Tag: Big Wave Surfing

Professional Surfer Kai Lenny on Routine, Fear and Big Waves

From Portugal's Nazaré to Maui's Jaws, big-wave surfing demands practice, skill, courage and camaraderie

Posted by
Posted on
Read — Culture

Unlike any other professional sport, surf competitions, especially big-wave surf competitions, require a literal perfect storm of conditions. Swell height and intervals, wind speed and direction, tidal shifts and weather—they all must align for a contest to be greenlit. Once the call goes out, the cadre of invitees and alternates from all over the world board last-minute flights, scramble for rental cars and descend upon …

Quiksilver’s CO2-Powered Inflation Vest for Big-Wave Surfing: the Highline Airlift

Developed in collaboration with Peter Mel, Jamie Mitchell and dive company Aqua Lung

Posted by
Posted on
Read — Design

A safety vest unlike any other, Quiksilver’s Highline Airlift vest—developed in collaboration with Aqua Lung and big-wave surfers Peter Mel and Jamie Mitchell—represents years’ worth of research and development. Very much resembling a wetsuit top or rash guard, the FN’lite neoprene (Quiksilver’s proprietary material) vest carries slender carbon dioxide cartridges that, when inflated, pull the wearer back to the surface. It’s dynamic enough to fit …