Waterpeople Podcast

What do neoprene  wetsuits have to do with Cancer Alley ?  The global wetsuit industry is valued at around $2.8 Billion USD. "The vast majority of wetsuits on sale today are made of a synthetic rubber called Neoprene. Neoprene – the commercial name for chloroprene rubber – is the product of a toxic, carcinogenic chemical process. There is only one chloroprene plant in the US. It is owned by J...

If you only had 10 healthy years left of life, would you choose to know it ? Big wave surfer Felicity Palmateer is known for her paddle-ins at Peahi, commentating WSL events, starring in Australian Survivor (twice) and holding the record for largest wave ever ridden by an Aussie woman. Parallel to her successful surfing career, Felicity has navigated tumultuous familial seas.  She talks us through...

“Each of us occupies a singular ecological niche in the web of life that is uniquely ours, and when we restore ourselves to health and vitality, we contribute to the health and vitality of our entire planet.” Such is the philosophy of psychiatrist and surfer Dr. Elizabeth Nguyen . Dr. Nguyen specialises in cross cultural psychiatry , the intersection of spirituality and mental health, and the heal...

With gender norms up in the air, what does it mean to be a dad today? For Chris Del Moro , it means showing up for it all - good, bad, and messy -  and maintaining stability for his family.  Chris is an artist, surfer and devoted father to his two boys. He shares about the pivotal experiences with his own fathers and mentors that shaped him into the steadfast man he is today.  Chris spent more tha...

When was the last time you refused to take 'no' for an answer ? Belen Alvarez Kimble shares about the life-changing instance when she pushed against cultural norms and expectations to lay down her life's path.  Belen occupied one of the very few positions as a professional freesurfer through the early 2000s and worked with surf brands as an ambassador for unifying women’s surfing ar...

What's possible in the eighth decade of life?  Rusty Miller will be 80 this year - and he's still rocking off at Lennox Point and taking off on the best set waves.  Born in Southern Californian, Rusty was the 1965 United States Surfing Champion. He moved to Byron Bay Australia in 1970, where he has since lived, surfed, taught, and written about surfing -- and been an integral member of t...

Welcome back for the 5th Season of The Waterpeople Podcast. Listen in as Dave and Lauren turn the mic on one another and get set for 16 fresh episodes of ocean-centric storytelling. .... Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Dave & Ben Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast   Send us Fan Mail ... Co...

Is your mouth open or closed right now ? There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: we take air in, let it out, and repeat 25,000 times a day. But most of us have forgotten how to do it properly. Journalist, aquanaut, surfer and author James Nestor 's latest book BREATH: the New Science of a Lost Art   explores the million-year-long history of how the human s...

Lore of the Waikiki Beach Boys is well known – those legendary Hawaiian watermen like Duke Kahanamoku and Rabbit Kekai who regulated the turf of one surfing’s most fabled beaches. But where were the wahine ? Today we’re in conversation with original Waikiki Wahine Beach Boy Laola Lake , champion outrigger paddler, surfer and ocean safety advocate.  Laola grew up in the ocean front cottages of the...

How will we choose to spend this one wild and precious life? Rick Ridgeway has devoted his seven decades to adventuring  Earth's widest seas and tallest peaks -- and working to protect the wildness that remains. Rick's  earliest adventures were oceanic – sailing and surfing – but he’s recognized amongst the world’s foremost mountineers . In 1976 he joined the American Bicentennial Everes...

As a member of the Zephyr skateboard team in the 1970’s -- made  famous by the documentary Dogtown and Z Boys   --  Peggy Oki was at the top of the women’s skateboarding world while pioneering the vertical skating movement alongside the DogTown crew of Jay Adams, Tony Alva and Stacey Peralta,  as the lone Z-Girl. Peggy is a surfer, skater, rock climber, and visual artist who has adventured between...

In early 1970, Jock Sutherland enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in Vietnam. At  that time, he was considered amongst the most visible and versatile surfers on the planet. The surfing world was shocked; and so was his mother.  Jock never made it to active duty, but spent two years in the service, after which he was rarely included in surf media.  In 1989, Jock was busted for running cocaine and s...

Nathan Oldfield has journeyed into the depths of grief, and back, to make surf films brimming with reverence for the extraordinary beauty of life. He has crafted six award winning films, most recently The Heart & The Sea , and The Church of the Open Sky , which  earned the Special Honor for Most Heart at the Xpedition Film Festival in Colorado.  Nathan is also a poet and meditation teacher, an...

Following on from our full length episode, Nathan Oldfield shares about his decade-long relationship with practicing  and teaching meditation, and talks us through a short guided meditation that he offers to school children. … Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Wave Brain   - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. a...

Most conservation organisations mirror corporations in structure, operation, and strategy. But has that been effective? Andy Ridley, founder of Earth Hour and Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef , doesn't think so. He's asking how we build the 21st century conservation operation with the citizen at its heart.  "The traditional way of doing conservation is 'pass us your money and...

What happens when you lose it all? After a successful, 14 year professional surfing career, Karina Petroni discovered that all of her earnings and assets had suspiciously vaporised. Karina was born and raised in the Panama Canal Zone, but is known as one of The East Coast's surf prodigies.  In 2006, the  New York Times called her one of the “scions of Florida's recent surfing tradition.&...

Gwyn Haslock has nearly 6 decades of surfing under her belt. She was born in Cornwall in 1945, and is renowned as one of the UK’s original surfers. Gwyn holds many competitive surfing accolades, including multiple British National Champion titles. We first heard about – and wrote about  -- Gwyn’s story in 2015  after connecting with English bellyboarding enthusiast Sally Parkin , who said:  “I am...

For many, 2020 was the worst.  Chelsea Woody , a neuroscience nurse who moonlights as a Vans surf ambassador, is clear that it was “the worst year of her life.” After getting COVID from work, and subsequently  experiencing  a painful loss, — while  witnessing the suffering of so many through the pandemic -  Chelsea wished (for the first time) that she’d chosen a different profession. Parallel to t...

In Greek myth, staring at the monster Medusa would turn mortals to stone; one needed a mirror to take the edge off.  Surfer, filmmaker and musician Jack Johnson reckons music and art can play a similar role in reflecting more digestible, less paralysing iterations of the ills and obstacles facing us all.  Jack studied film at UCSB, and went on to make culture shaping movies like Thicker Than Water...

What if your homeland was suddenly the target of foreign attacks ? What would you do?  Ukrainian Kshisya Tachanskaya fled with her two children, a few belongings, reluctantly kissed her husband farewell, and drove for a familiar coast -- some 4000km away (2500 miles).  Kshisya  is part of Ukraine’s tight knit surfing community who enjoy the couple of windswells that the Black Sea delivers each yea...

Unlike golf clubs and tennis racquets,  surfboards are still largely made by local artisans.               But, what sets the surfboard making industry apart from parallel industries? Why do local shapers still make boards? Master shaper Tom Wegener examines this question -- and much more -- in his PhD thesis and book Surfboard Artisans: For the Love .  "How can an industry which values passi...

Part Two of our meandering conversation with master shaper Tom Wegener talking the nitty gritty of board construction, how he almost got the call to be in The Endless Summer II,  experimenting with ancient techniques in the shaping bay and which mode of wave riding is stoking him out the most right now. ... Tom started shaping and glassing in 1978 in his parents garage and is best known for helpin...

Waterpeople is back with a fourth season of stories about the aquatic experiences that shape us, change us, and call us into this quirky  community of water folk across the globe. This season we'll hear from 16 waterpeople - some globally renowned, others under appreciated -  and learn about the moments that changed everything. In this episode we sit down for a catch up with our new sponsor t...

What happens when life calls you to face your fears? Surfer,  adventurer and mother of three Sam Bloom had to face that call after a 2013 family holiday went tragically wrong.  Sam is a two-time world para surfing champion. She is the bestselling author of two books , and the subject of the 2020 film Penguin Bloom , starring Naomi Watts. Those three works detail the tragic accident that left Sam p...

To wrap up the third season, Lauren and Dave turn the mic on one another for a meandering chat through surf adventure stories,  common questions from listeners,  and their own answers to the central Waterpeople question about a time or experience after which you were never the same. We'll be back with a stacked fourth season in May or June, full of fresh stories,  inspiring ideas, and plenty...