY NAISH: And so I’m like, “Okay, Rob, just don’t make me look too bad” RANDY NAISH: and he slaughtered me.
He didn’t even try to make me look good. He just… He just… There was no contest at all. NANI NAISH: He’s so focused, so competitive, NANI NAISH: and so in the moment to win, it’s incredible. I remember being at the beach at Hookipa in Maui watching his contest.
And, man, if he thought he was getting second, it was stay away. NANI NAISH: It was quiet time, the breathing, walking back and forth, like there was no chance that he would get second. NANI NAISH: When you’re number one and perfect at 13 years old,
NANI NAISH: anybody going through adolescence NANI NAISH: and you’re searching for your identity, that became my dad’s. NANI NAISH: Robby Naish was Robby Naish so young. NANI NAISH: How could he possiby let go of that? [MUSIC PLAYING]
LAIRD HAMILTON: It takes a lot of courage to be documenting learning, LAIRD HAMILTON: especially if you’re with Kai who’s a foiler. It’s a pressure, that’s probably unnecessary pressure but it’s pressure. LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s not so easy to just get a board
LAIRD HAMILTON: and paddle out and stand on a wave, LAIRD HAMILTON: especially if yu have a high demand of yourself. Yeah, Robby! Yeah, Robby! [CHEERING] CHUCK PATTERSON: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. CHUCK PATTERSON: Yeah, Robby! [CHEERING] CHUCK PATTERSON: Yeah, keep it rolling. Keep rolling! [CHEERING]
CHUCK PATTERSON: For Robby, foiling wasn’t his go-to thing to really do. CHUCK PATTERSON: I think there was definitely a challenge for him and… I mean, let’s face it, we don’t want to be beginners, you know, ever really.
I mean, as we get older, it’s like we don’t have time to be a beginner. CHUCK PATTERSON: You always want to have your best foot forward CHUCK PATTERSON: and someone like Robby CHUCK PATTERSON: is one of the best in the world.
So, to be in front of everybody and not be pretty much, you know, on top of your game, CHUCK PATTERSON: you have it in your head that you don’t want to fail. ROBBY NAISH: It’s hard to have this many wheels in motion ROBBY NAISH: and then get one foot surf.
ROBBY NAISH: It’s just then there’s all these expectations, ROBBY NAISH: it’s a bit tough. JOE BERLINGER: I think that’s coming from you. Yeah, it’s freaking me out a little bit. JOE BERLINGER: If I’m being honest with you, JOE BERLINGER: I think it’s coming from you.
JOE BERLINGER: None of us are like aargh. JOE BERLINGER: We’re totally digging what we are getting and… But on Robby side is, I mean, you know, we’re all very competitive and we are all probably are our own biggest critic.
I want to do a good job at everything that I do. And even the things that are out of my control, I’d like to have… Be good. The magnitude of what we’re doing is big enough that it’s like, “Aahh.” I know there’s a line item somewhere on budgets in someone’s desk
With my name next to it and it’s a really big number. ROBBY NAISH: From the cameramen to the sound guys, ROBBY NAISH: to Johnny, the logistics people, there’s just so many wheels in motion that are all really good people, they’re really valuable and I’m just freaking out that I’m not providing
The best of what we could be providing where everyone’s looking at me going, “Okay, well, that was lame.” And I’m the cause of the lameness, you know. I’m just like, fuck. ROBBY NAISH: That’s where the pressure is coming from. It’s awesome and I’m stoked to have the opportunity,
But I’m still uncomfortable with the opportunity if it doesn’t go as well as it could. It’s just the way I am. I’m uncomfortable most days anyway, but this is like extra… I mean, look. [LAUGHING] JOE BERLINGER: What did you… ROBBY NAISH: No pressure. Well, I just go compete. Pressure is only on myself.
I wasn’t responsible for anybody else. I traveled alone, I trained alone, competed alone. I’m fine of being responsible for me. JOHNNY DECESARE: I don’t know, I had a moment this morning JOHNNY DECESARE: and I was thinking about Costa Rica, JOHNNY DECESARE: that Pavones wave and I was like…
JOHNNY DECESARE: It made me think about Pavones JOHNNY DECESARE: as if there was a third trip. JOHNNY DECESARE: I almost felt like how Pavones is. It kind of sprung me today for some reason. If you did do a third trip and you did score, it’d be a pretty sick ending.
I’ve got the satisfaction. If you got something like that would be ROBBY NAISH: Yeah, I know it’d be great. super good. It would feel amazing. ROBBY NAISH: But I hate to create an expectation where we… Yeah, ’cause we could go on five more trips
And never really get any of them good ’cause that’s the nature of what we do. ROBBY NAISH: If people are gonna pay me to do what I do, ROBBY NAISH: I am worried about giving them ROBBY NAISH: a return on the investment. If someone’s paying me a dollar,
I want to give them 10 dollars in return no matter what it is that I’m doing. And when I retire and people stop paying me or when my sponsors go, “Alright, that was fun, let’s do something different,” which will happen eventually, that pressure will be gone. ROBBY NAISH: But right now
I know there’s an expectation of exceptional, extraordinary. And when you get beautiful waves that are just kind of pretty, it’s like, “Ah, it’s not really exceptional or extraordinary.” ROBBY NAISH: And so I was kind f like, “Ah, it was fun, it was cool,
ROBBY NAISH: it was a great plae to be, it was good friends,” ROBBY NAISH: but when people want to see extreme ROBBY NAISH: and you’re not showing an extreme, you’re just going, “Fuck.” So, there was that pressure.
JOE BERLINGER: What do you say to that? What he just said. Um, maybe his perspective. I’m having fun. But it’s not my movie, so I’m just along for the ride at this point. KAI LENNY: I can imagine what it’d feel like though. If it was my movie,
I would want the biggest best waves I could possibly get. And if you weren’t getting that, just thinking of the outcome of the film, like, that would bother me. JOE BERLINGER: Next trip if we go to Costa Rica, JOE BERLINGER: we’re gonna need to be a little more spontaneous
JOE BERLINGER: and not plan it as much JOE BERLINGER: and have a smallr footprint however that can be and just be able to move on the dime, you know. I could need three cameras and no other crew and he would probably be so psyched on that. Yeah.
JOHNNY DECESARE: He wants it to be so good. JOHNNY DECESARE: He doesn’t want to let people down JOHNNY DECESARE: and that’s kind of Robby’s nature anyways. JOHNNY DECESARE: He always wants to do things JOHNNY DECESARE: to the best of his ability
JOHNNY DECESARE: and have people be psyched. LAIRD HAMILTON: When you are focused on competing, LAIRD HAMILTON: then you are forced into a real format, like you’re forced into a specific technique for that. LAIRD HAMILTON: We want to get to a point
LAIRD HAMILTON: where we are personally in control LAIRD HAMILTON: of our feeling of accomplishment LAIRD HAMILTON: and our fulfillment. LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s the most fulfilling aspect of your evolution. But, you know, it’s not that easy. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hey, everybody. Hope you’re having a good summer.
I just wanted to give you a quick update on what I’ve been up to lately, which unfortunately is a bit of no good. ROBBY NAISH: Two weeks ago I was out at Kanaio ROBBY NAISH: with Jesse Richman and Ethan Koopmans, ROBBY NAISH: having a really good session.
ROBBY NAISH: South Shore, Maui, really good waves ROBBY NAISH: and just kind of crashed the landing kicking out of a wave and I… broke my foot. So I’m back on crutches ROBBY NAISH: and can’t put weigt on my foot for four weeks.
Don’t film me doing this because I’m supposed to be on crutches right now but I’m walking around the house, I got to cheat, alright, going up down the stairs. So, I just walk on my heel. I’m not using the foot. ROBBY NAISH: Honestly, at the moment
ROBBY NAISH: the foot is like the least of my troubles ROBBY NAISH: because the pinched nerve in the neck ROBBY NAISH: from the herniated discs is just killing me. I’ve gotta guess a bunch of, you know, arthritic stuff and they are like I’ve got go around,
It’s just from age and abuse. And the nerve is being pinched in here that runs down the shoulder, so I’ve got “pain in the neck” here on the right side. It’s really stiff and it sounds like broken glass in my head when I turn my head side to side like crunching.
That’s not a big deal. But the nerve, it fires. I get a stabbing pain right here where it feels like somebody’s sticking an ice pick in my back. And then it runs down my forearm straight down there. ROBBY NAISH: This happened three days ago, ROBBY NAISH: working out harder than usual
ROBBY NAISH: to try and stay in shape because of the foot. So, yeah. That’s what I’m going through at the moment. Old age ROBBY NAISH: Keeping ahead of age is not really, really easy to do, but the problem is it’s no fun if I do it at a lower level.
ROBBY NAISH: You can’t do something at a high level your entire life ROBBY NAISH: and be pushing and then suddenly go, ROBBY NAISH: “Okay, well, I’m gonna go 50%, 60% because I gotta stay safe and uninjured.” I was like, “Forget that.”
ROBBY NAISH: And some people say, “Oh, it’s time to relax.” ROBBY NAISH: It’s the opposite. ROBBY NAISH: Now’s the time you got to be on it, 100%, ROBBY NAISH: if you want to keep being a man. And I want to keep being a man. ’57 baby window.
ROBBY NAISH: It’s funny ’cause literally my whole life ROBBY NAISH: since I became an adult ROBBY NAISH: I’ve been running around ROBBY NAISH: firing on all cylinders all the time. And I’ve kind of gone from an eight-cylinder to six -cylinder,
And at the moment I might even be a four-cylinder. Check it out. Came to this really cool retro rack. ROBBY NAISH: Cruiser car. You can go from injury to injury to injury, you know, just by not being smart, not being like that tenth of a second decision
To do this instead of that. That’s all this is. It was that little tiny mind lapse. ROBBY NAISH: It’s not like I got hit by a truck and didn’t see it coming. This was totally in my control and minor, just like the pelvis.
It was one of those things where it didn’t have to happen. ROBBY NAISH: I’m not 22 anymore, ROBBY NAISH: you can’t get away with errors and mistakes. ROBBY NAISH: I want to feel like I have it together. At the moment I’m not feeling like I completely have it together.
So, getting it together now. [LAUGHING] KAI LENNY: It was really difficult to make the decision KAI LENNY: to leave Naish and even Robby. The fact of the matter is I’ve been with them for 16 years. He was a mentor of mine. He’s given me so much opportunity.
KAI LENNY: It was nothing ever against Robby or his brand. KAI LENNY: It was more on a personal growth side, KAI LENNY: wanting to figure out what I needed as an athlete KAI LENNY: to go to the next level.
KAI LENNY: And I think that’s all sort of goes in line with growing up. KAI LENNY: Eventually you got to become your own man and, you know, figure things out on your own and lead yourself.
KAI LENNY: And the moment I had to go into that meeting with Robby KAI LENNY: to face down someone that you look up to your entire life and just say, “Hey, I’m leaving,” you could see him kind of sit back in the seat
And just this kind of wave of disappointment come down his face And that was a tough one for me. KAI LENNY: I think it’s got to be no easy task KAI LENNY: to let the next generation take the baton KAI LENNY: and go farther with it.
When Kai told me, I just go, “What the heck is going on?” ROBBY NAISH: You know, between splitting up with Katie, ROBBY NAISH: getting injured, ROBBY NAISH: having my first kid of business hiccups, ROBBY NAISH: and how could he do this.
I wanted him to do it a little bit differently timing wise, you know, give me another six months before getting out of it, let me transition some things because it was part of a much bigger discussion with the business and everything. ROBBY NAISH: But he felt like it was time to go.
ROBBY NAISH: He appreciated everything ROBBY NAISH: but it was just time for him ROBBY NAISH: to spread his wings and do his own thing. ROBBY NAISH: At the end of the day it was like, ROBBY NAISH: “Alright, it is what it is.”
ROBBY NAISH: I’m not married to my friends. I’m not married to my sponsored athletes. It is what it is. And everybody has different needs and desires. ROBBY NAISH: Not holding any grudges that he left Naish. ROBBY NAISH: It honestly, at the end of the day,
ROBBY NAISH: was the best decision for him. I wouldn’t have handled it that way, but I’m not Kai. This is definitely what’s best for Kai. KAI LENNY: I always thought I was gonna be with Naish forever, KAI LENNY: but you just don’t know
KAI LENNY: how things are gonna develop over time. KAI LENNY: You know, it always can envision the future KAI LENNY: and things just tend to go different ways. KAI LENNY: And it’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s not anything,
KAI LENNY: it just is what it is, it’s just life. KAI LENNY: And I don’t know if I’ll be close friends with Robby again. KAI LENNY: But I hope that one day, you know, he could see me KAI LENNY: as the really good friend that I hope I was to him
KAI LENNY: when I was riding for his brand. LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s not easy for the old bull to let the young bull in, LAIRD HAMILTON: no matter what. LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s almost like an involuntary response that you have when the next guys are coming up
And you’re gonna be a little bit like aargh, you know. It’s just you just can’t… You can’t help yourself. You know, it’s like a man and his son, you know, and the son looks him in the eye and says. Then the dad might be like, “Yeah, you better go do that over there.”
[LAUGHING] GERRY LOPEZ: You know surfing, because it happens in this world GERRY LOPEZ: where everything’s moving, GERRY LOPEZ: it becomes a great metaphor for life. GERRY LOPEZ: There’s not any signposts, you know, GERRY LOPEZ: it’s just kind of this arbitrary position
GERRY LOPEZ: and a lot of factos involved in being in the right spot. So, there’s one surprise after another. GERRY LOPEZ: And a common occurrence GERRY LOPEZ: is the circumstance called getting caught inside. You know, getting pounded. GERRY LOPEZ: When a set comes and you realize,
GERRY LOPEZ: “Shit, not only am I not gonna ride this wave GERRY LOPEZ: or any of these waves, GERRY LOPEZ: but they’re gonna ride me.” GERRY LOPEZ: Robby’s had kind of a run of bad luck. GERRY LOPEZ: This is just another instance of getting caught inside.
GERRY LOPEZ: He knows what to do. GERRY LOPEZ: You keep paddling. That’s what Robby’s doing. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: After Skeleton Bay and Chicama, ROBBY NAISH: you know, we still wanted to get one more ROBBY NAISH: really good long wave in
ROBBY NAISH: and we thought lets go to Pavones in Costa Rica ROBBY NAISH: because that’s, I think, really the world’s longest real wave. ROBBY NAISH: And there was a good swell and off we went. [RAIN FALLING] CHUCK PATTERSON: Is this a rainy season down here?
-It’s raining like hell. -Yeah. Our gear is here, I’m not injured, that’s a good start, right? So I think it’s gonna be a good trip. And, yeah, get some long ones, just some stand up, maybe do some foiling and have some fun. CHUCK PATTERSON: I think there’s so much stuff going on
CHUCK PATTERSON: and for Kai not to be at Pavones, I think for Robby, he just wanted to enjoy himself and not have any weird awkwardness, whether there would have been or not. But I think for Robby he just wanted to go and have a good time and enjoy it.
CHUCK PATTERSON: Not saying that he wouldn’t have enjoyed it with Kai, CHUCK PATTERSON: but I think it was just a lot simpler. [LAUGHING] ROBBY NAISH: Chicama and Skeleton Bay, ROBBY NAISH: both of them were a little less oomphy ROBBY NAISH: than what I had hoped for.
And it was a lot of pressure because we had a big crew and it just seemed like I’m not giving them what they expected and what I expected. ROBBY NAISH: But by the time we got to Pavones, four years of lead-up ROBBY NAISH: and personal things and injuries,
ROBBY NAISH: by then the pressure kind of changed. JOE BERLINGER: So how did it change? ROBBY NAISH: Just my perspective has changed. ROBBY NAISH: I don’t think at 55 years old ROBBY NAISH: I’m gonna be competitive as 25-year-olds.
ROBBY NAISH: My new 100% isn’t what it once was. And that’s sometimes a little hard to swallow because the act of riding, I want to do. ROBBY NAISH: It’s good to still be out there ROBBY NAISH: and I do want to maintain a respectable level
ROBBY NAISH: in everything that I do and even though no one’s quantifying what I do, “Oh, you get second place, not first” or “Tenth place not second.” ROBBY NAISH: It’s still something that I take really seriously. Eleven o’clock, low tides in an hour? Yeah.
ROBBY NAISH: Staying relevant is still important to me. CHUCK PATTERSON: You know, I’m dealing with it myself, you know. I’m almost… I’m gonna be 50 and it’s that time, you know, we don’t like to hear that “Dude, you’re getting old.” CHUCK PATTERSON: We don’t want to ever basically say,
CHUCK PATTERSON: “Okay, I get it, I’m old. So I’m good.” It doesn’t even work, you know. So you go, “I’m an athlete and I’m always gonna be an athlete. I may be a slower athlete,” CHUCK PATTERSON: but you want to still show that
CHUCK PATTERSON: you’re a force to be reckoned with, CHUCK PATTERSON: like you were when you’re, you know, CHUCK PATTERSON: younger and in the game. Robby, what do you think? Wait for the tide to fill in and- Yeah, hurry up and wait. JOHNNY DECESARE: Since it’s Robby’s first day,
I just want to make sure we’re all on point. JOHNNY DECESARE: Tyler’s gonna be shooting the establishing’s JOHNNY DECESARE: on the beach if he walks it. And there’s a big rock that says, “Jesus” on it. And that’s usually where you paddle out when it’s big.
JOHNNY DECESARE: Jace, get the in water stuff JOHNNY DECESARE: right when he walks in. JOHNNY DECESARE: Drone needs master shot. You will have the shot. JOHNNY DECESARE We just have to be ready at all times. JOHNNY DECESARE: So, like Robby walks out the door and goes,
“You know, I get anxiety thinking about Pavones.” JOE BERLINGER: Why? Because there’s no fourth location. I want to score. JOE BERLINGER: Yeah. NANI NAISH: My dad’s not gonna stop. I mean he always says he will keep doing this until he dies, which is really sad but maybe it’s not true.
Well, I’m gonna head out there. JOE BERLINGER: Alright. NANI NAISH: I just hope that the adventure that my dad is on now, NANI NAISH: he’s doing because he knows in his heart NANI NAISH: that he’s gonna be happy. Because he deserves it. [MUSIC PLAYING]
JOHNNY DECESARE: It’s a surfer’s paradise here, you know. JOHNNY DECESARE: It’s long, it’s glassy, JOHNNY DECESARE: it’s the right amount of power. JOHNNY DECESARE: It’s a perfect spot for Robby. JOHNNY DECESARE: If he can get a bomb, he can go from around that corner up there
All the way through this section out in front of us, all the way down to this beach landing down here. CHUCK PATTERSON: All the things that Robby had going on, CHUCK PATTERSON: I mean that’s a lot for any individual. CHUCK PATTERSON: Everything from dealing with family,
Having his own business to handling the top athletes, being an athlete himself that has to produce all the time. CHUCK PATTERSON: That’s a lot of pressure CHUCK PATTERSON: and not many people can do it. LAIRD HAMILTON: Life has some rocky roads, right?
LAIRD HAMILTON: But one thing that we surfers LAIRD HAMILTON: can rely on is the ocean. We can’t rely on relationships. We can’t rely on businesses. But we can rely on riding the wave. And that’s consistent every time, all the time.
LAIRD HAMILTON: And so it’s what we go to. It’s our sanctuary. LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s our peace of mind. LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s the thing that reminds us of who we are. We’re surfers. LAIRD HAMILTON: And in the ancient Hawaiian sport of surfing, the object was always the longest ride.
LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s like a flight. LAIRD HAMILTON: When you take off, you don’t want to land, LAIRD HAMILTON: you just want to keep flying. LAIRD HAMILTON: Maybe, Robby’s metaphor for riding the longest wave LAIRD HAMILTON: is just that flight that he just takes off and he flies
LAIRD HAMILTON: and it doesn’t end and it just keeps going. LAIRD HAMILTON: The longest wave. ROBBY NAISH: When I started windsurfing, ROBBY NAISH: I didn’t know if my career was gonna last a year ROBBY NAISH: or two years or three years.
ROBBY NAISH: There’s no path of, you know, ROBBY NAISH: this is what a pro-athlete in my shoes ROBBY NAISH: does for how long he does it. ROBBY NAISH: And so I really didn’t change my approach to life much.
ROBBY NAISH: I just kind of rolled and no speed bumps, no questioning what I was doing. ROBBY NAISH: But recently ROBBY NAISH: some of the things that I’ve gone through in my life ROBBY NAISH: have definitely opened my eyes to the fact
That things don’t always go perfectly linear and luck sometimes doesn’t last forever. ROBBY NAISH: It’s kind of like surfing, ROBBY NAISH: you kind of ride one wave and connect it to the next one ROBBY NAISH: and connect it to the next one,
ROBBY NAISH: every once in a while you take the wrong wave ROBBY NAISH: and you get stuck on the inside ROBBY NAISH: and you get a punch on the head, you try to paddle out and you’re getting them on the head, and getting them on the head
And I feel like I’ve gotten a whole bunch on the head lately. ROBBY NAISH: But I’m finally back out and ready to catch some more. [MUSIC PLAYING] MAN 6: To go out and ride the longest wave, MAN 6: it’s something to do with the soul,
MAN 6: with the spirit of a person MAN 6: and it’s kind of who you are. MAN 6: And it’s hard to explain, MAN 6: but to be on a long wave MAN 6: is a dream for a waterman. MAN 7: Robby’s always been that guy
MAN 7: that wants to make the best of every wave. MAN 7: He’s always had this style MAN 7: of naturally wanting to use every wave individually, MAN 7: which is very old-school. [MUSIC PLAYING] MAN 8: We scramble around
MAN 8: and try all this stuff in life and if we’re smart, MAN 8: we come back to the things that worked for us MAN 8: being in the water. MAN 8: It does something. MAN 8: I mean, it’s satisfying in a way that nothing else is. [MUSIC PLAYING]
LAIRD HAMILTON: Robby’s had injuries in his body, injuries in his heart. LAIRD HAMILTON: To be in the ocean and ride waves, LAIRD HAMILTON: he’s looking for healing. LAIRD HAMILTON: And lucky for him, he knows where to find it. LAIRD HAMILTON: He knows it’s in the ocean.
LAIRD HAMILTON: That’s what helped him when he was young. LAIRD HAMILTON: It’s gonna help him when he’s old. LAIRD HAMILTON: The longest wave can heal his soul. [MUSIC PLAYING] KAI LENNY: Life is a constant challenge, you know, KAI LENNY: you got to rise to the occasion
KAI LENNY: when the time comes no matter what. KAI LENNY: You can never give up. KAI LENNY: And Robby’s arc over the last five years KAI LENNY: has come with some of the greatest challenges KAI LENNY: he’s ever had to face
KAI LENNY: as a professional athlete or even just as a person. KAI LENNY: The way he’s been able to navigate it KAI LENNY: and still come out doing what he loves to do. KAI LENNY: It’s been an inspiration to me. [MUSIC PLAYING]
CHUCK PATTERSON: This last trip, Robby’s intent CHUCK PATTERSON: was to catch the longest wave. CHUCK PATTERSON: And within an hour of getting in the water, CHUCK PATTERSON: the first wave he caught went all the way through. CHUCK PATTERSON: I think catching that wave for him
CHUCK PATTERSON: was probably like a dream come true. CHUCK PATTERSON: After all these years CHUCK PATTERSON: of putting the whole film together CHUCK PATTERSON: and going on all these different trips CHUCK PATTERSON: where you’re battling so many different things,
CHUCK PATTERSON: you don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, CHUCK PATTERSON: and then to basically paddle into that wave CHUCK PATTERSON: and go down the line CHUCK PATTERSON: and ride it all the way to the sand, CHUCK PATTERSON: one of the longest lefts.
I think inside, you know, he was probably so stoked, you know, so amped, you know, and then he’d walk up the beach CHUCK PATTERSON: and go, “That was pretty good.” JOE BERLINGER: That’s Robby. -That’s Robby. -One down. -Yeah. One down. Hopefully a few to go.
We are packing up. We are going. See ya. Yeah. ROBBY NAISH: Being able to get there and actually get one really good, really long wave, it was like, “Alright, we did it.” We didn’t spend all this time chasing around and not even get really good long waves.
ROBBY NAISH: So, we could tick that box. It’s pretty cool. And for that trip it was like the beginning. ROBBY NAISH: The rest of the trip was just exploration and fun and foiling ROBBY NAISH: and doing more of what I really enjoy doing now,
ROBBY NAISH: which is not trying to accomplish specifically something, ROBBY NAISH: which is going organically ROBBY NAISH: and seeing where it takes you. [MUSIC PLAYING] CHUCK PATTERSON: The longest wave is not all about riding the wave, CHUCK PATTERSON: it’s the adventures, everything it took to get there.
CHUCK PATTERSON: And for him as an athlete, CHUCK PATTERSON: you know, growing up and maturing, it’s a long story. CHUCK PATTERSON: It’s a lot of different sections in that wave CHUCK PATTERSON: that you’ll never forget. ROBBY NAISH: As a surfer you’re always watching the seabirds
ROBBY NAISH: that come in ROBBY NAISH: and ride the updraft on the waves and just surf the wave in. It’s literally like that and it’s just no resistance, no noise. ROBBY NAISH: It’s like being a bird and flying on top of the wave.
Foiling is a great example of just how things evolve and how I have kind of adapted through the years with windsurfing ROBBY NAISH: and all the changes that it did. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: And kiting and stand up. ROBBY NAIS And now foiling has changed everything again.
ROBBY NAISH: We were in Chicama ROBBY NAISH: just learning how to foil and now it’s just full-on. ROBBY NAISH: That’s how fast things can change. ROBBY NAISH: Learning something new, ROBBY NAISH: perfecting something new, ROBBY NAISH: it’s a challenge and it’s fun.
ROBBY NAISH: It’s allowing me to enjoy the sport ROBBY NAISH: from a different perspective ROBBY NAISH: than I did when I was younger. LAIRD HAMILTON: You go around the whole world looking for something only to arrive back at your house to find that it was in your backyard.
LAIRD HAMILTON: Robby might not even realize LAIRD HAMILTON: he knows where to find it, LAIRD HAMILTON: but he knows in his heart. -Kai. -Rob. Raining hard out here. Two weeks ago I got to go foil with Robby at Kahului Harbor, and I’ll tell you the conditions were atrocious.
KAI LENNY: But it was really fun to connect with him again KAI LENNY: and, you know, he was doing a Brazilian TV show KAI LENNY: and he was like, “Hey, I’d like Kai to come.” I was surprised by the call and I was immediately happy to do it.
I’m like, “Yeah, absolutely, count me in. I’ll see you down there.” It’s kind of like a throwback to the “old days” which was like a year ago. This week got old and fat in the interview. Surfer Kai Lenny who is not yet old nor fat. It all happens though, yeah. -Eventually. -Damn it.
KAI LENNY: Being able to just hang out with Robby in an environment KAI LENNY: where it wasn’t about business, KAI LENNY: it wasn’t about, you know, KAI LENNY: anything more than just going on the water and having fun, it felt more of a friendship than maybe it ever has.
KAI LENNY: We spent a couple hours out there KAI LENNY: just foiling our brains out. KAI LENNY: And I really, really enjoyed that session. KAI LENNY: I think Robby can be sure in his heart KAI LENNY: that his legacy is extremely strong
KAI LENNY: and if anything, it’ll last longer than just about anyone that ever came before him and even after him. KAI LENNY: I hope Robby can feel pride KAI LENNY: in that I’m honoring everything that he’s done for me
KAI LENNY: and for the sports by trying to take what he’s done KAI LENNY: and go to the next level with it. ROBBY NAISH: As an athlete you want everybody to do good. ROBBY NAISH: You want the whole sport to do good. ROBBY NAISH: It helps elevate me when
ROBBY NAISH: the people around me are doing well. ROBBY NAISH: And it’s just good to see somebody succeeding ROBBY NAISH: knowing that you’re a part of getting them there. ROBBY NAISH: And I told him from a really early age,
ROBBY NAISH: if you focus and you play this well, it doesn’t have to be just a quick little thing. ROBBY NAISH: Look at me, I’m still doing it, ROBBY NAISH: still loving it and still getting paid to do it.
ROBBY NAISH: You know, this could be something you do for a long time. And he took that and he digested it and he made it his own and he’s doing it. ROBBY NAISH: And he’s gonna be incredibly successful. KAI LENNY: In a real roundabout way,
KAI LENNY: this whole journey that Robby’s gone on KAI LENNY: for the last couple of years KAI LENNY: trying to catch the longest wave of his life, KAI LENNY: it’s really come down to just the purity of having fun. KAI LENNY: It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks,
KAI LENNY: it doesn’t matter what he did, KAI LENNY: it doesn’t even matter what the future holds, KAI LENNY: it’s just what matters right now. KAI LENNY: It’s more about just the pure stoke KAI LENNY: of going down the line with your friends.
GERRY LOPEZ: To get to ride a wave for a real long, long time is something very rare. GERRY LOPEZ: When you got a long time on a wave, GERRY LOPEZ: you got time to think, time to look around, admire the view,
GERRY LOPEZ: time that you never have on a short little wave GERRY LOPEZ: that, you know, could be two or three, five seconds long. GERRY LOPEZ: Robby’s been riding his waves since he was a little kid GERRY LOPEZ: and he’s still riding it and he’s riding it now
GERRY LOPEZ: better than when he was riding it as a little kid. GERRY LOPEZ: So it’s been a goddamn long wave for him. Life’s what you make it, make it a good one. [MUSIC PLAYING] ROBBY NAISH: Do you have the first run?
JOE BERLINGER: Yeah, Robby. You wanna see your first wave? From the drone, JOE BERLINGER: the best part is Chuck’s like right in the background. Oh, that’s a nugget in there. JOE BERLINGER: Yeah. Sick. JOE BERLINGER: Trying some good turns too, on the inside.
ROBBY NAISH: That is so cool to have the drone. Yeah, it was like locked in, man. I actually started kind of disconnecting right here and this is the part where I started rising and shine like how far you came. JOE BERLINGER: It’s beautiful.
ROBBY NAISH: Yeah, this is a great shot. JOE BERLINGER: I love how you and Chuck just kept going the whole way. JOE BERLINGER: So sick. And there is cool nuggety section in here. ROBBY NAISH: Very cool. JOE BERLINGER: That is awesome.
ERIC STERMAN: Not bad for your first wave. Don’t. [LAUGHING] I’m going home. Shoo. Get away from me with that thing. It’s dark, there is not enough light. I’m going home, okay? I’m out of here. We’re done. Go read a book or watch TV. See you later.
