A few years ago, I had a long conversation with Gerry Lopez. We talked about a lot of things–you can read a condensed version of it here)–and unlike most conversations, nearly everything he said could be distilled down into some insightful pearl of wisdom. Gerry Lopez is surfing’s Buddha. Full of calmness, a penetrating, deep happiness, and a humble sense of self-awareness that people are drawn to. He lives like he surfs—a rock in a maelstrom, calm and serene despite what is happening around him. Although it didn’t make the final cut of our interview because it had nothing to do with anything, one thing he said to me stuck fast. We started talking about arguing with our significant others. Gerry, in his infinite wisdom, told me to get over myself. “If it’s not worth getting upset about, go down to the nearest Home Depot,” he said. “Get yourself some knee pads, and beg for forgiveness.”
Gerry lives in Bend, Oregon, far from the perfect, warm waves of his youth. And although he does still surf often–he’s a bit of a river rat–he’s thrown himself into snowboarding with a passion. Both he and his son, Alex, spend as much time as they can in the snow. As he does with his surfing, brings his effortless style to the mountain. “Of all the offshoot sports of surfing, I think snowboarding is really the closest one to surfing,” he explained. “Basically, that’s what you’re doing—you’re surfing the mountain. In a lot of ways it is like the ocean… certainly in a spiritual sense, it is.”
Mt. Bachelor is the closest mountain to Gerry’s home, so he spends a lot of time there. As he got to know the mountain, he found features that reminded him of waves on the North Shore and ended up with a very cool idea. “There’s all these terrain features that look like waves. I ended up getting very familiar with them and ended up naming a lot of them after surf spots. Then Andy Goggins came up with the idea to have an event using some of those features. I thought, ‘well that’s a good idea… let’s call it the Big Wave Challenge.'”
And much like it is with surfing, Gerry’s intent isn’t necessarily to crown a winner—although one is crowned—it’s all about fun.” Keep in mind something that the old beach boys of Waikiki used to say,” he wrote. “The best surfer is the one having the most fun. This is our primary goal, to create an event that is fun for you.”
