Duncan Trussell Family Hour - 690: Garrett McNamara

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

Garrett McNamara, one of the most legendary surfers of all time, joins the DTFH! Check out Garrett's show, 100 Foot Wave, only on HBO! Season 3 just debuted, so now is the perfect time to jump on board. Austin family! Come see Duncan at the one and only Comedy Mothership, June 6-8 in Austin, TX! Click here to get your tickets now. This episode is brought to you by: Get 10% off at Ridge by using code DUNCAN at checkout. Just head to Ridge.com and use code DUNCAN and you’re all set. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. PLEASE support our show and tell them our show sent you. Visit trueclassic.com/DUNCAN to save. Shop now and elevate your wardrobe today. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/duncan and get on your way to being your best self.

Hello, friends. It's me again, your old pal, D. Trussell. I love my job and I love my job because I get to have conversations like the one you're about to get to listen to. I don't even know how this happened necessarily. Why do I get to spend almost an hour chatting with one of the most legendary surfers of all time, Garrett McNamara. I'll tell you why he's plugging his show, 100 Foot Wave Season 3. And if you haven't watched this on HBO Max, just stop the podcast and go watch.

You will shit your pants. It's insane. It's the craziest sport out there, outside of pickleball. It's amazing. These people are, I don't know what you call them, superheroes, titans, merfolk. These waves are the kind of waves that for millennia people have looked at and never once thought, boy, I should get aboard and go shooting down the side of that. Like I'm the prince of the sea. These people do this as a job and what's beautiful about Hundred Foot Wave is that it's more than just some kind of like sports doc. Like it's a spiritual

exploration of connecting with the earth and what it's like to have one of the wildest jobs of all time. We had a lot of great points during this conversation and yeah, you know what? I think I'm gonna become a big wave surfer. In fact, after this episode, I'm headed off to Jaws, which I've heard is a place where there's big waves,

a big wave, and yeah. I'm not even gonna use a jet ski, I'm just gonna paddle out there and surf that, baby. I'm inspired! So please watch a hundred foot wave It's definitely worth your time. It's HBO. Everything they make is awesome. I Love you. Was this a clumsy intro? Oh also if you want commercial free episodes Don't forget to become a member and you could also subscribe to my patreon at patreon.com

DTFH now everybody legend of the sea Garrett McNamara Garrett oh my god welcome to the DTFH. I can't believe I get to meet you Even in 2d. It's mind-blowing. How are you? Where are you right now? We're in Hawaii. We're getting ready for our pilgrimage to Nazareth for the premiere in May 22nd. You know how HBO starts showing shows. I don't know which season of your show I was watching but I just got lucky. I was laid up in a hotel room, got sick. I don't know if you ever do that

when you got a bunch of kids around. Don't to infect them so I'm just in it the show pops up I was gonna watch it anyway but I don't mean to start our lifelong friendship in a vulgar way but I felt like I was gonna shit my pants watching what you do. It is the most terrifying thing that I'm aware of. The only thing that I can think of that even comes close to it is free climbing, what Alex Honnold does. Wow. I think that's way heavier.

Of course you do. You think that's way heavier. But course you do. You think that's way heavier but that's you. Everybody else it's the same. It's different obviously but as far as the most insane job on earth to have. There's free climbing and big wave surfing and then maybe I don't I'm sure there's some others I gotta know. It's a weird beginning of the interview. Do you ever find yourself floating out there thinking what have I done? Why am I about to

uh Why am I about to do this again? Wow. Why am I about to do this again? I didn't used to. I always just enjoyed it so much. So it was just fun. Um, since my injury in 2007, seven, yeah, 2007, no, no, no, 2016. Since my injury in 2016, uh, definitely took a toll on my ability to have fun in the giant waves and...

Yeah, and let me just, so I don't seem like the worst interviewer on earth. I did know that you weren't doing that anymore and I guess because of your show, when I said you, I meant the collective of maniacs around you that continue to... I'm still out there. Okay. I'm still riding waves. Last year, or this winter, was the most I've surfed since 2016. Awesome.

There wasn't a lot of giant days, but there was a lot of fun days. And then in season three, we go to Cortez Banks, right, get a few waves. We go to outside pipeline called Log Cabins, get a few waves. Yeah, but definitely not as comfortable as I used to be. Right, well I mean the fact that at some point you were comfortable speaks to the personality type of you and your brethren who engage in this activity, which is beautiful. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I think I failed to mention that, that something about the joining together of humanity and

the ocean and life produces this beautiful possibility. It gives you a sense of this visual depiction of harmonizing with the earth and a sense of my god if we could do that we could do anything, everything. But the other thought that occurred to me is that people who ride these giant waves are outsiders in the most extreme way because I was thinking if I did that other than my friends who experienced that who do I relate to and I was wondering how do you relate to normies like me how do you relate? landlocked pussies who Haven't done that or do you not even try? we all have our comfort zones, and we all have our strengths and our qualities and

and a lot of it crossover is a lot of crossover in normal life and big wave surfing and I think everybody has their own 100 foot wave. Everybody has their own challenges or their own thing that they love doing more than anything. And it's a balance and it's a dance with your mother nature and with your life and we can do it gracefully

and in a good way and harmony with mother nature and harmony with our friends and humanity and that's beautiful. It's extraordinary. My, you know, I'm a standup comic but I don't need a jet ski to pull me on stage. But, and you do. And so this is another part of your series

that I found fascinating. The whole thing's just riveting. But I realized that there is this entire group of people who don't get the credit it seems like they should get and I thought it was really cool that y'all give them the credit which is the jet ski operators. You know before I was watching your series, of course I would watch people riding these massive waves just for the thrill of watching it. But never once did I think about the jet ski operators.

And what an incredibly dangerous job that is. And I was wondering, is that more dangerous? Is it more dangerous to operate the jet ski than to surf those waves? Well, things go wrong when you're on a jet ski, it's much more dangerous because that big machine and you don't know when it's gonna happen. It happens without any warning.

Something can go wrong with the ski or you just get, you don't time it right and the wave catches you and all of a sudden it's a yard sale and the jet ski's flying one way you're flying another way and hopefully you're not hitting the jet ski. The pilot is your lifeline and he is your best friend hopefully and you work as a team a a well-oiled machine, like you can just communicate with your eyes and small hand signals if everything's running really well and you know what each other's desires are and know how each other wants to enter the waves. But then it can be challenging as well.

It's like a marriage kind of, you see, there's a lot of challenges with a partner but yeah the answer is it's very dangerous if things go wrong a much more dangerous actually because you have that big machine and then you have the rope connected to the machine they can wrap around you oh terrifying I you you're looking at me and you're probably thinking like you you look like a professional surfer you have the eye of the ocean and you seem like, you probably want to invite me to be a big wave surfer. I'm just to save you the embarrassment. I can't right now. I'm too busy podcasting, but-

Well, we'll take you out, come to Nazarene. We'll get you on the jet ski. You can come, you can, we can tow Kadi in and you can be on the back with me. I tell you what, if you can convince my wife to let me do that, I'll be there. But good luck. Well, it sounds like you're a hundred foot away probably back in the day, it was going on stage

and trying to see if you could actually make people laugh. A hundred percent. Well, they, of course, like, as you're trying to connect to something that is so far away from your life you do try to I did try to make that connection I was thinking like when I go to see my much more successful comedian friends in arenas that's my hundred foot wave I look at that it's like but there was a time when 20 people was a hundred foot wave and then it began to feel normal and then bigger crowds etc. But yeah I guess we all have our

100 foot wave and that's sweet and thank you for that. But you have actual waves and that's different. That's different and I wanted to know and forgive me if this is woo wooy or weird, Forgive me if this is woo wooy or weird. But I was wondering, okay, so with stand up, there's things that you see if you've ever seen a stand up comic and then there's things you wouldn't know unless you were a comic. Like there's a feeling up there that is very difficult to explain other than a sense of connection that goes beyond what seems like what's happening. For example, you know you're bombing even before you start bombing. You can feel the attention of the audience just like a

bubble popping or something and it's the worst feeling ever. But I was wondering, is there an, is there something that you experience out there that maybe doesn't show up on camera. Is there something magical or maybe paranormal even that doesn't make sense or might not make sense based on the way we understand athleticism or surfing even? The bombing aspect there was a contest that I was in and at Jaws and it was like 60, 70 feet, the biggest waves competed in, and it had the largest purse up to date. And I first wave, I entered, and I was so scared that I kicked out.

And I saw thousands of people on the cliff, and all I was thinking is I just knew that all of these people, it was that bombing that you explained. It was that feeling. The other feeling when you're out, just, you know, just getting on my board and paddling out and seeing perfect waves at sunset. I just get this special connection, this feeling, this

euphoric feeling. I have so much gratitude. I just feel so blessed and so lucky and I'm just saying thank you God or thank you whatever's up there. I just give so much gratitude and the feeling on the wave, it can be, you know, it depends on the wave. Some waves can be frustrating and some waves can be really challenging and other waves can be the best experience of your life. I mean the barrel I had at Jaws in 2003 was the best experience I've ever had in surfing still to date. And it was just like, I'd been focusing on getting barreled for like 10 years on a 20-foot wave. And it never hadn't happened.

And then Uncle Dan Kilo has turned me into this wave and he lets me go into perfect spot. It's my first giant perfect wave that I think I could probably pull into and I get to the bottom and instead of running, because when you're towing you can run to the shoulder and ride it pretty safely or you can for lack of a better word, taunt it and go deeper. And so I faded back and then I turned and right as the lip was coming over, it hit me, but just kind of brushed me, like kind of kissed me. But then I'm going into the barrel and now I'm blind and I'm riding through the barrel thinking I'm going to make it.

Even though I couldn't see, I'm just going to make it. I'm making it even though I couldn't see I'm just gonna make it I'm making it and then all sense are sucking me up and I'm going up the face and it starts sucking back I can feel this back draft sucking back and then all of a sudden from right when I feel like I'm about to fall I feel this hurricane force wind like it's called the spit like a fire hose just come from behind and right as I'm falling It picks me up and luckily I had the straps from straps to the board My feet are stuck on the board and I'm in the air and I come flying out of the barrel land And then I open my eyes and I look up and I'm oh my god. Oh my god. Thank you. God. It was the most

spiritual Endorphin, dopamine, you name it. It was just, it brought me to tears. The most beautiful moment I've ever had in serving. Most feelings. Wow. Yeah. This episode of the DTFH is brought to you by Ridge. My friends, I wish you could have seen the wallet I used to have. It looks like something you find on a cadaver that you pulled out of the bottom of a lake. Just this rotten, scuffed up thing.

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After your purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. No other show. The DTFH. Thank you, Ridge. [♪ music playing, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, no lyrics, wild. And the descriptions that you have for this experience are referring to these waves as though they're alive. You're taunting it, it's kissing you, it's like do you get that sense? I just when my hairy ass goes floating out in the sea it's not that hard to feel like I'm being held in something that's more

than just water, that there's a kind of sentience there, kind of some awareness of itself. Not like we are aware of it, but something big and more alive, not just some physical reaction or something, like a real sense of connection. They're all like different animals, like monsters. I definitely, the word I chose taunting, I would never taunt a wave. I just use that word for lack of a better one. But my goal on every wave is to compliment the wave and dance with Mother Nature and

not ever conquer. Right. Well, you're going to lose. I mean, if you try to get in a fight with a woman. The woman later, she'll slap me down. Yeah. And so as I was watching footage of your incredible life and your incredible work, of course, all of the insane waves that you've written, of course there's the famous wipe

out, which is the most terrifying thing I've ever seen in my life. You dislocated your shoulder, you went under the wave, and I I wish now that you've given this incredible description of riding one of these beings what is it like when one of them decides to eat you? You know that's when the underwater ride starts and for me it was always more fun because you have no control you don't know what's gonna happen you're doing your best to relax you're doing your best to keep your limbs your arms in and your legs tucked up and hold on to your life jacket and you're doing

your best to enjoy it if you're under getting pounded and getting beat and actually enjoying it and relaxing it's really fun and it's a rush every time because you don't know what the outcome is going to be. When you're making waves it's like okay I made another wave. If you get a barrel like the barrel I got that's a whole other story that's super special and rare but when you're just making waves it just seemed okay I made another wave but when you're underwater getting pounded you have no control and you're at the mercy of the ocean. Like if you feel like a grain of sand that's in a washing machine on spin cycle,

and then you got King Kong grabs the washing machine and starts shaking it up and down, and then you got Tyson punching you. Fun, so fun. You know, not to brag, I can body surf. And I went to Kauai and just like an asshole, tourists went plotting out there into the Hawaiian waves with the hubris that only like a true fool can have. You know, I body surfed off the coast of Georgia. I can body surf these waves in Kauai.

And I had that experience. I got it. Was it Luma High? I don't even know where that's what I'm sorry. I was a river mouth. It was I don't know. It was a great wave. It was, I shouldn't have been in the water. I remember me and my friends being like, we probably shouldn't be out here. And I

remember the, you know, immediately getting like, spanked by the ocean, like, what are you doing? And that that was not fun. The way you're describing it is fun. I just remember being rolled and thinking, I'm not sure I'm gonna come up. Do you necessarily come up every time? Because it doesn't feel like it's gonna let me go. And it was, and I'm getting beaten too,

smashed onto the sand everywhere. Every orifice, sand in every orifice. Sand in every orifice. That's the name of my autobiography, by the way. Ha ha ha ha ha. So, what's it like when you're home? You've just, you haven't just filmed like, What's it like when you're home? You've just, you haven't just filmed,

you haven't just been on the greatest wave of your life, but it's in 4K. Hundreds of people have filmed this. People have watched you have an experience that you're describing as incredibly rare for a surfer, and obviously incredibly rare even for surfers because there's other people involved in this. You've got to get towed out. So you go home. Is it a come down? Do you crash? What's it like at the end of

the day after having one of the most extraordinary experiences maybe available to a human being on the planet? It is definitely a roller coaster. You can be having the best day of your life in the ocean and getting the best ride you've ever had and then in one second somebody cuts you off or does something that makes you mad all of a sudden. All of a sudden you're just down in the depths and want to kill somebody and the highs and lows that we experience are overwhelming and it's definitely something that we process and we go through and we work on work on being in the 10 second barrel all day every day, work on having fun no matter what we're

doing, but it is super challenging when you have that experience and then you go back home and you're in normal life and you're looking for that next swell or that next rush or that next wave. And Kent Ewing, he's a healer in I think Dana Point somewhere around San Clemente, he said the goal in life is to be in the 10 second barrel all day, every day. Everything we do show up happy, show up high vibration, show up having fun and really embody that feeling of that incredible moment that you had in the ocean and bring it wherever you go. I'm not saying I'm good at it, but I'm definitely working on it. I'm getting really good at it.

And it's all about just having that high vibration, that positive energy. Whenever you show up, what are you going to bring to the situation? What are you going to bring to the room? What are you going to bring to your children? What are you going to bring to the situation. What are you gonna bring to the room? What are you gonna bring to your children? What are you gonna bring to the office? Are you gonna bring this amazing, happy, vibrating, just high frequency, high energy that's just contagious that everybody wants a piece of?

Or are you gonna bring that, that everybody wants to run away from? Right. Okay, so this was something I forgive me for not knowing exactly which season I was watching. I'm assuming it's the previous season. But one thing I was super impressed with man, is in almost every shot, you got a baby on your arm. And I'm a dad, I got three kids, and I just thought that was the coolest thing ever.

And I also thought it must be, and some other surfers on the show seem to be contending with this reality, which is when you don't have kids getting towed out on a big wave that could potentially end your life, it's still probably scary, but the stakes are different. When you got kids, it adds a whole new dynamic to this job. And it seems like a lot of people on your team have to deal with the psychology of parenting and being a big wave Surfer, what are your thoughts on that? Is there a point?

Where you have to give up things like that for the bigger picture for your children you know everybody has different ways of feeling and processing things and dealing with things. I think for my child, there was a lot of very unconventional, crazy situations that I was in. With lack of a better word, people would call it a lot of trauma. I think I stuffed a lot of that stuff down and I stuff a lot of my feelings down and

I just kind of operate on moving forward kind of like a robot and without feeling that much. And that might be why I was drawn to big waves, so much so I could feel. And with the children, before I had kids, I didn't have a problem dying riding big waves, because it was why I loved doing more than anything. And if I died doing what I loved, I was happy.

Once I had children, I told myself I would never die surfing. I will always prepare and always be ready. And if I'm not prepared and not ready, I won't go out. And so I've been, that's been challenging for me since the injury, because I haven't really gotten back to 100% and I don't feel really like I've prepared enough for riding giant waves and so I'm really really selective really patient really don't have to ride every wave anymore don't even have to surf another big wave honestly I feel like I'd never have to surf another wave in my life I've surfed

so many wave has so much fun and I just want to be there for my wife and I just want to be there for my children. And then I'll go back in the water and I go how could I ever think that? But on the land I'm super content, super happy, and I'm riding a hundred foot wave. I can go plant some papayas or go plant some tomatoes. I'm so happy. I can go build a table. I can do all these, play with the kids, cook breakfast, lunch and dinner. So content, so happy. So on riding the 10 second barrel all day in all my actions. all day in all my actions. If I'm living perfect Garrett showing up that's what's going on. And yeah definitely challenging. I think I've I kind of come to the conclusion that I was drawn to Big Waves for the feelings to feel more.

Yeah yeah this is something God Cr our it's got this incredible book about people who climb Everest and it's similar similar description, which is that you really like There's no way to feel that You can't feel that you maybe you would want to trick yourself into thinking you can feel that But you really can't feel that except in doing these extreme sports that something opens up a view of reality opens up that isn't accessible when you are building tables doing podcasts planning papayas what is that view of reality that you're experiencing out there as opposed to the householder life? What is that view? What is this glimpse of something that you're catching?

Now you got me stumped there. You know, I think that the world right now, we're living in such a challenging time because everything is disconnecting us from our feelings. Yeah. And it starts at school, and then we got these computers and these phones and these distractions that, and then we got all this capitalism and all this greed and all this just we're living in this really distorted reality right now and the only thing that's really important is family and friends and good food and and all of these things that help us go faster and do more and

they're taking from our lives. It's just really Really challenging time. I think I probably went off topic but no it's on topic. It's perfect. Okay. Yeah, it's it's It's a it's a crazy time we're living in and I really want to Disconnect we're gonna move back up to Italy this this winter in September and we're in the middle of nowhere on this mountain with a few homes and a small school an outdoor school with organic everything Uh free-range organic every live in a 500 year old biodiverse organic village. There's no wi-fi. There's no emf it's uh, I i'm There's no Wi-Fi, there's no EMF. I'm so excited to go back.

It's like people are like, why did you go to Italy? You're away from the ocean. I love it up there. It's like kind of my, I think it's my happy place. Well, you know, it's so- The good thing about it is close to Nazaré, close to Ireland, close to France, close to Spain, and close to Morocco, the five places that I'm keeping my eyes on for good waves. And an American Pope!

Don't forget that! Now you got an American Pope! Yeah baby! Woohoo! This episode is brought to you by my dear friends at True Classic. Listen to this, friends. It's time for you to upgrade your life. There's lots of ways you could do that. Sure, you could get pectoral implants.

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It's crazy you mentioned that disconnecting. It's funny we call it disconnecting by the way. That's how nuts everything is, is turning your phone off is disconnecting. It's like, yeah, what are you disconnecting from? Satan. The Matrix. The Matrix, man. It's real.

It's so real. It's so real. It's so weird. If you watch The Matrix with a... And kind of... It's here. It's now. Yeah. For sure. With all those things that are plugged into all the people, that's the phones. Yeah, and it's almost annoying that those movies exist because just by saying it's like The Matrix, you under-emphasize the reality that it sadly is like that. We were becoming the Borg.

We have, you know, and it's ironic that I'm saying this in relation to your show, which is like me sitting in my hotel on my bed, eating chips, watching people harmonize with nature but this is sort of the the the sad effect of being able to observe so many different people doing cool things in 2d on your phone is it almost tricks your brain into thinking you're doing that you're there that's you too when you couldn't be further away but that we strangely after watching your show I started thinking I gotta turn my phone off and it's funny that

you mentioned that it's almost like that part of you comes through accidentally it it felt like it was inviting me to reconnect with whatever that is and turn down the volume on this Matrix shit. I am so proud, grateful and honored that you're sharing that right now. Our dream is that this reaches people and inspires people and we get inspired by people like you. We're always inspired by amazing people in amazing situations and we're hope the only reason that we did this show was to hopefully inspire people. We didn't know how it was going to inspire people, we didn't know our life was going to be very interesting. We don't even know how we got a season three. We're like, wait, we got one season. One was this incredible because it's 10 years of archive season two. We're like, oh my God, they actually

did it. It's just as good as one somehow. And then season three, we're like, what the hell? Our life is not that interesting. What are they going to come up with? And it's actually feels like season three is better than two. That's like, and then if people like you are sharing that, then we are on the moon and so happy that everything is working. Wow, cool. Yeah, because that was, you know, one, I think we're all turned off now by correct,

if anything on TV. And there wasn't a moment where anybody's like, you should turn off your phone and rejoin the ocean. It wasn't that at all. It's watching. It's it's watching this like completely alternate way that people are existing and everyone in your show. I love the way that your show deals with conflict too. It's not the like, I don't know, garish, you know, reality TV stuff. It's this really heartfelt way these people are working through the episode I saw, famous surfer having, did not trust her jet ski operator. Maybe you can tune me into where I was.

Justine. Justine. Justine. And also Justine gets cut off right at Jaws, right? They go out to Jaws. I think they flew there. A big swell at Jaws. And just gets cut off. And it's kind of a concussion. She I think she got a concussion. Got a concussion. And she had a helmet on. And I'm pissed. Like you're watching it, you're like, hell yes. And then some asshole just fucks her life up. Takes her out. And so, so infuriating.

And I know nothing about surfing. I don't know if that person's an asshole. That person maybe didn't do anything surfing. I don't know if that person's an asshole that part the person maybe didn't do anything wrong I don't know but Justine's reaction to that was not what my reaction would have been which is just some kind of hot impotent rage she seemed so sort of Honestly sad about it, but more wondering like why am I having bad luck right now? Not didn't

even mention that guy was that an egregious move that that person did or was that just an accident she yeah that was and it was definitely an accident he didn't mean to but Justine after you sharing that I came to realize that she's listening to the signs and she's trying to make sense of what is happening and why rather than blaming. She's taking responsibility for where she is and what she's doing and what has just happened even though maybe it wasn't her fault. She's looking for the signs of why why are these things happening so

she can work through it and do things better or in a better way or I didn't realize that she was that in tune with everything until now that you're sharing this and thank you for bringing that to light I really I'm gonna talk with her more about that because it's really interesting to me is that a is that is that something that's common in the surfer world is like listening to the signs not looking at things as disconnected events but seeing if there's like a message is being articulated via circumstance? Everybody's so different and if you're really in

touch with your feelings and you're in touch with reality and taking responsibility for wherever you are and whatever you're doing and whatever is happening rather than trying to blame. And there are a lot Lucas seems to listen to the signs when he goes through that with Marcio. And then, yeah, it seems like, you know, it's tough because you're trying to put food on the table, you're trying to, you're doing what you love. Then you have, you know,

all the things that you got to deal with on the land. It seems like we're more comfortable in the ocean. We have, we don't have all these things going on that we have on the land. So when we're in the ocean, we're just free and carefree and just loving life. And, and, you know, that's our true self showing up in the ocean. There is a, have you ever heard of the Lojong mind training?

No, but I, I, it sounds amazing. It sounds so cool and it is cool for once. It sounds cool. It is cool. The Lojong mind training, it's this set of Buddhist slogans designed to get you into the moment. And my favorite of them all, and one that I constantly remind myself of is drive all blames into one self. So do you always the blame even even like no matter what, there's just no way out of that one

Drive all blames into one something what it does is that it centers you you know the moment you're trying to find out This is this person's fault or that person's fault No always wherever you are you Got yourself there. It sounds dismal. I guess to people out there who want to blame people, but when you're done with that part of your life, it's quite useful to remind yourself of that. And yet sometimes things seem very out of your control. Sometimes, I mean, is it the dinosaurs

fault they got smashed by a meteor? I don't think dinosaurs are Buddhist, but the point is, it's a nice antidote to what seems to be fairly common out there right now is blaming other people. When it gets you, the Takun, what do you say? Thank you very much or whatever. Yeah. No, what is this? Thank you very much.

You sure? Yeah. You know, there's that in Kabbalah, we've been reading up on that a little bit, in the Takun. So whenever anything happens, you just say, thank you very much and keep going. You sound like my dominatrix. Instead of blaming. Yes. Similar, similar to what you're showing.

Absolutely. And, you know, I imagine that, you know, surfing, you don't argue, you can't argue with a wave. Like, well, what are you gonna say? You're doing this wrong. This wave is completely incorrect. Look at this wave. The wave is a failure of a wave. This brings me to a weird question

from a complete non-surfing. But I realize I use surfing as an analogy way too much for someone who doesn't know how to surf. Theoretically, are all waves surfable? Yes, you can surf them. Yeah, theoretically they're all surfable. Some are gonna be a lot more challenging than others and once it gets to a certain size, it's pretty much impossible to paddle into them. There's a small, small, small chance you could still paddle into waves

of any size if you're just in the exact right spot at the right time, but they're moving so much faster when they get so big that the bigger boards won't go fast enough to make the wave. You might be able to catch it, you probably wouldn't be able to make it. Yeah, there's, and then you have different types of waves formed from different things, like the glacier waves were formed from water displacement, then you have river waves that are formed from a little bump in the bottom of the river that causes an eddy. And then you got Waimea River Mouth wave,

which is caused from water coming out so fast and a little water coming in. There's all different types of waves and they're all surfable. You know what? There's probably some that are not surfable because of the amount of water that's coming out, the force and the speed that you couldn't quite ride it,

but maybe with the right equipment. ["Surfing with the Right Equipment"] This episode of the DTFH is brought to you by BetterHelp. If you're like me, you're a gym rat, you're at the gym all the time. And you look around and, you know, it's completely acceptable to go to the gym. Work on those abs, get your glutes popping. Nobody will judge you for it. Everyone will think, wow, congratulations, you're disciplined. But somehow, when it comes to taking care

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We're all better with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash Duncan to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.com slash Duncan to get 10% off your first month. That's better help comm slash Duncan Thank you better help So escape from New York is bullshit when he surfs out on the, I'm sorry, I don't know if you saw that, but I do. What was it?

What was it? I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everyone listening. I'm sorry. Escape from New York. Did you remember Escape from New York? I think he escapes from New York by surfing a tsunami wave out of New York. It's so dumb and I'm sorry.

Well, tsunami waves are surfable. That's what I was afraid to ask you. I've surfed one. You've surfed a tsunami wave. See, I don't know. Well, it's watching. Tsunamis for Japan and in the United States is called a tidal wave. You've surfed. Did you know it was a tsunami wave? We were in Mexico and the tidal wave alert went off

and everybody's freaking out and I grabbed my board and I pal, you were there, right? Yes, I was there. We were eating lunch on the beach, like our table was actually on the beach. And all of a sudden the whole ocean sucks out. Like just straight from one of those movies where it just goes all the way out.

And then you see like the dumb people who are like walking, oh, this is cool. And the people are like walking out and the whole thing is sucking. And Garrett runs and grabs his stand up paddle board. Paddled out as far as I could And he's like running down the beach with his board Were people warning you? Were people like no tsunami no don't surf no

The tsunami was like this You didn't know that in the time. You didn't know what it would be. That's the crate. That's the crate. And also that big is, it's a tsunami. It's you go up high. Everyone's running the other direction. Wow. So yeah. It was in Sayulita, right? Yeah. In Sayulita. But I think in front of the Four Seasons. Yeah. Yeah. Were there any other surfers out there? Did you see anybody else? No, just a bunch of fish flopping on the reef.

Yeah. They're warning you. No! Don't do this! I was hoping a bigger wave would come, but uh. Well, that is. And I actually tried to surf one. We set everything up on the big island of Hawaii had all the jet skis.

We're going to put the jet skis out out of the buoys and we were going to go out to the skis and then ride the tidal wave that was coming. And I for some reason didn't we I think we even go to the airport already getting ready to go. And for some reason, we pulled the plug and it ended up just being a small little ripple again, so it was good that I didn't go Okay, so this is the other thing that I found fascinating that I learned from watching your show and I was vaguely aware of this but

What y'all do is Futuristic in the sense that impossible like relatively what when did it start it's you can't do what you're doing without having the ability to travel all over the world having the ability to predict where the big waves are having jet skis and having next level surfboards designed for this insane activity. So weirdly what you're doing is sort of Blade Runner. It is sort of futuristic when you're thinking of all the technology involved to get you

out there on those big waves. You know what's crazy Mercedes actually came to us in 2012 and said we want to work with you and I don't know if you know Garrett but they actually drove all the way to Nazareth, brought their computer, had their presentation and said I don't know if you know Mercedes logo is air, land and sea and we don't do much in the sea anymore So we want to go to the sea with you and we don't want to just sit on the cliff in the car We want to build you the ultimate surfboard so you can survive and come home to your family and it we're still riding a

Version of that most people that are surfing Nazare are riding a version of that board a Mercedes surfboard Yeah, and they had this fun craziest campaign on the wall with this Futuristic board with engines with jet packs with just all this crazy amazing. It was incredible Well, I did I seven-foot tall German guys running around we're gonna build a surfboard. We're gonna build a surfboard What an insane life you have friend Insane these all of these stories are like a fever dream It's something if I would wake up from it like what did I eat? That but the the I'm curious about it was a blade one blade runner situation and and you're right the

Traveling to Tahiti you have to have everything set up. And so back in the day, I would have my team, my family basically in each country. I had one in Chile, Australia, Tahiti, Fiji, you name it, wherever Japan, wherever we were gonna go, wherever we saw low pressure systems going, we would get everything set up and as soon as we saw the low pressure going towards that going, we would get everything set up and as soon as we saw the low pressure going towards that location, you get on the plane at the last minute because the storms change. So you want to wait all the last minute, fly in front of the storm, have everything set up, make sure our boards are on the plane, make sure we have extra boards just in case. And it was, yeah, it was very fun, but very challenging.

You have to have, it's very expensive. Yeah, it's very expensive and you can't lean into anything. Like you don't know what you're doing next week. That, that, the life is not, that's another way that you're completely an outsider compared to other people. How do you, How do you plant those papayas? How do you plan your next week if you don't know if you're going to be at your house or if you're going to be riding a monster in some distant shore? That seems like a mindfuck. And you don't know when it's going to come.

And sometimes it takes 10 years for the swell of swells to appear and sometimes that would be on Christmas or a birthday or a holiday. Those all took second to the storms for me for most of my life, most of my surfing career. If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel, your tread's worn down or you need a new wheel, wherever you go, you can get it from our Tread Experts. Until May 30th, purchase four new Michelin Passenger or Light Truck tires and receive up to $70 by prepaid MasterCard. Conditions apply. Details at michelin.ca. Find a Michelin Tread Experts dealer near you at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there at

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Krishna, the blue skinned Krishna, goes into the forest and plays his flute. The gopies, they're the mothers, they're the householders. They hear the flute. They leave their lanterns burning to go out into the forest to dance with God. There's no thought of anything else other than this. And that, to me, seems like an anomalous way of existing in the world. And you are so lucky to have this wife is this soulmate situation happening here because I don't know if a lot of people you must that must be something you're saying thank God to a lot when you're out there on the water because you know maintaining a stable marriage in such a precarious and strange environment seems challenging. Well, before kids, we went everywhere together and I was in heaven because I,

everything was set. All the, made sure I had all the right food. Everything was taken care of for tickets. The everything was, she set up every day. Yeah, but you don't come with me everywhere. She set up every do that. Yeah, but you don't come with me everywhere My wife does that for everything too. I'm so lucky. Oh I'm so lucky in the beginning we got you know, we're Of our relationship she started taking over everything and doing everything and I was like wow, this is so nice And then I thought to myself myself. Oh my god if this goes sideways what I'm gonna be lost Same we're doomed

You're not doomed I hope you get a million seasons of this show I can't wait I've got to go back to season one and start from the beginning, but I It is not a mystery to me why you got season three It's one of those beautiful riveting series I've ever seen and thank you so much for making it. Like we're so lucky to even get to witness you maniacs surf saints out there doing this. It's a beautiful thing to watch

and is there anything we should be looking forward to in season three? Because HBO does that. They edge you out, man. They don't let you binge watch it. It's like once a week. It's so frustrating. Yeah, we know. We know how that is. Well, first of all, yeah, none of it would be possible without my wife. She's the one who kind of wrote the script for the beginning of the show. But then Joe Lewis and then he brought in Chris Smith, who brought in Toppik, who brought in HBO. And we have the dream team, the powerhouse women at HBO are second to none.

The whole team, we have a 10. Everybody's high vibration, top of their game. For season three, you know, we go exploring. We go to a few other spots. We go to Cortez Banks in next episode. We go to Morocco. Cool. And yeah, we surf a bit in Hawaii during the eddy. I can't wait.

God be with you. The next time I'm body surfing in the gentle warm tides of coastal Georgia, I'll pretend I'm on a big wave. And thank you so much and thanks for giving me your time. It's a real honor to meet you. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Cheers. Bye. Thank you so much. Cheers. Bye. Thank you. That was Garrett McNamara, everybody. Hundred Foot Wave, season three, HBO Max. I love you and I'll see you next week. Until then, Hare Krishna.