When the non-surfing public thinks about the traits a generic surfer, they likely don’t have intelligence at the top of the list. The Spicoli effect sure is long-lasting, isn’t it? But when one thinks about the traits of an astrophysicist, they definitely have intelligence at the top of the list. And I’d wager that if you were to ask the general public to name a surfer and an astrophysicist, they could come up with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Kai Lenny. First, though, they’d probably say Stephen Hawking and Kelly Slater, but Lenny and deGrasse Tyson would eventually come out of their mouths.
Anyway, Neil deGrasse Tyson, like seemingly everyone else these days, has a podcast. It’s a great one, too. Startalk covers just about everything. “Space travel, extra-terrestrial life, the Big Bang, the role science plays in people’s lives, the future of our Earth and the environment, the science behind the most iconic sports plays in history, and breaking news from the universe,” the website reads. “Or, as our host Neil deGrasse Tyson says, ‘Everything under the sun; Or rather under the universe!'”
Kai Lenny is about as far from Jeff Spicoli as a surfer can get. Healthy, driven, motivated to be the best at whatever he does. A champion in numerous ocean-related disciplines. He’s a lot more than just a surfer, but surfing is at the core of what he is. He looks at riding waves a little differently than most, though, which is likely at least part of the reason he’s so good at it.
Their conversation is wide-ranging and very, very interesting. They talk about some basic things like how waves work and what, exactly determines their size. They talk about bathymetry and hydrofoiling and predicting waves. They talk about tow boards, ocean plastics, and the largest surfable wave in the universe. They talk about how tides would work near black holes. It’s a wild conversation that’s worth listening to.
