In Search Of Excellence - Garrett McNamara: Prepare For The Worst But Expect The Best | E68

Episode Date: July 4, 2023

Welcome to Part 2 of Garrett McNamara, a legendary surfer who owns a world record for the largest wave ever surfed – 100 feet tall – which is the equivalent of the 10-story office building or the height of Niagara Falls.He is the first person ever to ride a wave created by breaking glaciers.Garrett is the author of the book “Hound of the Sea: Wild Man. Wild Waves. Wild Wisdom.” and the star of the fantastic HBO documentary TV series called “100 Foot Wave”.He is also a dedicated philanthropist. Garrett and his wife, Nicole, started an amazing Waves of Life McNamara Foundation, which helps kids to discover nature and be more environmentally conscious and self-sufficient, with a particular focus on disadvantaged kids.In this episode, we are talking about the big waves in Portugal, his team and preparation process, how to face the fear of death, his McNamara Foundation and so much more!10:10 Surfing big waves at 50/60 miles per hourExtremely dangerousIf there's no wind and it's glassy and smooth12:38 Coming to Nazare in PortugalIn 2005, got an email from Dino in Nazare, PortugalEmailed Larry Hamilton first, then Carlos BurleGarrett replied right away 15:40 How does a big wave form?The many variables that go into a waveIn Portugal, waves are formed by a shelf 30-60 feet deepComing of the swellRogue wave at the shoreWaiting on the wave and the thought processHow to know if it’s a big wave 23:54 Garrett’s team and what they doNicole, his wifeSafety drivers, trainersFirst responder, ambulance, fireman, lifeguardsVideographersPartners and sponsorsLawyers and advisersIt’s all about surrounding yourself with people with the same goals 27:05 Training and diet for big wave surfingTraining can be focused or openPeople aren’t drinking or doing drugsTraining 3-7 days a weekGarrett's current training regimenGarrett has tried all the dietsLoves a good organic, grass-fed, free-range steak, chicken and fish 37:12 Facing death and the fear of dyingNever lost a tow surfer until last year in NazareProbably drowned, but the results of the autopsy didn’t come outBig wave surfing deaths were many throughout the yearsEvery big wave is differentWhen you get pounded, the main thing is to relax and enjoy itYou have zero control you have you're at the mercy of the oceanIf you prepare properly and you have a good team, you know you're not going to dieHow many times did Garrett almost die?Fear of going out surfingHow to conquer your fears    52:31 Extreme Preparation in the world of big wave surfingExtreme Preparation is a good safety planFigure out the possible challenges and prepare solutionsPrepare for the worst but expect the bestThe power of visualizationEvery person can become what they want with a good plan 57:33 McNamara FoundationSharing meaningful nature experiences with underprivileged youthGetting them to fall in love with nature, throSponsors:Sandee | Bliss: BeachesWant to Connect? Reach out to us online!Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

The wave is big, you can't get up until the wave is finished. What's the thought process? How long do you have to hold your breath for? How do you not panic? And how much fear do you have when that's actually happening? Every big wave is so different, and every big wave pounding at every spot is so different. You can have an 80-foot wave at Nazare and you fall right in the wrong spot,

like the worst spot possible, and somehow the lip lands on you and kind of pushes you out the back. Normally, on a big wave, and the lip lands on you or you you fall it's super violent at first thanks for listening to part two of my amazing conversation with legendary surfer garrett mcnamara who owns the world record for the largest wave ever surfed at 100 feet tall if you haven't yet listened to part one of my amazing conversation with Garrett, be sure to check that one out first. The waves get bigger and bigger. And at some point, no one had ever heard of the sport. And then as the waves got bigger and bigger,

I remember seeing on TV, the nightly news, someone surfed 40 feet and then 50 feet. And it was kind of like a little speck on a big wave you could hardly see on the news. And then it became a little more popular. And then 60 Minutes ran something where you're featured. Anderson Cooper described big wave surfing. It's like you're cruising down the side of a skyscraper, but the skyscraper is collapsing on you. And then he said he's never met anybody like you. Can you tell us what big wave surfing is?

What big wave surfing is? Yeah, what is big wave surfing for the people listening and watching who don't know? Well, Anderson describes it pretty well. Trying to copy me is hilarious. Yeah, Anderson is a good friend. friend i really really like him a lot and we've stayed in touch we've done three different shows together yeah i love that guy um the crazy thing is uh he wasn't even afraid when we're on the jet ski and i'm and we're going through these places that i and he made me go through a place that i would not go through he called me he's like we're going

out we're going to go around the rock and he's like he's like go through there i'm like no no we don't go through there when it's a bit like that he's like what what are you chicken i'm like calling me chicken so we went through the poor cameraman i felt i felt bad for your cameraman in some of that episode. Yeah, we talked about fear, and he said, I said, I'm not really afraid of big waves anymore. And he's like, yeah, what about you? You're always in these crazy life and death spots. And he's like, you get sensitized.

You totally get sensitized. And yeah, he's not really afraid in the situations he gets himself in he liked to and then nicole interviews him say okay we'll do the interview as long as you let us interview you for our show and we we knew something was going to happen someday and uh great she's she's all so what what do you think your life purpose is, Anderson? He's like, wow, my life purpose. Wow, my life purpose? Wow, my life purpose.

He took a triple take, and then he's like, oh, to shed light on situations that need attention and to bring awareness to what's going on. And we're like, oh, right, nailed it. But what is big wave surfing? Well, everybody's big wave is different. Like some people, a three-foot shore break is a big wave, and it can be intimidating and powerful. Other people, it's a six-foot wave. Other people, it's a six-foot wave. Other people, it's a 10-foot wave.

Other people, there's no limit or they haven't found one. There's two different types of big wave surfing. There's traditional big wave surfing where we paddle out with a surfboard and get ourselves in the right spot and then turn around and paddle as hard as we can to try and catch this massive force of moving water and try and get down it and then turn at the bottom and try and make the way. And that's where it all started. And it started back in the day with no leashes and really, really terrible uh function

not very functional boards and then nowadays we have really good boards but the only the boards didn't change too much but they're definitely functional there's functionals they can be for the size they have to be to catch the wave. But then we got the toe surfing, which is a new sport. It's relatively new, 1994. So it involves a PwC, a wave runner, a jet ski, a personal watercraft. They're called personal watercrafts, the Yam, Kawasaki, Sea-Doo, and PWC is the name. And then we have a tow rope, just like a water ski or a wakeboarding tow rope that

connects to the back of the wave runner. And then you have a handle at the end of that tow rope that the surfer holds on to. And then he's on a normally traditional surfing we a big wave we're at a 10-foot surfboard with towing surfing we're at a six-foot surfboard and we have straps built into the surfboard and different materials are used for different conditions but it's basically a six-foot surfboard no matter what size the waves are. And the weights vary and the shapes don't vary too much. But some guys are experimenting here and there. It all really comes back to the same shape that we designed with Mercedes-Benz.

We made the ultimate board with Mercedes. And most people are using pretty much the same shape and pretty much the same technology but uh we get towed out of the water into on it on the six foot surfboard with our feet shoved into the foot straps and the rope pulls us up out of the water so now we're on top of the water skimming and the the wave the driver will drive you towards the wave and you choose you see a big set coming and you choose first wave second wave third wave you uh take you the jet ski drives towards the desired wave in the set and and gets you up to the wave speed and then right before it breaks he pulls away turns out to the right or turns out to the left and you hold the rope as long as you can to get the whip to get the speed you need to enter the wave and then you let go of the rope and you're flying down the wave

and you're you're carving back to the left to the right to the left to the right looking where you want to go what you want to achieve on the wave is every wave is different and everything that you want to do on on every wave is different depending on what type of wave you're surfing and if it's a hollow wave you want to get in the barrel and you let go of the rope and you're you're waiting and waiting instead of running and we can all run away from the wave we can all get away from the wave and be safe or you can stay as deep as you can and try and get in the barrel or try and do a big maneuver a big snap or a big aerial for me i just focus on getting barreled so you let go you're you're you're fading to the left

and then you're going to go to the right and then the lips coming over and then if everything goes right you get right under the lip and i can remember one wave where i got right on the lip and then the lip kind of misted hit hit me, smacked me in the face, pa-pa-pa, right as I went under, three little smacks. And so I'm going, and then right when it hit me, I'm blind now, and I'm coming into the barrel. I can feel that I'm in the barrel, but I can't see, and I'm feeling like I'm getting really deep,

and all I'm thinking is myself gonna make it gonna make it and i'm coming up the face of the wave as the barrels engulf me i'm gone i've disappeared in this cylinder and then i'm starting to feel the the uh compression the wave when it barrels it turns into a compression chamber and i start feeling it sucking backwards like a backdraft. And then it kind of goes silent and I'm sliding up the wall and I feel like I'm about to fall off. But I'm feet are in the straps. And then this hurricane force compression fire hose spit comes from behind and right as I'm about to fall, the wind, the force of the water and the wind that the compression chamber made picks me up literally off the face of the wave where I'm about to fall. It corrects me, straightens me out, and then throws me out right in front of the wave behind after the spit the spit comes out the

wave then i land and i come out and i'm just like oh my god oh my god thank you god it was yeah that was still the most memorable ride i've ever had and uh the most uh the the best feeling i've ever gotten big wave surfing spiritual Spiritual, definitely spiritual. Just the sensation was just so, it wasn't overwhelming. It was just all the training, all the sacrifice, all the planning, all the goal setting, it all came together on that one wave. Most people can't imagine surfing something as tall as niagara falls and when i was doing my research on the podcast i heard you're going speeds of 50 60

miles an hour down almost a straight face what what's it like because one one little slip i mean i've seen some of these wipeouts i think 10 people have died in the history of big wave surfing. You had lost a surfer in January of this year. It's extremely dangerous. We're going to talk about the danger in a few minutes. But 50, 60 miles an hour, that's insane. Yeah, you know, it's... Six feet board, 50, 60 miles an hour. That doesn't even seem possible.

It depends on the conditions. If there's no wind and it's glassy and smooth and there's no chop coming out from the rip coming out of the channel, it's like cutting butter with a hot knife and you can pretty much do anything you want. It's so beautiful and so smooth and so peaceful and spiritual and just like dancing with god on this beautiful face that's just so perfect and smooth and then that's out at cortez banks which is going to be in season three and then you got somewhere like jaws or even harder nazare it's these massive

chops coming up the face and you're just hitting them like it's like icy moguls and they're six feet tall and you're boom boom boom and you're just trying to keep your feet in a strap and you're trying to keep the board on the water, and trying to set an edge so you can turn and make the wave. And it's, yeah, your brain is getting rattled, your body's rattled, your whole being is getting rattled, and you're just doing your best. All the surfers nowadays, there's a new charge of amazing surfers in Nazare right now that are just pushing the envelope. And everybody's, Kai and Lucas, Kai Lanny and Lucas Chombo kind of led the charge

of the new way of surfing big waves with flips and aerials. And now there's a bunch of really good guys right behind them, actually right there with them. Kai Lanny is amazing. I like to have him on my show. So when we're over, I'm going to ask you for an intro. But let's talk about Nazare because it was a place most people in the world had never heard of unless you were a local can you tell us how this whole thing happened and leared hamilton's email and then how long it took you to actually go out and have a look uh in 2005 i got an email

from a guy named dino who was a local bodyboarder and he ran the sports program for the municipality for for the um the mayor he was under the mayor running the sports program in in nazaree portugal just for those who don't know nazaree is a really it's a seafront town in portugal there's a huge would you call it a castle or a lighthouse on the edge? Just a lighthouse, a beautiful lighthouse right on the edge of the cliff. And he was living in that fishing village for his whole life. And he would go up on the cliff with his father when he was a young boy. And he says that he imagined people surfing it way back then. And then he had the dream of somebody surfing it.

And then they were trying to bring attention to the town somehow. And so they emailed me. Well, first they emailed Laird Hamilton. He told me this about five years ago. He didn't tell me this until about five years ago. First they emailed Laird Hamilton, and they didn't get a reply. Then they emailed, because Laird Hamilton and they didn't get a reply. Then they emailed, because Laird's the man, I mean, who wouldn't email Laird Hamilton first? And then Carlos Verde, because he was basically the man in Brazil and international. He was winning events back then,

and he was pushing the envelope everywhere. And no reply and then he's i was the third choice the third string and he said i replied in like minutes he couldn't believe what he and then he was scared he's like holy shit this guy replied and he might come and i don't want him to die and now i feel responsible but maybe he was too worried so we emailed for five years and nothing happened really it was just back and forth um yeah surfer and a bodyboarder he he's definitely well educated and and he's um very strategic and it is all because of him that we ended up there i have to give dino the credit but it took you a while to get out there but it wasn't really going to happen until my wife saw

the email she saw the thread she was going through my emails and said she's getting me organized and then she said what's this some some guys want me me to come to Portugal and see if their wave's any good and if it's big and good and if it can help promote their town. And she's like, should we go? And I said, well, you want to go? And she's like, yeah, why not? So we went. One month later, we were in Portugal after she got the email chain.

Tell us how a big wave actually forms in the canyons under the water and what happens when the caves or the canyons collapse underwater that causes these 100-foot waves. system ideally coming out of like Nova Scotia somewhere on the East Coast preferably up higher when it come out of like below New York Florida and they come straight across there they're to West and they don't reach full potential but if they're Northwest coming down from like Ireland, Iceland, Ireland, Nova Scotia, we need a straight northwest swell for the swell to reach full potential. The swell is created by the low pressure preferably up there and the strength of the wind and the duration of that strength of wind determines what size swell will arrive on the beach. There's a few other variables in between that slow pressure if there's something

going on in between, but usually there's just one low pressure sometimes there's a high pressure which you want the high pressure on the land and even a little bit into the ocean to stop the wind from blowing keep it either dead wind or offshore when that swell arrives so you got this strong wind blowing northwest for a long period of time creates these undulations on the surface of the ocean. And then they get bigger and bigger and bigger. And then as they reach Portugal, they're received by a shelf, which is about 30 to 60 feet deep max and then right on the edge of the shelf is a canyon that's three times the size of the grand canyon 25 miles long and um right at the shoreline where the wave breaks it's a thousand feet deep in the trench and 60 feet deep here 30 to 60 feet so this and it's a shaped like a funnel so

the swell comes down the canyon full force nothing stopping it to reach full potential and then it hits the same exact swell comes across the shelf and gets chopped by the shelf slows down loses height and and so then the same it's a weird phenomenon the same exact swell that should hit the same time now meets at different times comes on the canyon really fast comes across the shelf slow and it and and it turns towards the swell that's now coming across the shelf so and it creates just two different swells same swell turning into two different swells going two different directions causing a wedge and then sometimes that wedge cancels out if they if they miss just right this huge swell this huge wedge will be coming in and somehow it misses and it cancels itself and it looked like it was going to be the biggest wave ever saw and doesn't

even break and then the one behind doesn't look as big but it hits just right and causes this wedge effect of tp which generates the tallest tallest waves in the world because it's basically a rogue wave on the shore but the classifier rogue wave is is when two different swells in the middle of the ocean come from two different directions and meet up and cause this thing to just, boom, jump up and take out a boat. This is on the shore from the same swell, but the same swell getting turned at itself. And timing different. So it could be the second wave in the set is hitting the third wave of the canyon.

So you talked about kind of the wave you think is going to be the big wave doesn't turn out to be the big wave. The one behind it may be the big wave. People's careers depend on the size of the wave. So is there any way to judge when you're back there or are you just kind of getting lucky? I mean, we're going to talk about the team and the lookout and the binoculars in a minute but when when you're out there you're making a judgment call you're looking around you're waiting on the wave so how does that all happen what's the thought process there i'm going to take this wave or i'm going to take that wave well first and foremost we have preferably nicole on the lighthouse watching doing safety and helping us choose to go north or south first peak second

peak third peak and helping us to choose which first second third wave and but at the end of the day it's up to us to really choose where we want to go what we want to do and what we're focusing on that day and the funny thing about nazaree is it's not always the big outside wave. A lot of times it's the inside wave that magnifies and intensifies and gets taller than any of the other waves. So sometimes those insiders that nobody's going for just become these mutant monsters that just pop up out of nowhere and get 70, 80 feet tall when, and everybody's sitting out the back waiting for the set. Uh, first you have Nicole on the lighthouse orchestrating,

you have a safety, you have the ski driving you into the web, you have a safety ski behind that. And preferably on the really big days, you have a second safety ski, backup safety. So you're a runner, professional runner. You're doing the 100-yard dash. You can kind of feel like I had a good run. You're a skier. You know you're a professional skier going down the hill. You know you had a good run. There's a lot of talk in terms of, did you surf a 100-foot wave? Did you not surf a 100-foot wave? It's hard to measure. Can you actually tell once you're up there how big the wave is? Or you need to get feedback when you get back to say, wow, that was a big one? Because it really is a little bit marginal when you're up there, right?

You got 75, 80, 85, 90, and then 90 and then 90 plus yeah for me i have no idea how big the waves are when i'm riding them you can um kind of feel it you can feel how massive it is and you when that when the waves the sun is here and you're coming down and you're in the sun you're in the light and then the wave comes up and lurches over and takes out the sun that's when you know it's massive and um how big they actually are some of them feel huge and they're they're more flat and just massive mass of water and other ones are taller and not quite as thick and stand up taller and so at nazareth it's really hard to tell how big they are and um yeah as far as measuring them it's the most controversial subjective controversial, subjective, not scientific at all,

purely ego or politically measured. You're either measuring with ego or with politics and usually both. You talk about Kelly Slater, some of the world's laird hamilton uh laird hamilton and the individual sports that is an individual sport for the most part right they get a wave they ride it they're doing their tricks big wave surfing it's a team sport you couldn't do without a team talk to us about your team you already talked about nicole we're going to talk about her more later but how critical is having a team? What's the team?

And what do people actually do besides Nicole, who's up there in the White House on a walkie-talkie giving you advice on wind and waves? Well, you're only as good in your team pretty much everything in life. And their first teammate should be your wife, the one you spend most of your time with hopefully uh and you know all your planning and and goal setting and or you know as long as you're working together with your your wife or your partner then things are usually going in a good way and you're usually happy um at least big picture stuff um but then the team runs deep i mean you got your safety drivers you got your trainers you got well you got safety drivers you got your first responder on the beach you got your ambulance your fireman your uh the lifeguards and then now there's a first responder vehicle that's on the

beach with everything to bring somebody back the most sophisticated equipment now is in nazaree ready to help people um so you got that then you have your trainers, your dieticians, your – then you've – nowadays you've got your Instagram. You've got to either do it yourself or usually the guys that are really successful have their own personal videographer that they work with to create stuff together. And do the posts usually themselves or together with the person. So you're making sure all your goals are met and everything is going in a good way. Or most people aren't doing things in a good way. They're just doing things to be cool or make money. But if you're doing it right, you're doing it in a good way to try and be inspiring and try and make a difference.

And then there's all the partners and sponsors. And there's so much more, so much more. I mean, lawyers and advisors and sponsors and partners. What kind of training? The main thing is it's all about who you surround yourself with it's all about joining forces with people who have the same desires same goals same dreams and and it's really important to me to know besides the thing we're doing together and besides the thing that we're focusing on, what is your personal goal? What is your personal dreams?

How can I help you achieve what you personally want besides this collective group that we have here? So that way I can always help the person get where they want to get. If there's anything that I can do, I know what or how or when to help. You talk about training and diet what how does a big wave surfer train and what's the diet i assume you're burning just a tremendous amount of calories when you're out there the training can be as as uh as root as focused as you want or as open. These days, everybody takes it very serious. Back in the day, party all night, go surf, no problem, whatever. Nowadays, it's focused.

Most people aren't drinking. Most people aren't doing drugs. Most people are training three to Most people aren't doing drugs. Most people are training three to six or seven days a week. Most people are on a really clean program for what their intake, they're evaluating what helps them run at full potential, what will enable them to run at full potential and have longevity if they want to stay in the game. The people that do that exceed mightily. The people that don't just kind of exist for a little while and then they're gone, unless they're just a freak and very well-liked and loved.

What's the physical training that you do? Are you running five miles a day? Are you lifting weights? Are you surfing 30 foot waves every day and just trying to maintain some kind of regularity? Because you can't go out and surf 10 big waves a day, can you? I was never into running really. I would run, I would hike up a hill, maybe run a little, but I did like running downhill. I don't know. For something, I really like the for short distance, not for long distance, but it's just jarring, all the joints and the hip and the back and the vertebrae. I really like the but downhill, like on trails.

But I never liked long distance um i i do love a good park a good grass field like a football field or preferably a grass field and doing hold my breath exercises while doing the loops that's what i used to do back in the day. That was my main underwater training was hold my breath exercises at a field and cave diving and rock running during the summer. And that was pretty much it. I did a lot of weights and yoga. But the main thing that kept me in the water was surfing, getting pounded. The more you get pounded, the more you can getting pounded the more you get pounded the more you can get pounded

and the more stamina you have the same exact type of situation you're going to put yourself in you just do it over and over and over and over and then it's like second nature as i got older nowadays the training looks like i love my assault bike to get the cardio going real quick. I love the rower. And I love the rower and the assault bike are priceless. And then there's, you know, different circuit training. I do love my weights. I do love my machines.

But the bands are like gold when you get older. Bands are just priceless. And I have a very amazing trainer that I work with three times a week. And then when I'm on a good one, I train the other six days, other three days, and I rest one. Ideally, I'm working out six days i act other three days and i rest one um ideally i'm working out six days a week three with my trainer three on my own and then i'm doing weights bands and cross training and i like to do circuit training three days and weight training for three days with machines and free weights and then um i'm gonna be in portugal the whole month of july i'll probably put a little running i'll do the assault bike for sure do the rower do the weights and the machines i'm probably going to

do a bit of running i'll be at costa terra in um in comporta and we have a really good gym there we have a good trainer but i have everything that i that i my program i already have down to a science but it's good to have somebody spot to make sure you're not, you're staying symmetrical. There's no mirrors at the facility, so it's nice to have somebody double check. The diet is super important. As you get older, it's so important to put super in the tank. Let's just tell people, let's just stop here for a quick second. You're 55 years old. How old are you now? Pardon me? 55. You're 55. For the viewers and listeners, if you're listening and you can't see Garrett, he's 55 years old and he's still doing this and all the training. I mean, it just puts things in perspective. So tell us about the diet. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I wanted people

to really know how old you are as you continue talking about the training the fact that you're still doing it at 55 is amazing the diet is the most challenging of all and that will keep you in the game or not the training can keep you in but your body will start to break down if you keep putting garbage in it. And I love my acais. I love my desserts. So that's the most challenging thing for me is not to go get an acai with the kids or not to go get an ice cream with the kids. The breads and the starches, I love them as well, but I can do without them. And the ice creams and assis, I can do without it, but it's definitely challenging for me. In a perfect world, I'm, and what to eat, what to actually put in your body, what is

your super, what is your super, what is your super, what is your, what's going to help you run at full potential and peak performance all day long and not get tired. And everybody's body is so different and everybody's circum, what they were raised on, what their forefathers were raised on, but mainly what you were raised on what their forefathers were raised on but mainly what you were raised on that's what mainly matters and what your body likes is everybody's different and you got to experiment now i i believe after doing so much research and so many different diets and so many different programs that, number one, water. Water is life. If you drink a lot of water all day, every day, you're ahead of the game.

That's your oil. That's going to keep the pistons going up and down. No oil, car break. No water, body breaks down. Then plant-based is definitely well not definitely there's so many studies saying don't eat kale and don't eat this and your body you can't probably your body can't probably i'm a little confused right now i was 100 plant-based and then i wasn't eating any and we were even raw the best i've ever felt while i I was raw, but I was making a point to drink more water than I ever drank,

so maybe it was the water. But the raw, when I was eating raw for about a year, that was the best I ever felt. Vegan was amazing. But then there's something to stay for a good steak. Where do you get your iron? Where do you get your protein? But it's where you get it.

If you're getting it from the store and it's not free-range organic, grass-fed, then you're basically poisoning yourself. You're eating hormones. You're eating pesticide. You're eating antibiotics. And it's a prolonged suicide, basically. Luckily, our bodies are so resilient and adapt so quickly to all this garbage we put in them. I don't understand how you got this crazy drug addicts who are doing whatever drugs all their whole life.

And somehow they quit doing drugs and all of a sudden they're fine and what the hell how does that work and then you have other people who will smoke a cigar and drink jack for their their whole life and they're 95 and they're still out there in the garden so it's a your genes matter i think a bit or maybe it's a mindset um there's so many variables that it's the pete the studies are not accurate because there's so many variables that it's the studies are not accurate because there's too many variables in everybody's life where they live is there good clean drinking water is there an electrical pole is the air clean are they happy are they depressed are they angry I mean I feel like it's 50% your mind and 50% what you put in it, but it can go 90-10 either direction.

I do love a good steak, grass-fed, free-range organic. I love fish. I never ate chicken because it's the dirtiest. All the fowl is the dirtiest, most disgusting produced. But if it's free-range organic's if it's free range organic then chicken can be good too um turkey whatever you try find an organic turkey those things are so skinny we had one last thanksgiving and my wife was like what but our our our uh mother in portugal we bring her the turkey and she's used to these fat turkeys.

And she's like, the turkey's sick. I can't cook this for you guys. This is no good. And she cooked it, and it came, but it still tastes really good. All right, so you talked about getting pounded, and you talked about holding your breath for a long time as part of the training. I've seen some of these falls. I've seen some of your falls.

I've seen people rushing out on the jet ski. I've seen people thinking you died. And we've seen people on your show die. So what is the feeling when you fall and you're beneath that water and the power is tremendous as you explain on the show? And how long are you holding your breath for? How do you not panic? And how long do you have to hold your breath for before you know you're going to come up for air? And how do you deal with the fear of dying? The fact of the matter is that we had never lost a toe surfer, toe surfing in the history of toe surfing until last year in Nazare. I

thought for sure we were going to lose somebody the next year. We almost lost Maya. I thought every year we didn't lose somebody. I could not believe it because the way the waves break and where they're breaking and

there are some zones that you can't really rescue people and I thought we were gonna lose somebody right out of the gate and We every year I just like scratching my head going. Wow another year. Wow, we made it. I didn't I stopped thinking about it I stopped thinking that we were gonna lose somebody when we finally lost somebody It was very unfortunate. He didn't have adequate safety gear for Nazare. For any other spot, Matt Jaws wasn't adequate either. He was a local from Brazil, but he was one of the first

guys to paddle at jaws and he was a animal he was a beast he he can handle he's handled what most men cannot handle he did it without a life jacket he was the one of the first guys out there before we started putting flotation on. He was out there paddling the monsters that most everybody cannot survive. And somehow he made it. He went to Nazare and he surfed that morning. I don't know the facts. I don't know if he was out of shape. He looked out of shape.

I heard that he ate a huge lunch and he wanted to go back out he just put a thin life jacket on he didn't put a thick one it looked it wasn't big so he didn't think much of it he needed he needed inflation or a massive flotation vest for that day and he got just held underwater too long now i believe that it was oxygen deprivation and he drowned but i don't know the autopsy was not released it could have been a stroke it could have been a heart attack um i don't know if he was vaccinated or not i don't know um yeah there's so we might not lost him to toe surfing he might have got a heart attack or a stroke um that was the first death we've ever had while somebody was toe surfing so big wave surfing we've had many throughout the years.

I mean, that we know about in our big news, not too many. But as far as a competent big wave surfer drowning, not too many. But there's been some. Where were we going with the question? Shoot, I'm going too long again. We're going, you're on this huge wave, you fall fall off the board the wave is going to push you way underwater and if you don't hold your breath you're going to die for sure so what's the feeling like how far deep are you going and do you realize at some point this wave is still pushing me pushing me pushing me down the wave is big you can't get

up till the wave is is finished what's the what's the thought process how long do you have to hold your breath for how do you not panic and how much fear do you have when that's actually happening every big wave is so different and every big wave pounding at every spot is so different you You can have an 80-foot wave at Nazare and you fall right in the wrong spot, like the worst spot possible, and somehow the lip lands on you and kind of pushes you out the back.

Normally, on a big wave, and the lip lands on you or you fall, it's super violent at first. It just hits you so hard, and it feels like it can rip you apart, literally. And there has been people that have their limbs ripped off their body, but the only thing that held them together was the skin everything else all the ligaments all the bones all the tendons everything is ripped but the skin holds it has nobody's got them actually taken off everything but the skin um while you're getting ready for the pounding you prepare ahead of time you breathe up while you're out there. You oxygenate. You hyperoxygenate.

You calm your heart down. You enter the wave. You're confident. You're strong. You have as much oxygen as you need to survive. You fall. You get the violent pounding. You've been violated. You feel like your arm's

ripped off. You get a stinger. Your violated. You feel like your arm's ripped off. You get a stinger and your arm's just stinging or your back. The main place you get the stingers is in the arms. And it feels like they're broken, but it's just a stinger from the hit. And then if you can get yourself into a ball and you can kind of pull your legs in without using too much energy, it's preferred, but then you relax and you calm down. And once the violence is over, then you just got to go with it

because you're not going to come up until the hard, the aerated water passes. No matter how much flotation you have on, until that aerated water goes by and you're now in hard water, you will not come up. And so once the aerated water goes by and then you're down 10, 50, 60, whatever, however deep it takes you, if you're down deep, a lot of times your ears get, it's like the craziest pressure and there's no time to equalize. Normally, when you're down super deep, you're in the aerated water, so there's not as much pressure.

But once that aerated water is gone, then the pressure comes in. And then you kind of swim up nice and calm. You have your flotation on you may have already pulled if you pulled you're in the area of water coming up pretty fast you kind of just torpedo up with a couple of strokes and you got to get up right before that next wave comes to get you a lot of times you're just getting your lips out and then one more rolls over you and then and normally when you're in the white water it's not as violent it's the initial pounding of the the lip and where the wave is a compression chamber

that it's super violent sometimes even the white water is violent usually it just rolls over you and rocks you and takes you and then slowly but surely spits you out the back where you get in the hard water and you come up again. And you get your lips out again and hopefully another one's not rolling over you. But sometimes you can get two or three without barely getting a breath. And then you come up and you get a little more, get a couple breaths before the next one. So, I mean, I've had like 20 waves before uh get to the shore or get rescued at least 20 you've had to be rescued 20 times no no i've been rectured probably thousand times thousands of times i've had about 20 wave hold downs like continuous consecutive waves in a row one wave then come up from one air

well another way a couple breaths another way a couple breaths another way to cover another way another way no no and then you're starting to bounce off the rocks and then they come and rescue you or nazare they either have rescued you or you're what you're crawling up the sand on your own so when you get pounded the main thing is to relax and enjoy it uh the under rata riders can be more fun than the actual rides on the surfboard you know there you have zero control you have you're at the mercy of the ocean it take you as long as it want or spins you out whenever it wants it'll rip you apart or let you go nice and gentle. You have to just enjoy it. It is a choice. You can choose to enjoy it.

I think that's very interesting. I think if I was 60 feet underwater with, I don't know, thousands of pounds of water on top of me and I couldn't come up from here and I think I'm going to die, I'm not sure I would enjoy that very much. But let me ask you this. How many times... If you prepared properly and you have a good team, you would know you're not going to die. So you can enjoy it. So you can enjoy it. How many times have you almost died big wave surfing? Zero.

Zero. So when I saw you in the hospital after a terrible injury and you had months of recuperation it didn't look like you may not walk again you're not going to call that you almost died you're just going to call that a serious injury the woman i my foot yeah the concussion yeah yeah and you know you're laid up in the hospital. I mean, if I hit the reef harder, I could have totally died. Yeah, but it's like saying you almost got somebody pregnant. You did or you didn't. Do you ever have fear going out surfing? Fear going out?

Not too often. I used to have it until about 2007 until that glacier experience and then I didn't have it forever and now I'm letting it come back choose to entering my mind but I just surfed Cortez I wasn't afraid I just surfed uh the Eddiesville here is like 60 feet plus, wasn't afraid, but I was definitely more patient and definitely not as hungry. More patient, more calculated, more focused on making sure that I'm going to make my wave if I'm going to choose to ride it. Getting in the spot to make the wave if i'm going to actually attempt to ride something not just going whatever put me on the wave deep i want to try and get barreled no it put me on

the wave in the perfect spot or on the shoulder now the shoulder isn't a very desired place to be because it's it's very unfulfilling first and foremost but it's where it's more choppy and bumpy so you want to be in the perfect spot you want to be in the apex right on the line on the perfect line you don't if you want to get the barrel you want to be behind the line deep and that's where i used to always want to be now Now I just want to be on the line, on the perfect line. I want to either catch it in a perfect spot with my own two arms or have the driver put me in the perfect spot, entering perfectly at mid-face, not at the top of the wave, not at the bottom of the wave, not at the shoulder, not deep, mid-face.

You've got a jet ski. You can drive good. You put me in the middle of the wave right at the beginning of the wave so what's your advice to people on how to conquer their fear face them you got to face them to conquer them but uh not everybody wants to face their fears and not everybody wants to conquer their fears and people get comfortable most of us in this world get comfortable where we are and we just want to stay where we're comfortable. And that's respectable. I mean, it's,

it really holds a lot of us back from achieving our goals and dreams. And we just live this simple life and do these simple things and, and, but never really live our purpose or what we love and we end up just well i mean for lack kind of like i don't want to say slaves but we end up just working for the weekend and working for the man and it's a very weird world we have right now very interesting i like the word the world is so interesting and there's so many interesting people and there's so many interesting jobs and it's crazy where it's going and where we are right now. It's unimaginable, but everything that we see on the TV or on the movies now,

somehow it's coming to light. Total Recall is here now. I never thought there would ever be a Total Recall here. It's here. We're living Total Recall right now. It's just the beginning. It's crazy.

Where's it going to go? I don't know. It's so interesting. We want going to go? I don't know. It's so interesting. We want it to go in a good way. I do have hope that the technology can help us do the right things because we know what the right things are. We know how to do it, but it's us, the consumers, and the capitalists who want to make money on us that want to do things just to make money. So it's a crazy world we're in. Going back to the fear question, you said in the past that the way to conquer your fear is to just keep doing scarier and scary things that they see until you go where you're comfortable or uncomfortable. How scary should we go to conquer our fear

to the point where we're risking injury or death? To conquer your fears, make a plan to face them and make a very realistic plan on how to go about it, how to prepare first and foremost, and then surround yourself with the right people, ask the right questions, then you make your plan, you make your goal, and then you make your plan, make sure it's all realistic. If you really want to succeed, actually, if you put a lot of time into it

and you really focus on it, it'll be very fulfilling. It'll be short-lived. If you have a selfless component to that whole experience, it'll be very long-lived. It'll keep going. One of my favorite topics and something that I'm known for in my world and the mentoring I do and the coaching that I do is something I call extreme preparation, which is a completely different kind of preparation than most people know about or think about. I have a book coming out called Extreme Preparation next year, and I'm excited for people to learn some of the techniques. In big wave surfing, most people don't understand the amount of preparation that goes in there. So maybe you can tell us what extreme preparation means in the world of big wave surfing. We can start about mapping out waves months in advance and planning trips and wind speeds and teams and all kinds of things. So can you tell us what extreme

preparation means in the world of big wave surfing and how it's led to your success? Well, extreme preparation first is the safety plans and figuring out all the challenges that you may have once you're in the water, wherever location. All the locations have different challenges. So you've got to figure out the locations you want to surf, figure out the challenges you might face, and figure out solutions for all those challenges. That's extreme preparation and you have to be able to face the unknown challenges with a very calm and focused approach and stay calm um then you got to set up your locations uh and there's a very important aspect of who you're going to surround yourself with who's who's who's going to have the skis who are you going to actually partner with when you show up are you going to

bring all your own equipment are you going to set everything up there so you either set everything up at the location and have your own your team that you like working with that's that's ideal then you got the spots where you're going to show up and they have everything and you're going to work with some other crew and that's when you got to be more of um you have to be very very direct but also be uh more Be more not so rigidly attached to how you do things, but do your best to work with them. And make sure the most important things are addressed and implemented and everything else you kind of work with the way they like to do it. There are certain things that you just can't band and other things you can you can so that's preparation the people the spot then there's the training and the training i think

is most important physically because if you're physically if you feel you physically put the right time in and took the right approach to your training and your eating, then you're mentally there. You're mentally focused. You feel mentally strong and ready because you're physically ready. And then, you know, if you're just going to go there just for fun, then you don't have to consider bringing a camera crew or documenting it. And that's beautiful. That's the way you should be going there, not to document it. Now, if the cameras come along, then you've got to make sure they're part of it. They know the protocols.

They know the safety plans. And, yeah, it's really about planning planning ahead planning for the worst having a solution for worst case scenario but expect the best and only visualize and see the best happening see the outcome see the result you want plan for the the best, but once you start seeing the negative, that's when it goes bad. But you've got to plan for the worst and see the best. How important is visualizing our outcomes in terms of accomplishing our dreams? I like to call it manifesting, and it's one of the most important things in life. Our minds are so powerful, and we can do anything we want.

Every single person in the world can actually be, do, or become anything they want with the right plan. But if you're starting out as a child, you can much be anything no matter where you're starting but if you're starting out as an adult you Might want to have more realistic plan of what you really want to do and the main thing is Figuring out what you love what you're passionate about you might have to go back to when you were three and remember what you're passionate We're so conditioned now. We don't even know what we love. We just love whatever we're conditioned to love. So, yeah, everything's possible. Let's talk about philanthropy for two minutes. Tell us about the McNamara Foundation,

how people can get involved, and what your goals there are. Our goals are to share meaningful nature experiences with, first and foremost, underprivileged youth. They're the future. They need it more than anybody, and they're the people who are going to be the future of the world. So if we can get them to fall in love with nature through surfing or through hiking or through whatever activity the day allows that we take them out we take them out once a week uh it's mainly surf therapy and then we give them

coping skills and then we get goal setting and we share uh with them where i started eating out of trash cans and where i got with goal setting and so they and i take them surfing and we empower them through surfing they can't they serve then they hear the story and then they like wow oh if he started there i can do it so then they're really empowered and the goal is just to let them know that everything's possible but also empower stewards of the earth at the same time so we can have this earth to live on so otherwise future not looking so good um and then we have a chap that's in nazare we have we work with the orphans of nazare and a bunch of refugees from all over all over um they all live in nazare now um. And then here in Hawaii, there is a sex trafficking rehabilitation center called Pearl Haven,

and we do the surf therapy program for them. There is 600, there's 100,000 sex trafficked teens in the United States that we know about. There's probably more, but there's only 600 beds in the rehab facilities nationwide. 30 of the beds are in Hawaii, right at the beach where I learned how to surf. So now that's what they look forward to every weekend is the surf therapy

program and they are coming out of their shell they're they're uh yeah there's these it's crazy these girls never trusted a man in their life the only thing they think of a man is somebody who's gonna come have sex with them and do whatever they want with them. So there was this graduation going down, and the camp director was a man, which is kind of a touchy, kind of weird, and it's hard. I'm like, I can't really go there. They don't want to. And if it's the right kind of person, yes, you can.

So the guy who was running the program was there doing the graduation with the girls. And the girl looks up to him and said, you're the first man that I could ever feel safe around. Thank you so much. Crazy. So it's the McNamara Foundation. And we have two chapters. We were hoping to do things worldwide. Right now we are kind of worldwide,

Nazare and Hawaii. And yeah, McNamara Foundation, Waves of Life. You're doing great things. Let's end this with one question. What's the one thing you wish you had told your 21-year-old self or would tell your 21-year-old self if you could go back in time? Study harder in school. Read more books.

What's the one question you wish I had asked you but didn't ask you? Oh, no, you stumped me. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Oh, how did you stay in the game for so long? And how do you still have a career in surfing at 55? Pretend like I asked you that question. We got into a little bit of it because I did want people to know you're 55 years old. I did want to talk about the training and the diet. But what is the secret to staying in the game it's all about figuring out what your niche is in whatever

you do because everybody can do some something better than everybody else because we all do in our own special way you might not think you're as good as that guitar player who is the best in the world but you're you do your little special thing with the guitar that he can't and you do it better um that's just like a little so yeah we all have a unique gift and let's figure out what your niche is and hone in on it and now you can actually market it on instagram which is weird but it's true you can be whoever you on Instagram, which is weird, but it's true. You can be whoever you want. Garrett, I'm really grateful for you being here today.

I'm a huge fan, as I said. I love this series. I knew nothing about big wave surfing before that. I encourage everyone to watch season one. I think you're in the middle of season two right now. So thanks for being on my show. I'm really grateful for you being here. Thank you.

You know, Bob Hurley, he's the owner of Hurley. Yeah. I asked him for advice. He's a very good friend. And I go to him once or once a year, once every other year to get advice. And he said, number one thing, Garrett, whatever you're going to do, make sure you're reaching full potential or don't do it. That's the goal of In Search of Excellence, to inspire and motivate people to be the best they can be. One percent better every day. One percent better every day. I appreciate you and I look forward to staying in touch with you. Thanks very much. All right. Thank you.