I have seen a superb documentary on surf history, lifestyle and … big waves surfing, called Riding giants. Specially the third part about big waves surfing and Laird Hamilton makes this movie different. I have already seen a lot of shots with big waves but these ones…are just unbelievable.

“Riding Giants” has 3 parts or acts, each concentrating on one surfing innovator and the culture in which he thrived.

1) The first act explores the world of Greg Noll, surfing’s flamboyant celebrity of the 1950s and 1960s. Interviews with Noll and other surfing giants of the time, including Ricky Grigg, Mickey Munoz, and Mike Stang, take us through the genesis of the surfing lifestyle in Southern California to Hawaii’s Waimea Bay, through the explosion in surfing popularity brought on by “Gidget” in 1959, up until Noll surfed “the greatest swell of the 20th century” at Makaha in December of 1969.

2) “Riding Giants”‘ second act focuses on Jeff Clark and the surfers of Maverick’s in Northern California. Clark tells the story of surfing Maverick’s alone for 15 years before finally convincing 2 other surfers to join him in 1990. Maverick’s surfers talk about the challenges of cold water, fog, and rocks and the day that Mark Foo died.

3) The third act of “Riding Giants” profiles Laird Hamilton, a man who has been described as the “best big wave rider the world has seen”, and explores the relatively new field of tow-in surfing, in which surfing becomes a partnership instead of a solitary pursuit. A tow-in by a jet ski provides surfers with the speed required to catch enormous waves -up to 80 feet- at considerable peril. Hamilton and fellow surfers Darrick Doerner, Dave Kalama, and Gerry Lopez talk about discovering the tow-in technique and surfing Peahi (Jaws).