Everyone needs those seminal moments that reassure them they’re doing something for the right reasons. And surfing can be a tough sport to find affirmation in. My single greatest affirmation came one beautiful day in the Mentawais. I was lucky enough to be on a boat trip with the Dave Kalama, the most unsung hero of the strapped generation, always the partner to Laird, rarely described the other way around.
Anyway, it’s later in the evening and we’re at this incredible barelling left (don’t want to drop names). The waves were perfect–four-six feet, not a drop of wind and if you grabbed rail you could get auto-pitted and spat into the channel without even pumping. I took off on a beauty, stuck my ass in the wave and then felt my fins slide out just enough. When my rail engaged in the face the lip completely covered me and for about two or three seconds I was deep, deeper than I’d ever been in a wave. I’d never experienced a shadow so bright. I could see the boat in the channel and came out, perfectly clean and launched out the back of the wave, letting out a little inner-hoot.
As I paddled back to the boat, Dave was sitting on the back, near the engine. He put his fist out for a bump, “man, your technique looked awesome. You rode that wave perfectly.” Or some such. I don’t surf amazingly well. I can’t land airs or make marvelously-timed turns in fantastically steep sections. But if getting barelled on my backhand is my peak, I’ll take it. And Kalama literally gave me a seminal moment.
He hasn’t always been as stoked on my writing. And he’s told me as much. Straight up. But I kind of love that about the guy. That’s why I guess I’m glad to see him get his own time to be straight up, in this film, about his life and impact on its own. It’s kind of an advert for the company he’s working for now, but if you can get past that, there’s some awesome archival footage of Kalama doing what he loves: playing in the water on any type of vessel. By chance–still not sure how–I’ve been able to work with some of the most storied multi-sport ocean athletes alive today. Robbie Naish, Laird Hamilton, Kai Lenny, Gerry Lopez, and all of them, literally all of them, give mad respect to Dave Kalama (most appreciate his affirmations as much as I do).
He’s made an impact on a multitude of ocean endeavors, too: big wave surfing, wind surfing, and his latest, standup paddling. To me, Kalama hasn’t always received the credit he’s deserved. Maybe because of the divide that exists between standup and regular surfing. Or that paddle-in big wave surfing has become so pop as opposed to tow-in. The Molokai-2-Oahu champion (an event he won in his mid-forties) has been incredibly influential, whether it’s developing equipment, technique, or other athletes as a coach. But he probably just wants you to know him as a surfer.
