Far outside the crowd on a head-high day at Malibu, Laird Hamilton paddled into an unbroken swell, his board rising well above the ocean’s surface, suspended on a razor-thin foil—a wing of sorts—locked into the mysterious forces at work beneath the face of the wave.
Floating above the chop, free of drag and seemingly unencumbered by the laws of physics, Hamilton sped gracefully down the line, outrunning the wave itself—forty, sixty, eighty yards ahead of the curl, where he performed a tremendous sweeping cutback on a portion of the wave that, in the words of former Surfer magazine editor Sam George, who witnessed the ride from the water, “no man has ever ridden before.”
After a ride of nearly half a mile, Hamilton kicked out a few yards from George, who gushed, “In 50 years of surfing, I think that’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.”
“In 50 years of surfing,” said Hamilton, “That was the most incredible thing
2,700 words to go
You’re just getting to the good part.
This story — and 42 issues of them — opens with a subscription.
Either one picks up right where you left off.
Join 7,000+ readers · Independently owned · Since 2008
Already a subscriber? Sign in
