Laird Hamilton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Laird Hamilton |
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Hamilton in 2007
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| Personal information | |
| Born | Laird John Zerfas March 2, 1964 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Residence | [[Kauaʻi]] and Malibu |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) |
| Weight | 215 lb (98 kg) |
| Surfing career | |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Sponsors | Oxbow, Amway |
| Major achievements |
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| Surfing specifications | |
| Stance | Regular (natural foot) |
| Quiver | Long boards |
| Favorite waves | Teahupoʻo, Pipeline, Jaws |
| Website | lairdhamilton.com |
Laird Hamilton is a famous American surfer known for riding incredibly huge waves. He was born on March 2, 1964. Laird also helped create a new way of surfing called tow-in surfing. Besides surfing, he has worked as a model and actor. He is married to Gabrielle Reece, who was a professional volleyball player and model.
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Early Life and Growing Up
Laird John Zerfas was born in San Francisco on March 2, 1964. His birth happened in a special salt-water room at a hospital. His biological father left the family before Laird's first birthday.
When Laird was a baby, he and his mother, Joann, moved to Hawaii. In 1967, while living on Oahu, Laird met Bill Hamilton. Bill was a surfboard maker. They became friends right away. Laird invited Bill home to meet his mother. Bill Hamilton later married Laird's mother and became Laird's adoptive father.
The family then moved to a quiet valley on [[Kauaʻi]] island. Laird's mother and Bill had another son, Lyon, who also became a surfer. Laird's mother passed away in 1997.
Laird was known for being tough, both physically and mentally. He often felt like an outsider when he was young. This feeling stayed with him into his adult life.
Laird's Modeling Career
When he was 16, Laird left high school. He started a modeling career and worked in construction. At 17, a photographer from an Italian Men's Vogue magazine found him on a beach in Kauaʻi. This led to a modeling contract. In 1983, he had a photo shoot with actress Brooke Shields. Laird continued to do modeling for sports clothing.
In 2008, Hamilton announced his own clothing line called "Wonderwall." He also had a long-time sponsorship with the French surfwear company Oxbow.
Laird's Surfing Adventures
By age 17, Laird was a very skilled surfer. He could have joined professional surfing competitions. However, Laird never liked competitive surfing. He saw how his father, Bill, dealt with the politics and luck involved in contests. Bill Hamilton believed surfing was more like art than just getting scores from judges.
In the 1987 movie North Shore, Hamilton played a character named Lance Burkhart. Even with his modeling success, Laird always wanted a life of surfing. He kept turning down the professional competition circuit.
In 1989, Laird was in a windsurfing movie called Moving Target.
Pushing Surfing Limits in the 1990s
In the early 1990s, Laird and his friends, called the "Strapped Crew," pushed the limits of surfing. They were called this because their feet were strapped to their boards. They surfed huge waves at Jaws surf break off Maui. The Strapped Crew tried daring stunts. They launched 30-foot jumps on sailboards. They even tried attaching boards to paragliders to experiment with early kiteboards.
In late 1992, Laird and his friends, Darrick Doerner and Buzzy Kerbox, started using inflatable boats. They would tow each other into waves that were too big to catch by just paddling. This new idea was shown in the documentary film Riding Giants. This method later used personal water craft and became very popular.
This new way of surfing was called Tow-in surfing. It changed big wave surfing forever. Some surfers thought it was cheating. But Hamilton explained that tow-in surfing was the only way to catch truly giant waves. Using this method, Laird learned to ride 70-foot waves. He could carve across huge walls of water.
Hamilton was a stunt double for Kevin Costner in the 1995 movie Waterworld. He was almost lost at sea when his Jet Ski ran out of fuel during a storm. He drifted for hours before the Coast Guard rescued him.
In 1995, Laird met professional volleyball player and model Gabrielle Reece in Maui. They married on November 30, 1997.
By the late 1990s, Hamilton also enjoyed windsurfing, waterskiing, and kitesurfing. In 1996, Laird and Manu Bertin helped make kitesurfing popular in Hawaii. In 1999, Hamilton windsurfed 50 miles between the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and [[Kauaʻi]] in less than six hours.
Hamilton has also tried the foilboard. This is a special surfboard that uses hydrofoil technology. It allows for more precise moves in the water. He also supports Stand up paddle surfing. This is an old Hawaiian technique that uses a longboard and a long paddle. Some surfers didn't like this, but Hamilton says it's a return to traditional Hawaiian surfing.
The Famous Teahupoʻo Ride
Laird Hamilton's ride at Tahiti's Teahupoʻo break on August 17, 2000, made him a legend in surfing history. Teahupoʻo is a very dangerous reef break on the coast of Tahiti.
On that day, with a huge ocean swell, Darrick Doerner towed Hamilton into the wave. Laird let go of the rope and rode deep inside the wave's giant tunnel. Photographers and videographers captured the moment. Laird rode with his unique style, coming out over the wave's shoulder. A photo of him on the wave was on the cover of Surfer magazine. The caption said: "oh my god..." This wave became known as "the heaviest ever ridden."
In the movie Riding Giants, Doerner said he almost told Laird not to let go of the rope. Laird said that ride was all about faith. He believed he could do it. He said a wave like that didn't seem possible before.
Surfing experts consider Hamilton one of the "all time best" big wave surfers. He regularly surfs waves 35 feet tall, moving over 30 miles per hour. He has successfully ridden waves up to 70 feet high, going up to 50 mph. Hamilton prefers tow-in surfing the giant waves at Peʻahi reef (also known as the Jaws surf break) in Maui.
Laird's Activities in the 2000s and Beyond
On December 3, 2007, Laird saved his friend Brett Lickle. A wave knocked Brett off a watercraft. Brett was cut and bleeding. Laird swam to get the watercraft, found Brett, and used his swimsuit to stop the bleeding. He then drove them back to shore. Brett later said Laird towed him into a wave that was "better than 10 stories tall," possibly the biggest wave ever ridden. It was not photographed, so it wasn't officially recognized.
In February 2008, Hamilton joined the board of H2O Audio, a company that makes music players for watersports. He had used their products for his long-distance paddling. Later in 2008, he published a book about his life philosophy.
On August 27, 2014, Laird was in the news again for riding huge waves. Hurricane Marie caused massive waves in Southern California. Laird rode one of the biggest waves of the day on a stand-up paddleboard. He rode it at high speed through the Malibu beach pier.
Even though he is one of the most famous surfers since Duke Kahanamoku, Laird avoids showing off. He acts as an ambassador for surfing and watersports. He also sometimes helps other tow-in surfers as a lifeguard.
Hamilton is also an environmental activist. He joined a protest in Malibu against a proposed plant that would affect local water quality. Other famous people like Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry also attended.
In April 2018, Laird helped rescue people in [[Kauaʻi]], Hawaii, from severe flooding caused by storms. Laird lives on the island and used his own boat to help many families evacuate. He was called a hero for his actions.
Laird Hamilton is a co-founder of XPT Life, or Extreme Performance Training, with his wife, Gabrielle Reece. He also co-founded Laird Superfood in 2015.
Laird's Family Life
Hamilton has a daughter with his first wife, Maria Souza, who is also a big-wave surfer.
Hamilton married volleyball player and model Gabrielle Reece in 1997. They have two daughters together. Laird and his family live in both [[Kauaʻi, Hawaii]], and Malibu, California.
Other Appearances
Hamilton has appeared in American Express credit card commercials. He was a main person in the 2004 documentary Riding Giants about giant wave surfing. He was also a stunt double for Pierce Brosnan in the opening scene of the 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day.
In October 2006, Hamilton and Dave Kalama biked and paddled across the entire Hawaiian Island chain. This was over 450 miles in one week. This feat was shown in the film A Beautiful Son, which supported people with autism. He was on the cover of Men's Journal magazine in April 2006.
In 2007, Hamilton and his wife appeared in the ABC reality television series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race. He competed against celebrities like tennis star Serena Williams.
He appeared on the Sundance Channel show Iconoclasts with Eddie Vedder from the band Pearl Jam. Footage of Hamilton is used in the music video for Dayvan Cowboy. In 2003, he was in Dana Brown's surf documentary Step Into Liquid.
Hamilton was a special guest star as himself in the animated TV show Phineas and Ferb. He was also interviewed for the Australian documentary Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water. Hamilton had a small role in the movie The Descendants.
He also appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Network show Oprah Presents Master Class in February 2012. In this show, he shared his life and ideas. Hamilton also appeared in an episode of Hell's Kitchen, where he taught a team how to wakeboard.
In the 2015 film Point Break, Hamilton played a surf vagabond. A chapter about Hamilton is in Scott Carney's book What Doesn't Kill Us.
Works
He appeared on the television show FitTVs "Insider Training" with his wife.
See also
In Spanish: Laird Hamilton para niños
