The life of big wave riding

Cristobal de la Sotta
May 18, 2011
Critique Essay
The Life of Big Wave Riding
The epic tale of “Riding Giants” is one of the movies I have encountered that leaves me speechless about the extremesports one can do in the world. With a documentary style of filming, Stacy Peralta achieves a personal outlook on the world of surfing and studies the individuality and freedom expressed through thesurfers’ lifestyles and experiences. Not only does this movie show you the history of how surfing began, it breaks surfing down to the various different styles and focuses on the big wave riders fromWaimea Bay. Big names like Laird John Hamilton, Gerry Lopez, Greg Noll and Dave Kalama express their views and opinions about modern day surfing. The characters detailed dialogues and commentaries givethe audience an extremely vivid view of the surfers’ lives and how they revolve around the powerful element of water. Through thick and thin, these brave big wave surfers risk their lives daily topursue the rush of adrenalin and the techniques that the ocean and the riders share to create an incredible sport practiced very popularly throughout the world.
In 1779, Lieutenant James King,commander of the Discovery, was the first to ever record seeing a man standing on a plank of oval shaped wood gliding down the surf at great speeds. Hawaii, being the birthplace of surfing, was known fortheir immense waves and currents but no one dared to tame and understand these mighty giants. A group of young men traveled to Hawaii in search for a meaning in life when they encountered Waimea Baybegan a lifestyle of the love of the wave. These select few conquered and understood the waves of the bay so much that it was only a matter of time before they needed a new spot to shred at. When bigstorms hit Waimea Bay, it was made aware that Hawaii had several great surfing spots in which each had their unique style and technique to master. Surfers in the United States soon realized that there...