Big Wave Surfing: Insights from surfer/shaper legend Gary Linden
Interview by surfboardbuilders.com
8/24/07
When did you start surfing big waves?It’s hard to put it into years because riding big waves has always been a state of mind. The size just got bigger and bigger as I got older…but I always wanted to sit outside and catch the biggest wave….even if it was closed out. I just wanted to see if I could get to the bottom.
I was talking with Pat Curran and he said that it was a similar thing for him. He would sit outside. He just wanted to catch the biggest wave. So, I guess to put it a little more direct, the biggest waves I caught up to about 1971 were at Sunzal in El Salvador. I went out on a really big day on a really little board and that was my first exposure to anything huge other than Rincon in 1969…so start early. Big waves can be 6 feet or 50 feet. It’s the biggest thing that comes in… and that’s the drive.
How do things change when you move from normal to big surf?
Well…for anytime you push your limits, going back to that state of mind, it gives you an adrenaline rush. There is that thrill that you aren’t going to make it. And then when you do… The elated sensation when you do accomplish it, or you don’t...but the wipeout is fun too. There’s a rush to surviving that but as you go bigger and bigger the gravity or the feeling of throwing yourself off a building or something…I don’t like to be in high places cause if I get close (to the edge) I want to jump. I mean there is something inside me that wants to experience that. So I’m scared of it but when I ride big waves I can experience that weightlessness…that feeling of just throwing myself over the ledge.
You get to a point where you can’t paddle that fast and it becomes impossible to do that so sometimes when you are at that level (of surf) your looking down and there is only one or two that you might be able to get. At about 40 foot faces it starts to become marginal and about 50 foot it becomes 1 or 2 then over that it’s pretty much impossible to get down (the face) but its basically the same feeling…you can get the same thing if it was your first 6 foot wave at pipeline…where the bottom comes out and you don’t feel like you are going to make it.
So it’s that feeling. You get comfortable at 6 ft. Then you get comfortable at 10 foot. Then you get comfortable at 15 foot. Then you get comfortable at 20 foot. Then you try and get comfortable at 25 foot but no one ever gets comfortable at 30 foot. So you know, you just keep walking up the ladder but you are searching that same feeling. The feeling that you aren’t going to make it and then…you climb Mount Everest …you do it.
What are your favorite big wave spots?
My absolute favorite place for huge waves is Todos Santos cause I’m so comfortable and I have the most experience out there…and it’s probably the least crowded.
Rumor has it you go out there every year on your birthday?
Yeah, every year on my birthday. I’m going to try and keep doing it. I got lucky this year cause two days before was the predicted good swell and I saw that it was probably going to come a little bit later. I like it when there is kind of bad winds, big and nobody out. It turned out to be the biggest day of the year.
If I could surf Waimea with just a few people out that would be next. It has warm water. One day we caught it about 20 feet, about 35 to 40 foot faces with Elijah Young and Cheyne Horan…just the three of us. We had three hours by ourselves and that was incredible. I’ve had one good day at Makaha Point. It’s just like Rincon. It’s probably the best big wave ever but it doesn’t break very often…and then Dungeons in South Africa because it’s such a challenge and I’ve put some time in there.
Tell us about the changes in equipment at that level.
A good board for big waves for me has basically got to have some volume. It’s got to be big and chunky! You are going to be dealing with a lot of power. You aren’t going to be worrying about sinking the rail. You want to have soft edges. Mark Foo told me to make a board for him and he goes, "soften this thing up 'cause I’m not worried about getting speed. I’m worried about landing. I don’t want to catch on anything.” (laughs) You just keep it simple. You want to basically keep a flat bottom with some vee between the fins but I guess neutral in a word would be the best way to describe it.
You also want to have some good tail rocker and I like to have low entry rocker and a lot of tail rocker because I don’t want it (the board) to push me out front (of the wave). I want it to fit in that curve and I’m going to be standing on that tail because I want that nose to be up.
Tell us a little about your experience with Tow In surfing.
I started towing in 1995 with Cheyne and the Willis brothers in Hawaii. I’ve also towed into some big waves in Todos and some at Dungeons. As part of the Billibong Odyssey the most fun was towing in to the Columbia Rivermouth. That was just incredible.
I like it a lot but just don’t have the time to do all of the training necessary. The endurance of going behind a ski that’s going 40 miles per hours….most humans aren’t made for this so you’ve got to spend time in the gym to beef up your leg muscles, your arms, and your back.
Also, I prefer to savor my big waves. It’s going to take me two or three hours to catch 4 waves paddling in. It’s a big accomplishment…like hunting with a bow and arrow. Towing in is like having a gun and having someone run the deer by you (laughs)!
You tow into a wave, your down, you grab the rope, back up and out, towed into one more. You don’t get to rest. I want to remember every wave I paddle into. For me it’s just my position in life. If I had more time, I’d chase more waves tow and paddle. I don’t have anything against it. For me there is just no time for the training necessary.
Hold downs at this level…how do you deal with them?
You’ve got to be able to appreciate the thrill of the experience of being held down. It’s more of an adrenaline rush than making it…when you take that first breath after being held down for so long. If you are afraid of it, you aren’t going to make it. It’s all about relaxing. You have to be able to relax. So if you are prepared for being held down and you are not worried about being held down then it’s just a matter of time.
I worry about hitting my head…getting hit by your board or hitting the bottom. Those are the two dangers. The rest is just a matter of overcoming fear. I had asthma when I was a child so I learned how to relax and not gasp for breath. I mean if you panic when you have asthma it gets worse. If you relax you are going to make it through. Flea has asthma really bad too. It’s basically the same thing. So I’m not stressed about getting air and I’ve been through some long hold downs. You try and get a big breath before and try to not use it. You just try to not panic and try to let it go and ….just relax.
How has surfing big waves affected your shaping?
Surfing big waves has affected my shaping a lot on guns because I’m really confident I can make you a board that works. I think it’s important. If you really want to ride big waves, get a board from someone who has ridden them because it’s a whole different playing field out there. I’m really confident in that.
You know when Dick Brewer makes guns few people know that he used to ride really big waves too. That just carries over (to the shaping room). Jeff Clark makes good guns and rides big waves. It doesn’t take as much shaping ability as much as big wave experience to make a good big wave gun…I don’t think. Some really good shapers that don’t ride big waves, unless they listen really closely make terrible guns.
You can’t just make a high performance shortboard for big waves. You have got to be out there. You just don’t have any idea from your shaping room what its like when you ride a 20 foot wave. It’s a whole different playing field. You can look at something that you think is going to work…when you get out there and you do have the misfortune of catching one (laughs) you just get annihilated! That’s part of the core thing of being a big wave surfer/shaper.
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