In Search Of Excellence - Laird Hamilton: Reinventing Surfing | E167

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Legendary surfer Laird Hamilton joins host Randall Kaplan on the In Search of Excellence podcast for a raw and unforgettable conversation about innovation, mindset, and personal transformation. Hamilton shares how he co-invented tow-in surfing, stand-up paddleboarding, and surf foiling, turning niche ideas into billion-dollar global sports.From serving as Kevin Costner’s stunt double in Waterworld to surviving a near-death experience in the ocean, Laird opens up about the moments that shaped his fearless mentality. He dives deep into the philosophy of pain, extreme preparation, mentorship, and the pursuit of purpose. He also explores the challenges of public life, the importance of family, and how to thrive under pressure.Whether you're an entrepreneur, athlete, or simply someone seeking inspiration, this episode offers powerful life lessons from one of the most innovative figures in extreme sports history.🎧 Episode Highlights and Timestamps:00:00 – Laird Hamilton’s Impact on Surfing and Paddleboarding00:48 – Kevin Costner Stunt Double & Near-Death Experience05:19 – Hawaii Five-0 Appearance & How Pain Can Be a Great Teacher08:17 – The Role of Extreme Preparation in Achieving Success17:51 – Co-Inventing Stand-Up Paddling with Tom Jones25:07 – The Evolution of Surfing and Rise of Foiling29:16 – Mentorship and Its Influence on Growth40:52 – Family, Relationships, and Defining Personal Success41:07 – Facing Controversy and Shaping Public Perception50:49 – Marriage, Partnership, and Life in the Public Eye👉 Listen now to hear Laird Hamilton’s incredible journey—and get inspired to break boundaries, defy expectations, and live with discipline and excellence.🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode filled with wisdom, success stories, and powerful insights.🎙️ In Search of Excellence Podcast with Randall KaplanListen to this episode on the go! 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-search-of-excellence/id1579184310🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/23q0XICUDIchVrkXBR0i6L For more information about this episode, visit https://www.randallkaplan.com/ Follow Randall! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/randallkaplanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@randall_kaplanTwitter / X: https://x.com/RandallKaplanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randallkaplan/Website: https://www.randallkaplan.com/1-on-1 Coaching: https://intro.co/randallkaplanGet More Excellence! In Search of Excellence Clips: https://www.youtube.com/@iseclipsCoaching and Staying Connected:1-on-1 Coaching | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | LinkedIn

We've probably got blown a couple football fields underwater in and when I came up he was floating face down. That was the day that changed my life actually. You guys revolutionized the sport of surfing by inventing co-in surfing, paddle boarding, foiling and today it's a 1.8 billion dollar industry and it's expected in 2034 to be a 2.8 billion dollar industry. Yeah. How good does that make you feel? Well it just makes me feel like I'm not crazy. How can you do real, actual dangerous things? You do them safely. You don't like competitions, and you don't enter competitions.

But how can you be considered the greatest surfer of all time without winning competitions? Subjecting your performance to judges, I just didn't like that. My idea was just like like if you could surf the best and the biggest waves and what's there to say? You were Kevin Costner stunt double on water roll in 1995 and you nearly died tell us about that. I decided I would drive I would go home on the weekend after one of the weeks of shooting and then drive a jet ski back. I left in the dark

that morning and I ended up just going off course and eventually put myself in the middle of the ocean. It was super emotional. You're listening to part two of my incredible interview with Laird Hamilton. If you haven't yet listened to part one, be sure to check that one out first. Now without further ado, here's part two of my incredible interview with Laird. You know, a lot of people want to be in Hollywood. It's kind of cool. It's kind of fun. You were Kevin Costner stunt double on water world 1995 and he nearly died Tell us about that

Well, I was working on water world as a stunt man. There's a big stunt department and They had all these jet skis one of the reason why they hired me was to ride this Motorized surfboard in this scene where there's these scenes There's these devices and if you surfed it made it a lot easier to ride a device. Otherwise, it would have had a sun guy doing it. And so then I... But they had jet skis as well. Anyway, they ended up breaking all the jet skis,

and so I wanted a jet ski for some of these films, so I decided I would go home on the weekend after one of the weeks of shooting, and then drive a jet ski back from Maui, where I was living, to the Big Island. And that channel was 30 or 40 miles across, maybe a little further. And I left in the dark that morning.

The current was unusually strong. I talked to a helicopter pilot friend of mine. I told him what course I was gonna go on. He's like, well, that's way too low. You should go on this course. And I was out, it seemed too high to me. So I kinda just took the middle course. And because of the volcano,

the visibility was about one mile from the fog, from the smoke from the volcano. And I ended up just going off course and eventually just put myself in the middle of the ocean off of the big island like I was 60 miles north of Hilo and I didn't I only I didn't have I had like maybe a half gallon of gas left in my machine which I didn't want to run out because I knew that it'd be nice to just have a little bit of fuel in case I saw a shark came to bug me or if there was a boat or something. So I didn't want to incapacitate myself.

And fortunately I had an EPIRB, which is an emergency locating device like they have on airplanes and fishing boats. I was smart enough to bring that. Probably without that I don't know if I'd be here at this point. Pulled that right around midday, just because I'd been out there for seven or eight hours by the time it was noon. I'd been there since I went, I think I launched it four something in the morning. And I was like, okay, well, and I could see the big island came into view at that point and it was about that big and that's the biggest island in Hawaii. So I knew I couldn't swim there, and I wasn't going to leave the craft,

and I wouldn't... couldn't... you know, I couldn't get there in a half gallon. And so I waited, and I had some makeshift oars and some other stuff, and I waited and waited and waited and waited, and then eventually, probably like, eventually probably like six or seven hours after I pulled the device, not knowing if it was working or not, a Coast Guard C-130 down low, because there was a canopy of clouds over me

that just came flying straight at me, and I was waving, I had some oars, I was waving them, and as they went by, I was like, hey, all right, they're here, and then it was like, I had some oars, I was waving them. As they went by, I was like, hey, all right, they're here. And then it was like, oh yeah, well, how am I going to get in an airplane? You're not. So, you know, he just flew over and they had the back end dropped and the guy threw out a canister that was probably a bigger E-Purb. And it had some smoke on it.

And then they just turned and they, you know, the guy waved and threw the thing out and then they split. And so I was like, okay, well, that sucks. And so I was like, there's a boat coming. And then right at dark, probably another, I don't know if it was another hour or two, hour and a half, two hours, long enough. It's just at that point, you know, minutes seem like hours.

And the helicopter showed up and dropped the basket. First they dropped a radio in the water. There was some ziplocks. Told me don't touch the basket before it touches the water because the static electricity can kill you. So good not to get killed by the static electricity on the rescue mission. And just, and then I ended up, they ended up pulling me out

in the basket, taking me up and put, you know, I came up and the guy, somebody I knew, I think, or friend of mine is like, hey, Larry, what are you doing out here? I go, you don't want to know. And gave me a T-shirt and a Tiger Smoke bar. And then we split and they took me back to the airport. My mom was waiting there and a bunch of friends and it was super emotional.

You have a unique view on suffering. I don't like to suffer. But tell us about Hawaii 5.0. You've also said that pain is both a teacher and a friend. Well, there's a great saying, you know, you're gonna have to sacrifice, and so you can choose it or it'll be chosen for you. I think I'd like to choose mine.

You know, I mean, Hawaii 5.0 was just, that was just to do the whole chain, you know, that was the, are you talking about the paddling and the biking? Yeah. Yeah, so I devised a, you know. Five Ironmans equipped with four or five Ironmans. Yeah, yeah.

Well, first of all, I had a friend that had an autistic son, and he was making a movie. And I did a thing in Europe. I did a crossing in Europe, the English Channel. I biked from London to Dover, paddled from Dover to Calais, and then biked from Calais to Paris as part of the fundraiser thing for autism. And so my idea for Hawaii was just to do all Hawaiian islands and start on the southernmost point of the southernmost island and finish on the northernmost point on the northernmost island and do it all manually.

Like this? No, stand up. A stand up, paddle board? And bicycle. Okay, gotcha. So the first day was like 120, 130 mile bike into a 38 to 42 mile paddle the next morning. And then another like 40 or 50 mile bike,

then like another 16 or 50 mile bike, then like another 16 or 18 mile paddle, then another and then eventually there was a 22 hour paddle which was the last paddle of the thing and we started at like 11 at night, 10 or 11 at night and paddled all through the night into the morning and then all the way into the next night. And that was after we paddled all the other channels first, so, and biked all the other islands. I hope you're enjoying this video so far.

But before we jump back in, I want to know if you've ever thought about what you need to do to reach a nice level of success in your life. Over the last 25 years, I've been an advisor to more than 50 companies. I've invested nearly 100, including Google List and Seagate, and I also co-founded a company that today is worth more than 15 billion dollars. I've been incredibly blessed in my journey and at this stage in my life I want to give back. I want to share the lessons I've learned so you can reach incredible success way faster than I did. In my own journey I've learned that having the right mentor is a massive advantage to achieving our goals. I'm hugely passionate about mentoring others. I'm looking for a few hungry entrepreneurs

who are excited to take action on their journey to incredible future success. So that's you, I've got an opportunity. In the description of this video, there's a link where you can apply to work with me. All you need to do is answer a few simple questions and if you're a good fit, my team will reach out so we can build a game plan together. All right, now let's get back to the video. You don't like competitions and you don't enter competitions, but how can you be considered the greatest surfer of all time without winning competitions?

I hope you're enjoying this video so far, but before we jump back in, I wanna know if you've ever thought about what you need to do to reach a nice level of success in your life. Over the last 25 years, I've been an advisor to more than 50 companies. I've invested nearly 100, including Google lift and Seagate, and I also co-founded a company that today is worth more than $15 billion.

I've been incredibly blessed in my journey and at this stage in my life, I want to give back. I want to share the lessons I've learned so you can reach incredible success way faster than I did. In my own journey, I've learned that having the right mentor is a massive advantage to achieving our goals. I'm hugely passionate about mentoring others and I'm looking for a few hungry entrepreneurs who are excited to take action on their journey

to incredible future success. So that's you, I've got an opportunity. In the description of this video, there's a link where you can apply to work with me All you need to do is answer a few simple questions And if you're a good fit my team will reach out so we can build a game plan together. All right Now let's get back to the video Well, I guess I mean I'm

Again, I like I said earlier. I think these are this is people's This is the people that have watched me surf and watched my surfing, you know, being the judgment. They've made that... If they say that, then they've said that. So, you know, my goal in surfing was just to do... what, you know, what no one did. That was my thing.

Growing up, because I watched my dad's surfing competition, he was a free surfer. And in the beginning when I was a kid, free surfing and competitive surfing were... Actually, there were more free surfers and less competitive surfers. And slowly but surely competition surfing became the bigger and bigger and bigger thing. And then eventually the free surfing kind of dwindled away and then there's still here and there you have...

And it goes through phases. So you had free surfing which is just you go surf how you surf and it'd be like being artists like having an art competition and then somebody just... You have painters and they paint and people go look at their it'd be like being artists, like having an art competition and then somebody just, you have painters and they paint and people go look at their paintings and be like, hey, I love that, I don't like that. And so I grew up when that was still at its infant season. I watched my dad surf and surf beautifully

and should have won an event that at the time, and everybody said he won and he lost by, you know, whatever, eight tenths of a point or whatever that allowed the other guy to be the you know crown the world champion and stuff and so for me I just felt like you know subjecting your performance to judges I just didn't like that I just that didn't sit well with me I don't mind racing like battle board racing on your markets at go I got got no problem with that. I don't mind speed sailing and clocks and time and distance. That's beautiful stuff. But when you get into judgment, you get into man's judgment, it just never seems to work out right. It's always confusing. How did this guy

win and that guy? And sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it's not. Sometimes people win when they shouldn't have won, but then they get to the spot and they win, but they shouldn't even have been there, but then when they actually get there, they do win. So it's just all that stuff. And I just figured, my idea was just like, if you could surf the best in the biggest waves,

and what's there to say? Like if you can go out in the biggest surf and surf the best, when surf and surf the best, when I say surf the best, I mean just surf in a way that's distinctly better than everybody else. I just thought that that would be kind of, that's my idea of having a time or a distance. That's my idea of a measurement. Like you want a measurement? Here's your measurement. You know, we're not some crappy surf,

not some, you know, but big and as big as it can be. And then perform in that in a way that separates you from the other surfers. And just try to, you know, use that as your barometer. Let's talk about what makes us successful. And I want to start with something I call extreme preparation, which means preparing more than anybody else. So if someone prepares for a podcast one or two hours,

I'm usually 14 or 15 on average. I know that about you. First of all, Gabby already warned me. She said, yeah, you're going to... Because she's super... Because she does it. She knows about the effort it takes and she knows that your work is is the level of your

research is very high you spend a lot of time and it shows I could just tell by the questions that you asked that you're you know you take the effort and it makes a difference that's why it that's why you get what you get because you put the time in there's no secret just put the time in. There's no secret. Just put the effort in. Awesome. Thank you. So how important is extreme preparation, preparing for a big surf where you're going out and

you're leaving town and you're mapping what you're going to do? What's everything? I mean, that is the performance is the preparation. Like, the achievement is the preparation. That's the whole, like, I mean... And it's everything. And when I say everything, I don't just mean like being in shape.

I mean, making sure your house is clean and straight. Your relationships are good. Like trying to avoid where you can, trying to make sure that everything's good, and learning that process about the mental, the physical, the spiritual, all those preparations and how important that is, right? Like I look at it more like in a holistic approach, like look at it in its entirety.

Because it will affect your performance. It's gonna affect it. Somewhere, the least thing is gonna affect it, you know, for me, I think a big piece of it is the regimented ritualistic approach, where you just do the same thing all the time, even when it's not giant. You're just doing it, you do it the same way every day, and then all of a sudden it's not like a deter... You're not deterring yourself on the given day. You're not going, okay, today it's giant, I'm gonna do something different.

No, you just do this every day real diligently. And so then it's... Then it becomes a little bit more... You've taken care of that part of it. You know, you've taken care of the parts that you can control because one thing about the ocean is you, there's a lot you're not gonna control. So.

Right, I mean, today we're sitting here, Gabby texted me last week and said, hey, I don't think there's a big swell coming up somewhere. So what's involved tactically? Garrett McNamara was on the show, and on TV he talked about, I mean, they had him planning, they had maps, they had 10 people around, when's the wave coming? I think it's Thursday next week,

and they went out waiting for it. So what's involved tactically as it relates to extreme preparation? Well, I mean, of course, there's like when you're talking about, you know, looking at conditions and having, you know, for me, I have kind of a group of people that I work with, that I've worked with for a very long time that have a lot of wisdom. And so I rely on some of that wisdom as well. I have friends that have specific knowledge and skills for specific locations as one aspect. It's what you're looking for

as well. There's weather apps and all these other things that we're using. You know, we have a seeing, not until you see the whites of the eyes. A lot of this stuff is just giving you a forecast of the potential of it happening, but it's not happening until you're there in the water and you see it. I mean, because there's just so many variables.

And so, you know, and then you have to be in a position to be able to be available, right? You just have to be able to have that freedom that you can go and move. I mean, you have to have the desire to wanna move. If you're going to a remote location that you don't know, I mean, usually when I go into some place that I haven't been, I usually go on a scout run first

before I call all the boys in. to some place that I haven't been. I usually go on a scout run first before I call all the boys in. It's like you send out a scout. You send your scout out. The scout scouts it and goes, okay, I'm the scout, I'll scout myself and be like, okay, this is what we're staying, this is the thing, this is what we're going to do?

That's more interesting for me. Going and doing the same thing over and over at the same place, I'm so not interested. I have no interest in that. There's some places that I've continued to go to that I've been riding, but having a new frontier and looking for a new frontier, that's the part that's got me interested.

I have no interest in, okay, going to JAWS, going to Nazaré. I mean, they got more people at Nazaré than they need. It's like, you don't need another, and I've been to Nazaré, and I went foiling at Nazaré on one of the bigger days that they've had there, according to them. And, I mean, it was great.

We had fun, but it wasn't something I was like, oh my gosh, I gotta come back here and I'm gonna put all my attention on it. But also I've been through that discipline. I'm not, you know, towing in on a surfboard for me is not exciting me. Towing in on a surfboard, I'm just not, that's not, that doesn't keep me up at night.

That doesn't keep my, you know, I'm not like I am for some other things. So I have some other things that are got me, like, you know, I got talents for. So I just keep looking for that. You know, I've done that throughout my whole career. That I just, every at a certain point, I just look for a new thing to get my,

and you know, sometimes it's the coincidence that it happens to be that when it gets popularized is when I get out, but it's just that I've already been through the process. I've had the six or eight years in it, and then it gets popular, but I'm already not interested, I'm not interested because it's popular,

I'm just kind of already have been through the process. I went through the cycle. So normally, in my career, I'm not interested because it's popular. I just kind of already have been through the process. I went through the cycle. So normally, in my career, I found myself doing new disciplines continually. And once I go through the cycle, kind of the cycle of it, I go on to the next one. And sometimes that just coincides

with the popularization of it, the coincidentally. But it's really about my interest into the new thing and that I've gotten to a level in it where I'm fighting for inches. And I like that beginning of the curve. I like that steep part of the curve when you're really getting a lot out of everything. And once you get to the top

and you're starting to polish the stone, I just start to go, okay, I'm good. Like I just, I lose interest I just start to go, okay, I'm good. Like I just, I lose interest because I'm not getting that, you know, that feeling of, you know, of accomplishment that I get early in that thing when you're really, you know, making big leaps.

I think part of being successful is being able to motivate people. That's the reason of my show having amazing people like you on the show. I've been doing some personal paid coaching for the last 20 years. of being able to motivate people. That's the reason of my show having amazing people like you on the show. I've been doing some personal paid coaching for the last 20 years. If anyone's interested in my coaching,

please go to randallkaplan.com and you can click the link. Tell us about what you did for Tom Jones, which was a crazy, crazy feat. Yeah, well, Tom is a special guy. Tom just approached me randomly. I didn't know who Tom was. Tom Jones, who if you don't know him, is an incredible Muay Thai world champion

and survived a tough upbringing and came to me one day and wanted to paddle the whole eastern seaboard or the western seaboard or some ridiculous, because he's an endurance monster. So one of his feats was he ran a marathon before he had a title fight in the morning, and then he knocked the guy out in three rounds. He's ran across the country, I think, twice now.

He ran to the Boston Marathon, I think, or Manhattan. Anyway, they ran all the way, like, 150 mar, or Manhattan anyway. They ran all the way like 150 marathons there. I don't know what the amount is but a lot of marathons in a row. So he's he's an endurance Mind savage he gave to me and just wanted to paddle board, you know lay down prone paddle and and I'm like Have you ever prone paddle? He's like, uh-uh. I'm like, oh, well, that's That'll hurt you like it paddling? He's like, uh-uh. I'm like, oh, well, that'll hurt you. Like, I mean, he's good at dealing with the hurt, but that'll hurt you in a way that, you know, better to,

so at the time we had been doing stand-up paddling. So that's, you know, standing on a board and paddling with an oar. Which you co-invented as well, and everyone hated it. Yeah. And it's now... I'd actually like to say, I alone reenacted something that I do believe may have been around in the past, but I've paddled for probably five or six years alone.

So I was actually paddling, doing standup for at least five or six years alone. And then I got one or two friends of mine to adopt it. And then after that, it slowly went, and then it was, you know, it's like, was all over the world. It's in Middle East, it's in- People, people shit all over it. Yeah.

And today, it's a $1.8 billion industry. Yeah. It is expected in 2034 to be a $2.8 billion industry. Yeah. How good does that make you feel? Well, it just makes me feel like I'm not crazy. Yeah. Because for me, I really enjoy it and enjoyed it.

And so sometimes when you're alone enjoying something, you're kind of like, hey, is this really what I think it is? And that's just proof, again, about the idea that the idea was big. You know, I always talk to to my daughters about it too. I'm like, you know, the the success of the idea is really, you know, proves how good the idea was. And, you know, you see, like, pretty good idea because people love that that sensation.

People can do it. They can. There's all different disciplines. You know, stand up foiling, stand up, you know, stand up racing, stand up surfing, stand up down the river. I mean, it's like so there's a lot to do and stand up foiling, stand up racing, stand up surfing, stand up down the river. I mean, it's like, so there's a lot to do in stand up. So just quickly, we'll go back to Tom. What did you- Yeah, so Tom, I just turned Tom, I told Tom, like, okay, stand up paddling. I think that's a better way for you to do it.

And I taught Tom how to do, how to, it didn't take long because he's, he's an incredible athlete. And I taught him how to stand up paddle., it didn't take long cause he's, you know, he's an incredible athlete and I taught him how to stand up paddle and then he was like off to the races. And then I think he paddled the whole Eastern seaboard, you know, from like Maine to Florida or something. And then he came back and paddled the Western seaboard

like Oregon to, you know, San Diego. So, you know, you get- But that one day, what did he do? Where he did something in the morning, he did something at night. Where he ran a marathon in the morning, and then he fought a world, like a Muay Thai World Championship,

and knocked the guy out. He actually asked the guys, hey, can I run a marathon before the fight? Like the union or the fight group. And they're like well we don't have any rules against it you know we don't have any rules against you running a marathon but we don't recommend running a marathon before you you know fight Muay Thai but yeah Tom Tom is a you know he's a special man

I hope you're enjoying this video so far but before we jump back in I want to know if you've ever thought about what you need to do to reach a nice level of success in your life. Over the last 25 years, I've been an advisor to more than 50 companies. I've invested nearly 100, including Google lift and Seagate. And I also co-founded a company that today is worth more than $15 billion. I've been incredibly blessed in my journey. And at this stage in my life, I want to give back.

I want to share the lessons I've learned so you can reach incredible success way faster than I did. In my own journey, I've learned that having the right mentor is a massive advantage to achieving our goals. I'm hugely passionate about mentoring others and I'm looking for a few hungry entrepreneurs who are excited to take action on their journey to incredible future success. So that's you, I've got an opportunity. In the description of this video, there's a link where you can apply to work with me. All you need to do is answer a few simple questions and if you're a good fit, my team will reach out so we can build a game plan together. All right, now let's get back to the video.

Foil industry allowed you, again, people hated it, right? It's not surfing, they criticized you. Back to like, let's define what surfing is. You go to Makaha, so there's a beautiful beach on the north shore, I mean on the west side of Oahu called Makaha. It's where all these great Hawaiians live and they surf at this wave. And you go there and there's a great man

named Buffalo Kealana who has Rusty and Brian and a bunch of beautiful sons. And these are Hawaiians, like these are Hawaiians. And they do every discipline. And they have this thing called the Buffalo Event, where you go there and they have canoe surfing, tandem surfing, they have bully boarding, they have guys like division,

they have divisions with guys over 350 pounds, like that's an over 350 pound division. And they ride every board, every single thing. So when people start defining what surfing is, you go to Makaha. And if I go to Makaha with a foil board, they'll be like, what even is that? That thing's awesome.

If you go there with a stand-up paddle, they're like, stand-up, you know, they're openness to... I mean, these are just tools. Like Brian Kilana has a great saying, don't define me by my equipment, right? Like this is just a tool. I mean, when we were kids,

we would get those McDonald's lunch trays and we would ride them on the ways with our hands. We would go get those plastic trays and use our hands and ride. I mean, we use anything. Like you use a piece of plywood, you use whatever's available. And that's how I grew up.

So my mind was always open to, hey, not this, this once, like we ride this board and this is the board we use and that whole thing. So our openness to being able to ride different things is... So whenever I ran into resistance about people making judgments about stuff, I'd just laugh. I'd be like, whatever. Like, again, back to how I grew up, I wasn't discouraged. You know, they have a great saying that...

They asked this woman entrepreneur who was really successful, what you do when you have a really good idea. And she said, just don't tell anybody for a year, because they'll just discourage you. Which is true. And people can be easily deterred. I think it has to do with the fact that people aren't always

going after their own ideas. They have an idea, but they don't pursue it. They don't pursue their own ideas. And so in return, when they see someone with an idea, they're going to discourage them because indirectly they're maybe wishing that they went after theirs or they're mad that they didn't go after.

It's almost like a reminder to them, like, hey, why didn't you pursue yours? But yeah, don't tell anybody or just don't be discouraged. And so I've had plenty of times to be discouraged with all these ideas. Hey, that's not surfing, hey, that's not surfing, hey, that's not surfing. I'm like, feels like surfing to me. Like, I don't know what you guys are doing,

but I'm riding a wave right now and this feels amazing. And you just go with that. And then you get a couple of friends to make sure that you're not completely crazy. Because if you're all alone, maybe you are crazy and maybe it's not as great as you think. But if you have a couple people telling you, tell you this is great, then, you know, they might be.

$1.68 billion, 2024 industry, yeah. Tells you it's not crazy. It's not crazy. And foiling is the next, that thing has really taken off everywhere. So foiling is, people understand it's a hydrofoil, but it's like an airplane that flies in the water

and lifts you up. And there's seven or eight disciplines within that. There's kite foiling, wing foiling, electric foiling, stand up paddle foiling, prone foiling, toe foiling. I mean, we have a bunch of disciplines within that, those devices. And those are allowing us to do things that we never dreamed.

So we can, guys are flying, you know, Kai Lenny, when these guys are flying in our island, they're riding swells all the way in between the islands faster than anybody's ever gotten across those channels. We're riding the longest waves in the world. We're riding giant waves. Yeah, we're, that's, yeah. I mean, the human condition, like you said,

it's people will discourage you. They're envious. They didn't think of it themselves. They're not going to do it. Tell us about the t-shirts with the paddle boarding, t-shirts against you, and then tell us about the t-shirts that you wrote back. Yeah, yeah.

Well, at one point, there was such a strong force against stand-up paddling. It's like a smear campaign. So they had a picture of Thoreau. And then they said, blame Laird. They had the blame. There was like blame Laird. And so I just took that as a compliment.

I'm like, okay, cool, blame that, you know, blame me for all that fun you're having. So I just kind of turned it on its head and ended up, you know, trademarking it and making shirts out of it. I mean, Thoreau is beautiful because I don't know if they read Thoreau, but you know, one of my favorite lines from Thoreau is,

disobedience is the true foundation of liberty and the obedient shall be slaves. So I'm okay with the disobedience part and going against the grain. But yeah, again, back to my upbringing, I think hard to discourage. Gabby talks about when I have an idea, I just bite in like a,

and it's kind of ridiculous in a way. I think it's hard. I'm glad somebody will live with me through it all. But yeah, because I just won't let it go. It's back to the bone, back to the bone. It's like a dog with a bone. I just did not let the thing go. And it's not easy to be that way.

It's just the nature of how I approach it. I'll just be... You know, it's just... I'm sleeping in it. I'm living it. I'm eating it. I approach it. I'll just be, you know, it's just, I'm sleeping in it, I'm living it, I'm eating it, I'm drinking it, I'm just, it's in me. And I've gotten better at dealing with that, I think as I've, you know, as I'm also that kind of intensity into how important that is for me. I just think that that's part of what I'm here to do. And I measure my success and my achievement.

I can ride waves, but if my family is just a debacle, then what good am I? And so, I think that that's, you know, I mean, family and, you know, being a good father, getting a good husband, having all those things, that's such an important part of what I measure, how I measure success. I go, I mean, because that's the big, I'm playing the big game, I'm playing the long game, you know, and so game. And so there's achievement and thing and duh, and there's a lot of, it's a long game. It's a marathon, this is not a sprint. And so for me, I'm in the long game and what I consider important, changes,

and I don't stop having those other pieces. But yeah, it's a, you know, I'm in for the long game. I'm looking at it. There's a great saying, the victory through attrition. I like that, you know, you don't have to be any good if you're the last guy standing, you just win. So that's the game I'm trying to play right now. I'm trying to play the, you I'm trying to play the last guy standing.

Tell us about Don Wildman and the importance of mentors. Can we be successful without a great mentor? No. Be successful without a great mentor? Yes. I mean, I think there's, well, listen, I think there's an exception to every rule. But having a good mentor, I mean,

there's a reason why we have wise men mean, there's a reason why we have wise men, you know? And there's a reason why we have mentors and why they're so important and why, you know, having a, you know, being a good father is important, but, you know, and that can be to other people, like being a good man. But having mentors is mandatory and Don Wildman's one of the greats, you know?

Don was one of my mentors that I've been blessed to have. I've had some great ones. He was one of the greatest. His actual name was Donahue Wildman. Just take that for whatever you want. Fought in Korea when he was 17, went to war, started Bally's Health Clubs, largest health club chain in the country, sold it at the peak of it around fitness. He was a genius marketer, incredible people person.

I met him helicopter snowboarding randomly. I was invited with some other people and met him. And then when I moved to Malibu, I coincidentally moved down the street. So he just took me in. He did the Iron Man 10 times and did a bunch of crazy stuff. Him and I did helicopter snowboard, snowboarded all over the world. Don was the kind of guy that,

no matter what you're doing, you go, hey, I was thinking about diving with sharks next week. I'm in, let's go. Like, yeah, I think I'm gonna go skydiving. Oh yeah, I'm in, let's go. Like he would, no matter what, he would just, he would go. He was always so appreciative.

He'd come over to the house for dinner and be like, oh, this is the best I've ever had. And then the next week he'd come over to the house, this is the best. That, you know, it's like his enthusiasm for life, it was contagious and beyond generous, crazy generous. And a bare-knuckle fighter too, didn't tolerate stupidity. But again, as an inspiration, as a mentor, really a special guy,

him and I had a very unique relationship, and I'm so thankful that I had that opportunity. I've had some other great ones, some other great men in my life, but those men are so important as a reference to give you... Because you can take what you like and leave out what you don't. And you can become your unique self as pieces of all these other things

that create your uniqueness. You take a little bit from there, I like that, I don't like that, I like this. And then you put it all together and then you can take the things that you admire and throw the things out that you don't and try to be your own man. Speaking of generosity, your daughter is friends with my son Charlie on his 20th birthday you took him foiling.

He was so pumped. He doesn't want me to share the story but I'm gonna share the story. I'm gonna share part of the story that you don't know. And you were out there, he was struggling, the sucking wind a little bit and then when it was time to come in the stones on the on the sand were so painful that he was just suffering so badly. He said, man, I needed to be a man. Larry was so tough, so tough, so tough. And he was struggling. And so he said that you just came and you got him,

just picked up that foil like it was a two pound weight and just put it in the back of the truck. But it was so generous of you and really made a huge impact on his life. Well, for me, I feel like that's an opportunity. You know I have a I look at that as a responsibility and myself personally I take it as a responsibility that I can if I can mentor I've been so mentored in my life if I can mentor like that's I go that's my that's my shot and so I have all daughters so whenever I get young men

around and I can, you know, I can boost them a little bit or, you know, be the dawn for them in a way. Because like I said, I had so many beautiful men that I've aspired and looked up to. And so, you know, try to be the thing that you, you know thing that you respect. I think being a hero is also important. Not many people have the chance to be a hero. Tell us about your naked swim and how you saved your good friend's life. Naked swim, yeah. That was always that one.

Sometimes they blend together, all those things. But we rode it. The surf was giant, as big as we've ever surfed. And he put me, he towed me onto wave, and then I was unable to descend, and then I had to dive into the face of the wave. And when I came up, he was there to get me. But behind him was just a big, dark creature. Looked like a creature.

And so I got on the ski with him and we tried to run away. And when we were running away from the next wave, we went into where the wave that I was on broke and the water was aerated. And so we got run over by that next wave. And we probably got blown a couple of football fields underwater in. And when I came up, he was floating face down. over by that next wave and we probably got blown a couple football fields underwater in.

And when I came up he was floating face down and I swam over to him and he was still conscious but there was like red, you know, the whole water was red around him and he had split the back of his leg from right about his knee a little bit above his knee all the way down to the heel. And so I needed to tourniquet and I didn't really have any rope on me and so I just had a flotation device and he had one on, that's why he was floating. I gave him another one so he could kind of float higher and then I took my wetsuit off and tied his leg with my wetsuit, de-turnicated his leg, and then I had to swim to the jet ski that had gotten washed in.

I don't know how far it was, but it was far enough. I had to swim into it, get it, kind of jury-rig it, lost the lanyard, so I wasn't able to start. I had to get some, kind of jury-rig it, lost the lanyard, so I wasn't able to start. I had to get some little piece of wire, start it, go back to him. He was still conscious, got him on the ski, and then crash-landed on the beach. I had a radio, I ended up calling the Coast Guard, and then indirectly I got them to meet us at the beach.

And then I crash-landed at the beach. And then I crash landed on the beach naked in front of a bunch of people in a parking lot, because you're coming with the jet ski going full speed and you can slide up the sand. And the surf was really giant, so the whole park was washed out. And so the cars were way in the back and the people were probably just watching

the way the lifeguard stand, I think, was either knocked over or kind of tipped over. But I flew up and landed naked and somebody ran out and threw me some shorts and I put the shorts on and then got my friend into the ambulance, my friend Brett Lickold, got him in the ambulance, my friend Brett Lickold, got him in the ambulance, and then we went back out again. That was the day that changed my life, actually.

One of them. That changed my life. That day is when I stopped toe surfing. I put away my boards after that because I realized that they weren't going to work if it really got giant. And that's when I completely focused on foiling and had been focused on foiling since that day. Because I realized that we wouldn't be able to ride the biggest waves that could come on a conventional surfboard.

And so that was a big... That kind of changed everything. I ended up moving off of Maui, and kind of just everything after that was like a monumental day. Yeah, you've been known to be a controversial guy. How important is not giving a shit what other people think to our success? I think it's mandatory. I think you can't care what people think

except for the people that you respect and that you love. You need to care about that. But as far as everybody else, because people don't care about you like you think they do. Let's talk about work-life balance. And I want to talk about, first, I want to talk about your marriage. Your high profile, Gabby's high profile,

you've spoken publicly that you had marital troubles many years ago. How difficult is it being in the public eye where everyone's watching you, what you're doing? Is it embarrassing when everybody knows that you're having trouble? I'm not embarrassed by it, but again, it's back to that same thing

I use everywhere else, which is I don't really care. My big thing is how it is between us. I mean, I think being in a relationship is work. It's called a ship and you're sailing it. And so it takes effort and everybody's gotta participate. So I don't think being in the public eye made our relationship any harder or made it any easier. I just think it was just one of the factors.

But yeah, we're, I mean, Gabby and I are, have a, you know, we've put a lot of time and effort into our love and we are being rewarded for that because we're not, we weren't quick to just give it up, which is pretty common, and we could have easily, we could have easily just been, ah, this is too hard, I'm good.

And so that seems to be very popular in this day and age. Just, it's too much for me, I don't want to deal with this. And so we had that for a moment, and then we realized, maybe not, maybe this is much more precious than we realized, and so we need to, and make it work, but you both have to wanna do that. Before I married my wife Madison

is the most incredible special person in the world. I was single for seven and a half years. And the last girl I dated before I met Madison said she was posing for Playboy. And I said, if you do that, we can't date anymore. Just didn't go with my image. It wasn't good on the west side of LA. I mean, I'd taken her to Four Seasons of Mount Leashore.

She's doing bikini. I'm getting calls from people in LA. Weren't even there. Oh my gosh, the wives all hated me. Gab and I talked about this on the show as well. And as a husband, were you supportive of your wife posing naked where men would look at her body? I think that's something that a lot of men, including me, would never want.

Yeah, I mean, I think that that's, again, you know, it's, I think, I don't know, it's, I think it's a personal... Of course, your ego doesn't want that. But in Gabby's layout, it's done tastefully. I know the photographer. And by the way, if she wants to do it, am I going to stop her? Probably not. And if I am at the end, is that going to work out? So I think for me, I feel like these are choices.

There are certain choices that people are going to make, and you're going to be in a relationship with them. And if you think that you're going to control that, then you're going to end up, you're going to pay somewhere later. And I don't want to be in that kind of relationship, too. I want her to have the freedom to do and be who she is and who she wants. And if I have a problem with that,

then I won't be with her. And if I can handle it, and it's not easy, I think, for any man to be with a strong woman that has their opinion and their desires. And again, don't love it. you know, don't love it. Like, don't, of course you don't love that. Like, you know, but, and I'm not like off where people go,

oh, yeah, it's like, you know, having maybe men like their wives, that their wives are desirable. I don't have any of that stuff on either side. But yeah, I think it's her choice. I mean, this is, she's a woman. And if that's what you decide Decided to do or wants to do. Okay. I mean I could put my you know I mean she's got me to paddle with no clothes on in a thing

So I you know, I don't know how that happened I'm like is this for real right now like I'm in the middle of the thing and I'm like, I'm like am I actually doing it? so, you know, I You know, I guess it's what are you gonna do? I mean, you know at the end of the thing and I'm like, am I actually doing this? So, you know, I guess it's, what are you going to do? I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, the funny thing is when you're in it, you think it means everything. And then when you look back, you're just like, oh yeah, like whatever. Like, so it's just sometimes I think in the moment we just make things so important, but in the big, in the big picture of life, if you look back, you're like, okay, well, that was a moment for a thing,

and it's like, those are, you know, it's one image on a billion images. It just doesn't, it's like, I'm all clear. We're at the end of our show, and I always conclude the end of the show with a game I call fill in the blank to excellence. Are you ready to play? Or not. The biggest lesson I've learned in my life is

Be patient. My number one professional goal is Keep going. My number one personal goal is Love. The one thing everybody should say to themselves before they go to sleep is Tomorrow's a new day. The one thing everyone should say to themselves before they go to sleep is, Tomorrow's a new day.

The one thing everyone should say to themselves when they wake up in the morning is, Today's a new day. My biggest regret is, I don't have any. My biggest fear is, I don't have any. The things that keep me up the most at night are, That there's not enough waves.

The most prideful moment of my career is... Thinking you're any good. The craziest thing that's happened in my career is... Met Gabby on an interview. The funniest thing that ever happened in my career is... I found myself paddling naked. The worst advice I've ever received is? Just say no.

The best advice I've ever received is? Say yes. If you could pick one trait that would lead to somebody's success, it would be? Perseverance. The most important quality in being a successful entrepreneur is? Perseverance.

The single most important quality that will lead most likely to failure is? Weakness. 10 years from now I'm going to be? Having a lot of fun. 20 years from now I'm going to be? Still having a lot of fun. The biggest problem in the United States today is? People are having fun. The biggest... People the United States today is... People are having fun.

The biggest... People aren't having fun. The biggest problem in the world today is... Greed. The one thing I've dreamed about doing for a long time but haven't is... Ride the Arctic, the roaring 40s, which is down in the miserable place. Is it gonna happen? Well, we're going in that direction. which is down in the miserable place. Is it going to happen?

Well, we're going in that direction. I think it's going to happen, actually. I don't know what state I'm going to be in, but it's going to happen. If you could go back and give your 21-year-old self one piece of advice, it would be... Try to break less parts. If you could meet one person in the world, who would it be?

There's not too many people alive I want to meet. In fact, none really, but I'd go Jesus Dead. I'd tell you, let me meet that guy. And as far as alive, there's none I really... I mean, if I don't know him already, I'm not interested. If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be? I'm gonna, it's gonna happen. Whoever it is, it just happens.

It's like when it seems like it just happens when you really, if you really want to meet them or you really want to have dinner with them, who would it be? I think there's just too many, too many, I wouldn't, yeah, there's too many choices. On this day, as we sit here today, if you were President Trump right now, the first thing you would do is? I mean, the first thing I would do, I mean, that can be done or that he's trying to do that's not getting happened, I'd just try to stop all the wars. I just stop killing people.

First, let's just, very first thing, let's just stop killing people. Too many people are dying in the world, even if it has nothing to do with us. Just too many people are dying. If you're on your deathbed, and you're surrounded by Gabby and your family, what's the last thing you would say to them? I'll be waiting for you.

The one question that you wish I had asked you but didn't is? How much do I weigh? I'm going to guess, by the way. I'm going to guess 176. 215. 215? Yeah. All muscle mass.

Thick cranium. Larry, this has been incredible. I've wanted you on my show for a long time. Thank you. Inspiration of so many people. Thank you, Randall. Appreciate you. Thank you.

Thanks for being good to my son. Always. I'll do it again. Gotta have you guys over to the house, play some pickle. Oh yeah. You, Gabby, bring your kids. I'll bring Itai and Viola. They're wicked. Awesome.

They're got some high level pickle ballers. Love it. Thanks again. Thank you. Appreciate you. Aloha. Aloha. Thank you.