We were just about to sit down for dinner when my phone rang. It was my sister.
"Guess who I just met!?!?!". Her excitement was through the roof. "Laird Hamilton" was my response. [pause] "How did you know??". "Because there's no way you'd call me this excited about seeing anyone else!". Turns out Carey was at a Dave Matthews concert that night in Foxborough and spotted Laird and Gabby a few rows below. After capturing a few selfies with the big guy, she did what any good sister would do. She had him sign a hot dog wrapper to her big brother so that he could later frame it and put it on display at The Spot for everyone to see.
Its no secret that I'm a big Laird Hamilton fan. I mean who isn't? If you love water sports, you have to be totally infatuated with this guy. He's the ultimate living legend of everything on water. He's also incredibly innovative having pioneered kite boarding, speed windsurfing, foil-boarding, tow-in surfing, and most recently stand up paddling. If you don't know who he is, you probably don't have any reason to be reading my blog.
I had become a real student of his life. I read everything I could find about the guy and watched every movie he ever did. The goal was to one day meet the man, but opportunities were non existent. That didn't stop me from writing to his publicist one summer to find out when he'd be on the east coast so that he could finally pay a visit to the Green Mountain state. They sent me a nice reply explaining that his summer schedule was already packed and didn't leave any time for a trip in land. "Ok, then lets start talking about next summer!". Crickets.
A few years later, Rox, the boys and I travelled to Oahu and Maui over Christmas break. We were on Oahu for a couple weeks bouncing between Waikiki Beach and the North Shore soaking in all the famous surf breaks and beaches Oahu is known for. Then we headed to Maui. It was the week we spent on Maui that I went into full Laird search mode. We were staying in a hotel on the west side, but every day we'd do the drive to Paia, Ho'okia, and Haiku to look for signs of Laird. At that time Laird was the man at Pe'ahi and was out there anytime she broke. I knew he had a place somewhere along the dirt road to the bluff over looking the famous big wave spot and was eager to spot him buzzing by on his four wheeler. But that never happened. We left Maui seven days later having sighted plenty of famous watermen, but no Laird.
We had started carrying his stand up paddle board line shaped by Bob Pearson some time later. We were less than excited to bring in a third brand having invested a lot of energy in Starboard and Naish, but Laird was doing something truly unique in the construction of his boards and who knows, maybe carrying his lineup will bring us closer to an encounter down the road.
"Hey Kev, its Josh. Just wanted to let you guys know Laird is planning to be in the booth this year and I've got you guys lined up to be his first appointment." What?!? Laird's going to be at Expo this year? For real!?! At this point I didn't want to get too excited. It would be very reasonable for someone like Laird to cancel at a moment's notice to chase a swell that just popped up on the charts. Best to keep expectations in check to minimize disappointment on the first morning of Expo.
Even with my tempered attitude, I couldn't help but be excited. That summer I was on Maui for two weeks training and paddling in the M2M and M2O SUP events. It was on my way back from Molokai that I caught a ride with a boat captain named Sid who told me of some of the escorting he'd done for professional paddlers. Turns out Sid had escorted Laird and Dave Kalama in their hawaiian island paddle for autism a few years back. Having just done the paddle from Maui to Molokai, I was trying to get my head around paddling the entire island chain - Oahu to Kauai being the longest at almost 72 miles. "What was that crossing like?".
Sid went on to explain the preparations and events leading up to the longest and final crossing of that journey that would take them 12 hours to complete. They all sat down for dinner at Haeliwa Joe's to fuel up for the big crossing. Sid told me he's never seen anyone eat as much as Laird packed away in that sitting. The staff kept delivering food, and he kept eating it. Finally it was time for dessert and Laird ordered a plate full of whoopie pies. He mowed a few pies, then packed up the rest to go. They headed for the boats and launched into their paddle at 10:00 that night.
Apparently Laird took off like a bullet from a gun outpacing Dave Kalama who's considered one of the fastest paddlers in the world. Dave shouted over to Sid to radio up to Laird to ask him to slow down. "Tell him to speed up" was Laird's response. Dave replied again with "Tell him to slow down or I'll eat his whoopie pies!". Laird hit the brakes. The threat of losing his last remaining whoopie pies was all it took to stop the train. Laird likes whoopie pies, good to know.
The day before our meeting with Laird, Kevin was on the hunt for a whoopie pie shop that we could hit up the morning we were to meet up with Laird. After an entertaining conversation with the staff at the hotel Starbucks, we'd found our place.
In addition to the whoopie pies I had brought a spray mounted spread of the famous 2000 Surfer magazine cover of Laird riding one of the biggest waves at Teahupo'o ever surfed. I remember the day that issue landed in my mail box. I had the same reaction as everyone else. "Oh my God". It was the apex of all the big wave hunting and training Laird had done in his mission to ride the biggest waves the ocean could produce. That ride was a testament to his dedication and commitment and had shocked the surfing world when it appeared on the cover that month. After studying that photo for some time, I carefully cut it away from the spine of the magazine, mounted it, framed it and hung it at The Spot. It hung there for many years before the day I pulled it off the wall and packed it for my trip to Orlando.
So there we are, headed into the show for our first meeting of the day. Our meeting with Laird. In one hand I'm holding a tray full of whoopie pies, in the other, my framed cover shot of the Teahupo'o wave. Even as we're entering the show, I remind the guys there's a chance he may not be here. But as we get closer to his booth, we spot him on the outskirts and make eye contact. Holy crap, he's here.
"Hey guys, how's it going?". That was the conversation starter and before long he launched into a dialog that brought us through all the various projects he's working on at any given moment. Big wave movie stunts, newly discovered remote reefs, golf carts that act like motorized skateboards, and finally coffee. Coffee? He wants to talk about coffee? I can talk about coffee! What some of you may not realize is that my other job has me talking to coffee roasters on a daily basis in support of our software project called e-beans. In short, I know a lot about coffee.
In the weeks leading up to meeting Laird, I was really worried that I might fall victim to the same stereotypical conversation that every surfer has with him. I really didn't want that to happen. On the night before our meeting, I was online combing the internet for any nugget of information that might give me what I needed to ask a question that no one else had asked before. I was reading through all kinds of material on Laird's life, most of it I was already familiar with. I finally went to bed at 3:00am feeling disappointed that I hadn't really found what I was looking for. Then within moments of getting face to face, this coffee thing came up and all of a sudden the conversation got really easy. He and I locked into a super detailed discussion of coffee sourcing, bean quality, processing, altitudes, market pricing and health benefits. He knows his stuff and is super passionate about the coffee products he and Gabby are marketing.
After about 40 minutes it was time to start talking about the business that brought us to Surf Expo in the first place. That's when Josh politely interrupted the coffee dialog to move the conversation to their 2016 SUP line. At that point Laird turned toward the growing mass of people lined up at the booth waiting for an opportunity to get a photo and an autograph with Laird. The booth had a table with a stack of posters eight inches high ready for Laird to start signing and distributing to his fans.
We wrapped things up with Josh - the 2016 line up has some very nice changes including new shapes, updated construction, and a new factory with overall better quality control and delivery. We turned to Laird who still had a healthy line of people to meet and greet to say our goodbyes. It was then that I presented him with the whoopie pies explaining that Sid from Maui had tipped me off to his sweet tooth. Then I unveiled the Surfer magazine cover to have him sign.
We said our goodbyes and headed out to our next meeting. We were on a high for the rest of the day. That hour and a half at the Laird booth couldn't have been better. I was beyond stoked to have finally met him and was very happy with the way the whole thing unravelled. All of that being said, it was a planned event with plenty of time to prepare. I hope the next time we cross paths it'll be on a beach or on the water where we have a chance to ride some waves together.
Mahalo for reading.
Russ
