100 Foot Wave (2021) s01e04 Episode Script
Dancing with God
Surfing big waves is spiritual.
It's nature manifesting itself
in the most intense way.
The sea moves,
and the sea speaks,
without us hearing a voice.
It can talk in a way that leaves us
in ecstasy.
We are the ones guiding the board.
But we are always being tested.
And if you get hurt, it may look like
it's the end, but no.
Our mind guides us.
If we put our mind to it,
and put in the work,
we can make it happen.
Check out these monster
100 foot waves off Portugal.
The biggest wave ever surfed,
as high as 100 feet.
To put it in perspective, that is taller
than an eight story building.
Surfers are always
looking for the next great thing.
It often breaks those brave
or crazy board riders.
Severe wipeouts and waves
of mind boggling heights.
What happens here, happens
nowhere else in the world.
The biggest wave ever surfed.
A 100 foot wave.
100 FOOT WAVE
Chapter IV
Dancing with God
A gnarly wipeout in Half Moon Bay.
McNamara falls off his surfboard
and hits the water three times.
Yeah, I saw Garret's wipeout.
Skip, skip, crunch.
I went over the handlebars
and hit the water super hard
and then I just started skipping
like a stone.
And then the lift landed on me,
and then I was under water forever
and it was like a normal pounding.
But underwater I felt
this crazy, excruciating pain
and I couldn't move my arm.
Some are now calling this wipeout
one of the worst ever recorded.
He got to the hospital
and they were like,
you shattered your shoulder
and the humerus head
was shattered like an egg shell.
When I found out he got hurt,
I was kind of scared.
I did whatever I could.
I started making calls
and seeing who could help.
Garrett's brother, Liam, was a godsend.
He found a surgeon
who would work on him.
The next morning he came
out of surgery.
He said put my shoes on,
we're out of here.
We flew back home.
A week after the first surgery
we go to see Dr. Weldon.
And they both simultaneously said
the surgery went perfect
and we're expected
to have a full recovery.
I glance at the X-ray
and I saw some disturbing images.
When the head is down
underneath the acromion,
it's a sign that your axillary nerve
is not firing.
And he says that Garrett needs
another surgery
because the first one failed.
Garrett comes out of the surgery
and I'm there, and he wakes up.
But he can't feel anything because
they have a nerve blocker,
so they tell us the nerve blocker
should last 24 hours.
With one hour of him being
out of the surgery,
all of a sudden
it was like that movie Hostel.
It's like this bloody murder,
like from the depths of his soul,
like just screaming in pain.
He's like, I don't feel anything,
I just want another nerve blocker.
He's asking me to get him a plastic
bag so that he can kill himself,
and if I don't give him the plastic bag,
he's going to rip everything out
and go to the top of the building
and jump off.
This depression and pain
went on for months.
The doctor said
that I should never surf again.
I just told him, we just can't even
let that be a possibility.
So don't even think about that.
Not a reality,
so don't even give it any energy.
I started doing
all my physical therapy
and my stretches.
It took a long while for him to get
back in the water.
But we were back in Portugal
pretty soon after.
There was events he had to be at.
We still report to sponsors
to feed our family.
We had various other
meetings too.
I was invited here to get to know
you guys and your company.
Looking for new opportunities
and new projects
to keep the sponsors happy.
He was just miserable with this arm
and not being able to surf.
Are you back around surfing now?
Not 100%.
Doctor's think I'll need
a third surgery,
but they don't know me that well.
I went back to Hawaii.
I could ride waves,
but I wasn't comfortable,
I wasn't ready for big ones.
I knew I was going to be able to,
but I was wondering if I was going
to want to go back out in big waves.
There he is, I hear him.
Holy moly, look at that thing!
Your bone has definitely healed.
You have evidence of healing
through here.
So very good, very good.
Congratulations on doing so well
with your shoulder.
It's remarkable.
And it's even possible given
how far you've come
that you could get enough so that
you could be similar to this side.
When I first saw you,
I mentioned that I had taken care
of someone who had fallen off a cliff
and I treated his elbow with no problem,
but his brain was messed up.
He was in tears all the time.
I missed that he had PTSD.
Definitely I have PTSD and definitely
working through it right now.
I don't know until I get
a really heaving pounding
and I'll see if I enjoy it or not.
Thank you.
Really appreciate it.
Congratulations, I look forward
to seeing you back at Mavericks.
Garrett is a mutant.
To be able to do what he does
at this age
He is a warrior.
But we all deal with fear, right?
I started surfing at 8 years old.
At 12 I was competing
and won a championship.
And I identified myself
as a big wave surfer.
My life was all about
going after big waves.
I had the opportunity
to meet Garrett in 2000.
When I went to Hawaii,
I lived at his house.
He stayed in a little storage shed that
we turned into a bedroom for him.
We surfed a lot together,
we had a really good time together.
The person who shared the most
with me about Nazaré was Garrett.
And at the time I thought,
"I need to go to Nazaré".
This is the Formula One of surfing.
This is the place
that changes everything.
But in 2014, I got a very big wave
and I remember seeing the cliff
and thinking,
"if I go down this wave, I will die".
And that's the thought that made me
not ride that wave.
He decided to go over the lip.
But the next wave is right there.
That wave landed right on Koxa's head.
I was diagnosed
with post-traumatic stress.
I was afraid to surf big waves.
I lost my sponsors.
He was really struggling.
He didn't know
if he'd ever surf big waves again.
I spent a year without getting
on big waves.
I had to work and do therapy.
so that I could understand the
significance of giant waves for me,
how important it was for me,
how I wanted it to be part of my story.
Ready?
I was able to surf again.
But I had to align everything.
Sometimes we want to anticipate
the process.
We want things in our time,
but God decides the right time.
In 2017 there was a big swell.
You get those perfect moments when
the second wave of the set is smooth.
Look how clean that is.
It's just a perfectly smooth,
it's groomed
and there's a lot of room
in between sets.
Let's do it, Cotty's frothing.
Nazaré was huge.
I didn't want to wait.
I wanted to get out there.
I was prepared to go all day.
I knew someone was going to get
one of the biggest waves of the year.
I saw some sick fucking waves.
Like sick. A frames.
A lot of people turn up for that swell.
Big and pretty.
It's super pretty. So it looks small,
but it's not small at all.
- How big is it out there, do you think?
- I think it's huge.
Paddling, Lucas?
I'm gonna try.
I hope the wind doesn't
get too strong.
This is my baby. Ten kilos.
In 2017, I was stronger than ever.
After everything I'd been through,
that accident and the therapy,
everything was perfect,
everything was coming together.
I like this wind because it make
the wave bigger.
When I came here this morning
it was just perfect.
The forecasters were wrong again.
You don't get days like this
often here.
You've got the birds
and the sun.
Come on!
It's gonna be interesting to see
who shows up.
It's gonna be exciting
to watch everybody.
Probably I think at the minimum I'll
drive Cotty and Hugo into a few waves
and then I'll assess the situation
out there,
see if there's any waves
that I would like to ride.
I have a feeling
I'm not gonna want to ride any.
It was looking a bit funky
at first light
and then about quarter to seven
I got the sickest set
I've seen in a long time.
Way more groovy
than I thought it would be.
Been visualizing the day before
the wave that I wanted.
I was super confident,
I was in a good place.
It was like an all or nothing day.
I was prepared to put it all
on the line, you know?
What's the worst crash you've seen?
Cotty.
As far as the force
of the sea's impact on a human being
it was Cotty.
I put him on the wave.
I put him on the perfect spot,
it was nice and smooth
and beautiful
and he came down
and he did a little fade
and then he turned so that
he could get into the barrel.
And when he turned it was too late
and the lip was coming
straight for him.
I stayed out the back.
Hugo got him.
Hugo ran him up the beach.
What happened, Garrett?
His back is really sore
and he can't move that well.
And they think it's his spine.
Hold on.
Just get this off. It's okay.
Easy, easy.
Hold on. Don't move your head.
- Same pain?
- Same pain, lower back.
Get a blanket for him.
- Katie?
- Hi!
We've got bad news.
Cotty's alive, but he got hurt.
Is he okay?
Was it in the water?
Yep. We just got out.
Really painful
and doesn't feel right at all.
On three. One, two, three.
We're going to the stretcher now.
He'll be fine, he'll come through.
Cotty's strong,
he bounces back quick.
Bummer.
Garrett in all his positivity,
he's like he's gonna be okay.
He got taken away in an ambulance.
It was really bad.
I think maybe it scared Garrett
so he wasn't giving it the energy
it deserved
as far as how severe it was.
With injuries
and like tragic situations,
he almost can't handle it.
He doesn't do well with
people almost dying.
Perfect. I didn't even have to surf.
Andrew Cotton's accident on that day
I didn't even know it happened.
Because I was outside,
waiting for my wave.
I was with my partner Sergio.
We kept looking for the wave.
The first wave, he went over it.
When I saw the second wave,
it was great.
And I said: "The second one, Sergio!"
And he went over it.
But when I saw the third wave,
he looked at me and he said:
"Koxa, this a bomb!
You wanna go!"
He attacked it perfectly.
I released the rope.
I started to pick up a lot of speed.
For a moment, I was going so fast
that I almost lost my balance and fell.
And a big shadow from the wave
came on.
And I said: "Oh my God,
there must be a monster behind me!"
I just felt like I wanted
to get out of there.
And I saw my partner Sergio.
I told him: "Sergio, you put me
on the wave of my life!"
I got out of the water
and I went to the garage.
And I said: "Garrett!" And I showed
him the image on my phone.
And he looked at it
and zoomed in.
And he showed everyone around him.
And I felt that he knew
it was a really big wave.
And he congratulated me.
Naturally we shared the image
with the world.
And the story became: "Koxa threatens
Garrett McNamara's record."
With a wave measured at 80 feet
and setting a new Guiness World
record,
the winner of the 2018 biggest wave
award is Rodrigo Koxa.
At that moment, I was the man who
rode the biggest wave in the world.
The biggest wave in history.
And there was nobody that I would have
liked to have broken the record
more than him. It would have
been cooler if it was Cotty.
Until that point I'd never questioned
not being able to walk.
Just feeling that I physically
couldn't do it was pretty scary.
And then within like 2 weeks
I was walking around.
See this guy, walking already.
You'll be surfing in a blink.
It's been horrific going through
the rehab,
the uncertainty and the stress.
- How does that feel?
- It feels good.
Do you feel different?
The negatives, all that worry,
the am I good enough?
And then once that happens,
sometimes it's hard to get it back.
Times Square is a place where
something can be seen,
not just by Americans,
but also millions of New York visitors.
So they can learn a little bit more
about our country
and the amazing wave
that is Nazaré.
Tourism in Portugal had this great idea,
we're gonna put Nazaré
in Times Square.
Here it is.
Koxa's world record wave,
80 foot wave right behind us,
in Times Square.
This guy's a visionary.
Garrett has conquered everything.
Standing next to him,
I still feel like a teenager.
But this is my time.
Right here,
world record holder Koxa.
And Garrett McNamara right here,
record holder, world record.
No, he's the record holder.
Now Koxa's the world record holder.
Yeah, Koxa!
To go down a giant wave
is dancing with God.
You see an image of yourself,
and it's very nice,
but it doesn't satisfy you.
You have to get on another wave.
We become dependent on that feeling.
We are completely addicted
to that adrenaline.
I'm preparing my body so that
when I go back to Nazaré,
I will be physically, mentally ready.
I surfed 100 foot wave
a million times in my mind.
I've trained for hours focusing,
manifesting.
This winter is gonna be the big wave.
So I'll be ready.
Big huge breath in, let it out.
Garrett was physically trying
to get back in shape.
Grab some water.
My brother CJ had moved to Hawaii.
Stay focused.
Knees on track.
It seemed like Nazaré was going
to become a big part of your life.
And then you disappear.
Can you talk a little bit
about what transpired,
or why that didn't come to be?
From 2011 it definitely seemed
like Nazaré was like something
super special for me.
It was going to be a huge part
of my life, because it changed me.
It really did.
In 2011,
CJ excelled above and beyond
any expectations I may have had.
He was excited to become
a professional surfer,
a big wave surfer.
And he got injured.
It wasn't a huge day,
it was kinda big.
I'm kind of zipping around inside,
back and forth in the white wash
and looking around and this kind
of weird, little Nazaré tidal wave
sucked up kind of out of nowhere
and I gassed it to get past it,
and I went up on the lip
and it sent me off over the side
of the lip and the ski rolled over.
I got good hit from a jet ski
in my rib.
And then returning
to beach volleyball season,
the way I played was just hard.
Just jumping as high as I can,
hitting every ball as hard as I can.
So I ended up blowing out the disk
in my low back on the left side,
and that's when the sciatic pain came.
I couldn't stand up
for more than 10 seconds,
I would hit the floor
and go into the fetal position.
It was brutal. I couldn't move.
I was absolutely crippled, floored.
My brother, being my brother,
he spent an entire year
trying to heal it on his own.
We didn't realize how bad it was until
his mother went to visit him,
found him laying on the ground.
He was broken.
All of his muscles were atrophied,
he was withering away.
Finally he did the back surgery
after a year of this already.
When he came out of surgery
and he came to,
he just started crying.
CJ suffered a severe mental,
emotional and physical back injury.
And then healing and then recovery
It was a journey.
They say ten to fifteen minutes
of laughter give you the benefits
that you need.
So we're gonna start off with
a really simple breathing exercise.
I'm so different now because
of the injury
that it's so hard to say
what would have happened
had the path continued
and had I not taken this detour.
All the way, in the belly.
In the ribs!
I'd like to think I'd have been amazing.
I'd be this famous big wave surfer,
sponsors just throwing money
and stuff at me.
But it's all the stuff that now
I'm like, what is that even worth?
What does it mean?
I'd probably still have this guilt
and self-worth issues
and I'd have all of this external
attention from big waves
and I'd still be like, whatever,
I'm shit.
So I definitely wouldn't trade it in
for anything.
It's the biggest blessing of my life.
But now I have really
kind of taken a step back,
and I'm planning on going back
to Nazaré with Garrett.
The traditional big wave season
of Nazaré
is October through end of February.
Garrett was in recovery mode
from his shoulder
and so I was like,
okay, let's do this comeback.
Let's get you guys both out there.
We both experienced injuries,
but haven't really broken through
on them
in order to be able to go out
and surf these waves.
When it's time to go to Nazaré
and go ride this giant wave,
I'll be ready.
We were in Bali for a month.
The plan was yoga training
and to really get ready and feel
mentally and physically prepared
to go back out to Nazaré.
It's not just your regular yoga
that you think of with postures
and that's it.
It's about how we hold trauma
in our bodies
and that's what creates pain.
It's also about healing injuries.
I'd been doing like 6 months of quite
intense physio and rehab,
but all of it's been gym based.
The idea was to come up here and
just do a bit of yoga, a bit of moving.
The first movement you need to learn
is to massage the earth.
Come down.
And you've got to put a little bit
of dancer in it.
At first when we had to get up
and dance and stuff I was like, no.
I kinda got into it.
It was quite good to break the ice,
and let your inhibitions go,
and fully throw yourself
into the experience.
People come to us
for a lot of different reasons,
including reasons that they didn't know.
They come for healing.
Sometimes it's the back injury
and sometimes it's a deeper yearning.
And a deeper hidden impulse.
Hear all that? All the ligaments
and tendons popping in the middle.
My body will be as ready as it can be.
The challenge is getting
confidence underwater.
I want to surf, but I don't know
if I want to surf.
I don't even know how I'm gonna
feel when we go back there.
I was trying to paddle in some little
waves, but it was really terrible.
Sometimes, the little days are harder.
I don't know if I'm going to even be
interested in riding some big waves.
You will. As soon as you get
two under your belt.
As soon as I get my lungs.
You'll get a few waves,
it will be clean and nice.
- Back to normal, freaking out?
- Yeah.
He's starting to turn on the muscles
that were just flaccid.
He's not such a stress ball
around his injury.
It's changing beautifully.
Physically, they will be able to do it,
but confidence is a big thing.
The mental preparation.
We have been working on how
to disobey the dictates of fear.
Because when you're doing
anything and your fear takes over,
you're screwed.
You can't be in the throes of fear
and responding at that profound
athletic level that he needs to be.
If you know you can trust yourself,
then you can trust yourself
to do great things.
I do not worry for them at all.
I think that they are ready.
Get in your body.
I suggested the yoga trip to Bali.
But to get Garrett to go to Bali
for a month with his kids
There had to have been some carrot
at the end of the trip.
The carrot was G-Land.
It had been about at least 15 years
since I'd been to G-Land
and we were just there to have fun.
The goal was to get barrels
in Indonesia
and we got to go to G-Land.
Since I was a little kid,
I was like: "Oh, G-Land"
I first heard about it when I saw
"The Endless Summer II".
It's just this remote location that has
this wave that's just perfect,
and you can get the best wave
of your life, if it's right.
As I got ready to paddle out,
I looked at my helmet in my bag
and I decided not to wear it.
I should have put it on.
He hits the reef and he gets
a gash in his head
and amnesia.
He doesn't know where his camp is,
nor where his wife is.
So do you know what the fuck
happened, Garrett?
I remember the wave and I remember
being in the barrel.
I was coming out
and something went wrong.
And then all of a sudden I hit
and I was almost knocking out,
almost knocked out.
I was like fading, fading.
I feel definitely out of it.
I'm having a hard time
remembering still.
I shouldn't still not be remembering
things, right?
No, no, that's normal.
- It takes a while?
- Yeah, like 24 hours.
You'll ask the same and same again,
but it will get better.
If I hit any harder,
I would have knocked out,
I probably wouldn't be here.
I was floating,
but good luck somebody finding you.
My children, my wife, my life
flashed before my eyes
and I thought to myself,
is this even worth it?
These little waves
I could have just died.
I'm just thinking about my family
and stuff.
Garrett, this is gonna sting for a sec.
Just one sec.
Are you alright? It's gonna burn.
I like it. How about glue?
You got any glue?
No, dude, glue won't cut
it for this one.
I got worried, I finally caught another
wave and asked someone
what happened and they said
he had blood on his head,
didn't know where he was going.
I didn't know where I was staying.
Up until about a couple of minutes ago,
I couldn't remember where Nicole went.
The brain's really vulnerable
at the moment,
and if you hit It again, you can get
permanent brain damage.
And you don't want that.
- You good?
- Yeah, I'm good.
- Tomorrow's gonna be really good.
- Yeah.
When Garrett is talking about
going out surfing again
when he's still got a bandage around
his head
and he's had a concussion,
I'm like, the doctor said you
shouldn't surf for at least two weeks.
He just wanted to go out.
There was no convincing him otherwise.
"It's fine, I'll put the helmet on,
it will be fine."
I'm like, okay
The universe said you didn't listen
to my first sign of amnesia,
so now I'm gonna have to do
something different.
Four days later we landed in Portugal
and we went straight to hospital.
How did this happen?
Surfing. The board went
Let's have a look at the exams.
You injured the base
of the third metatarsal.
- So it's dislocated.
- Dislocated?
Yes. There is no bone here
because it's dislocated.
You have to put it back in its place.
What I'm going to do is to put a plate
over the second
and the third tarsal joints.
If they're not steady enough,
the foot in time will start to collapse,
will start to deform,
and you'll not be able to walk.
This is the kind of lesion
that we have to do surgery.
Okay.
If we did nothing, you will not
be able to walk as you used to
and I doubt you'd be able to go on
a board and surf again
as you're used to.
This is the kind of injury
you have to fix.
How long does it take,
the whole process
if everything went really smooth?
For you to be on a board?
Not before 4 months.
The doctor so gently explained to us
that it was pretty much fractured
in like 8 places,
needed a plate
and all these screws and
Okay.
It was like playing back to me,
like the shoulder
and the months of depression
and I was like I cannot do it again.
It really freaking sucks,
I have PTSD from the word surgery.
When you bumped your head
you probably should have listened!
It sucks! And now
we're in the same position.
We don't even have
your shoulder 100%
and now we're going to have
to be rehabbing a shoulder and a foot?
It really sucks.
Thank you for coming.
When I got the wipeout,
my family flashed before my eyes
and them losing me.
There's always the potential of getting
injured lurking in the back of my mind
since the shoulder surgery
that makes me
think twice about everything.
You guys and your waves
They're so fun.
And connected to nature.
Everything else is left behind.
So beautiful.
I feel good, I'm in good hands.
To be honest, when I got hurt
I was almost relieved.
I feel like I need a little more time.
When my body is 100%
and a big wave will come
and if I feel like riding it, I will.
Ace, mate, you've got to get up.
I've got to go today, mate.
So you gonna be good for me
this morning?
Today the flight leaves
at 1:00 from Bristol.
I'm flying to Nazaré.
I've got sort of physical training
to begin with
and hopefully some waves.
And then the big wave season kicks off.
What's a quart graph?
- A quart graph?
- No idea. I can't do anything.
Why do you even need
to know that though?
Ace, he likes it when I'm injured
because I'm home more.
You miss 'em, you know?
You do think what's it all about?
Is it really worth putting
everything on the line?
I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
That will be good.
I don't fear death, you know?
I don't fear dying.
I get more fear for like
not being able to surf again.
I fear that.
He shouldn't had been able
to surf that season.
But Garrett had his mind set
at getting back as soon as possible.
I think because he knew
I was so mad he broke his foot
that he's like I'd better
get it better fast.
- How are you?
- Good.
That's the least excited
I've ever heard you say it.
I'm good,
but I got 6 weeks of off the foot
and 6 weeks of rehab.
And that's the best case scenario.
I think Garrett definitely feels
pressure to get out there.
I'm sure some people really look
forward to seeing him surf
and the Portuguese people definitely
love seeing him getting out there.
Broken.
- Get better.
- Thank you.
When we first came here
nobody knew who Garrett was
because this was not a surfing town,
it was not a surfing country.
But now he's like the George Clooney
of Portugal.
It's amazing how much just seeing him
lights the Portuguese people up.
I don't think anyone can question
that Garrett is loved
by the Portuguese people.
We can say there was a Nazaré
before Garrett and after Garrett.
It was McNamara.
He gave a lot to the sea of Nazaré.
He put Nazaré on the map.
He showed that we are
a surfing country.
We can now attract the best athletes
in the world to do things
that, for a common mortal,
are completely impossible.
Looking good!
The old ladies love him.
He conquered the heart
of the people of Nazaré.
How you doing?
Been a while huh?
I've never been a fan of soap operas,
but this one called "Nazaré",
I watch it.
They were able to weave Garrett
into a specific episode.
I have a bunch of friends coming over,
so I would love to get some fish.
Whatever you guys recommend.
The king of Nazaré!
Let's have a look at your X-ray.
So everything seems to be okay.
He's moving his foot a lot,
no need to move more.
We have to go slowly, but surely.
It seems to be healed.
I'm glad I got the surgery,
because it feels great.
The last one.
Oh my goodness!
Good job.
After the surgery there was no pain,
it was a miracle.
I told Nicole
I am not going to do anything,
I'm just going to stay here
and focus on healing my foot.
And then I said to myself,
man, I've got all of this time,
I might as well utilize it.
And I've never been to Africa.
So Garrett and CJ went to Angola
for a beach cleanup.
And then they went to South Africa
to work with Waves For Change,
who provide surf therapy
and mentorship
to underprivileged youth there.
So is everybody ready
to get in the water?
- Yes!
- Let's go surfing!
And then we went to New York
because Garrett had a meeting
to build a survival suit.
We're in New York
and my buddy, Kyle, is helping me
put together a suit that
I've been dreaming about making
for the last 15 years.
There's no real solid suit
for waves over 80 feet.
The survival suits in 2011
that we used,
most of them were like
Garrett's kind of creation.
And it's just taking like flotation
from life vests
and just like stuffing it into
the wet suit in spots that you need it.
Now the evolution is having a bladder
that inflates when we pull a cord.
Crazy, isn't it?
So Garrett's trying to design a suit
that's as comfortable as possible
so that you can be fully free
and mobile,
but also really solid and safe.
Once in a while in Nazaré
you come up
and then there's this monster and
you have to try and swim through it.
You deflate real quick while
you're waiting.
And get through.
And then you can have another
one breaking
I think building this ultimate survival
suit is going to give Garrett
the confidence he needs to do this
for as long as he wants,
into his old age
and it's just gonna like keep
him together like armor.
Holy shit!
When I got on the plane to Nazaré,
my foot was feeling great.
By the time we got off it was swollen
and sore
and I thought maybe
I reinjured it somehow
from sitting with my foot down
for too long.
Traveling is like the last thing
you want to do with a broken foot.
He was feeling frustration
from what I could see
of having to do all these things and
wanting to really take care of his foot.
And then there was waves
of being grumpy.
You're pinned on the couch,
you can't go anywhere.
You start snapping at people.
I've never been so unprepared to ride
a big wave ever in my life.
I got to Africa, ran around,
and I went to New York,
and ran around.
And it's only my own self sabotage
that I did by choice.
And I could have said, sorry, no,
I'm staying home.
I need to focus on my foot.
And I thought it was a good idea
because I couldn't surf,
so I might as well do other things.
But to get back in the water you got
to focus on getting back in the water,
not doing other things.
Check out the storm CJ.
It's as big as we've seen.
60-80 feet on Wednesday.
Magic. Straight down the pike.
Huge, huh?
Look at the center of it.
The wave that I've been dreaming about
for years is actually on the maps
and potentially coming in
and I'm 100% not ready physically.
I could ride it
and if I make it I'll be fine.
But if I don't, there's a potential
of not coming home.
Garrett doesn't have to stay
20 hours in the water now.
He has kids,
he has family.
He has to make all the stuff there
and he have to come
down a little bit.
Does he have to surf another wave?
No.
Cristiano Ronaldo have to win Europe's
championship of football again? No.
And he's the best of the world.
I think Garrett have to stay around
and have fun
and take control of his life
and growing up with the kids
and that's it.
I think it's the most difficult decision
to look in the mirror
and say, it's time to stop.
I think a surf guy never feel that.
I do not know when big wave surfers
finally say they've had enough.
I haven't seen it yet.
There's a point in surfing when
it might end up becoming selfish
when you're not putting
your family first.
And I think Garrett's been fighting
the demons.
I think there's gonna be a time
when Garrett has to hang it up,
call it a day,
call it a career
and be there for his family and kids
and things and not risk his life
for the 100 foot wave.
Because it may never happen.
I think it's personal when you
decide when the end is.
When you lose the emotional capacity
to be able to go do it,
then I think the physical leaves.
For some people that never ends.
Maybe some people they just
don't ever not want that feeling.
I don't think you call it a day
on surfing,
I think maybe you call it a day
in like chasing it
and like risking it all.
But you don't call it a day on surfing.
Portuguese authorities have
now issued a red weather warning.
They say coastal areas are likely
to get a battering
from the incoming weather front.
Strengthening storm is expected
to bring downpours and strong winds.
Of course apart from wind and rain,
this storm could also generate
significant surf conditions.
Luigi texts back.
I really want to see this X-ray.
He said good. Yes!
Time to rock and roll, now it's time
to get serious. Time to train hard!
Time to get CJ in the water,
time to get in the water.
Real soon I'll be driving a jet ski
and maybe surfing.
It's nature manifesting itself
in the most intense way.
The sea moves,
and the sea speaks,
without us hearing a voice.
It can talk in a way that leaves us
in ecstasy.
We are the ones guiding the board.
But we are always being tested.
And if you get hurt, it may look like
it's the end, but no.
Our mind guides us.
If we put our mind to it,
and put in the work,
we can make it happen.
Check out these monster
100 foot waves off Portugal.
The biggest wave ever surfed,
as high as 100 feet.
To put it in perspective, that is taller
than an eight story building.
Surfers are always
looking for the next great thing.
It often breaks those brave
or crazy board riders.
Severe wipeouts and waves
of mind boggling heights.
What happens here, happens
nowhere else in the world.
The biggest wave ever surfed.
A 100 foot wave.
100 FOOT WAVE
Chapter IV
Dancing with God
A gnarly wipeout in Half Moon Bay.
McNamara falls off his surfboard
and hits the water three times.
Yeah, I saw Garret's wipeout.
Skip, skip, crunch.
I went over the handlebars
and hit the water super hard
and then I just started skipping
like a stone.
And then the lift landed on me,
and then I was under water forever
and it was like a normal pounding.
But underwater I felt
this crazy, excruciating pain
and I couldn't move my arm.
Some are now calling this wipeout
one of the worst ever recorded.
He got to the hospital
and they were like,
you shattered your shoulder
and the humerus head
was shattered like an egg shell.
When I found out he got hurt,
I was kind of scared.
I did whatever I could.
I started making calls
and seeing who could help.
Garrett's brother, Liam, was a godsend.
He found a surgeon
who would work on him.
The next morning he came
out of surgery.
He said put my shoes on,
we're out of here.
We flew back home.
A week after the first surgery
we go to see Dr. Weldon.
And they both simultaneously said
the surgery went perfect
and we're expected
to have a full recovery.
I glance at the X-ray
and I saw some disturbing images.
When the head is down
underneath the acromion,
it's a sign that your axillary nerve
is not firing.
And he says that Garrett needs
another surgery
because the first one failed.
Garrett comes out of the surgery
and I'm there, and he wakes up.
But he can't feel anything because
they have a nerve blocker,
so they tell us the nerve blocker
should last 24 hours.
With one hour of him being
out of the surgery,
all of a sudden
it was like that movie Hostel.
It's like this bloody murder,
like from the depths of his soul,
like just screaming in pain.
He's like, I don't feel anything,
I just want another nerve blocker.
He's asking me to get him a plastic
bag so that he can kill himself,
and if I don't give him the plastic bag,
he's going to rip everything out
and go to the top of the building
and jump off.
This depression and pain
went on for months.
The doctor said
that I should never surf again.
I just told him, we just can't even
let that be a possibility.
So don't even think about that.
Not a reality,
so don't even give it any energy.
I started doing
all my physical therapy
and my stretches.
It took a long while for him to get
back in the water.
But we were back in Portugal
pretty soon after.
There was events he had to be at.
We still report to sponsors
to feed our family.
We had various other
meetings too.
I was invited here to get to know
you guys and your company.
Looking for new opportunities
and new projects
to keep the sponsors happy.
He was just miserable with this arm
and not being able to surf.
Are you back around surfing now?
Not 100%.
Doctor's think I'll need
a third surgery,
but they don't know me that well.
I went back to Hawaii.
I could ride waves,
but I wasn't comfortable,
I wasn't ready for big ones.
I knew I was going to be able to,
but I was wondering if I was going
to want to go back out in big waves.
There he is, I hear him.
Holy moly, look at that thing!
Your bone has definitely healed.
You have evidence of healing
through here.
So very good, very good.
Congratulations on doing so well
with your shoulder.
It's remarkable.
And it's even possible given
how far you've come
that you could get enough so that
you could be similar to this side.
When I first saw you,
I mentioned that I had taken care
of someone who had fallen off a cliff
and I treated his elbow with no problem,
but his brain was messed up.
He was in tears all the time.
I missed that he had PTSD.
Definitely I have PTSD and definitely
working through it right now.
I don't know until I get
a really heaving pounding
and I'll see if I enjoy it or not.
Thank you.
Really appreciate it.
Congratulations, I look forward
to seeing you back at Mavericks.
Garrett is a mutant.
To be able to do what he does
at this age
He is a warrior.
But we all deal with fear, right?
I started surfing at 8 years old.
At 12 I was competing
and won a championship.
And I identified myself
as a big wave surfer.
My life was all about
going after big waves.
I had the opportunity
to meet Garrett in 2000.
When I went to Hawaii,
I lived at his house.
He stayed in a little storage shed that
we turned into a bedroom for him.
We surfed a lot together,
we had a really good time together.
The person who shared the most
with me about Nazaré was Garrett.
And at the time I thought,
"I need to go to Nazaré".
This is the Formula One of surfing.
This is the place
that changes everything.
But in 2014, I got a very big wave
and I remember seeing the cliff
and thinking,
"if I go down this wave, I will die".
And that's the thought that made me
not ride that wave.
He decided to go over the lip.
But the next wave is right there.
That wave landed right on Koxa's head.
I was diagnosed
with post-traumatic stress.
I was afraid to surf big waves.
I lost my sponsors.
He was really struggling.
He didn't know
if he'd ever surf big waves again.
I spent a year without getting
on big waves.
I had to work and do therapy.
so that I could understand the
significance of giant waves for me,
how important it was for me,
how I wanted it to be part of my story.
Ready?
I was able to surf again.
But I had to align everything.
Sometimes we want to anticipate
the process.
We want things in our time,
but God decides the right time.
In 2017 there was a big swell.
You get those perfect moments when
the second wave of the set is smooth.
Look how clean that is.
It's just a perfectly smooth,
it's groomed
and there's a lot of room
in between sets.
Let's do it, Cotty's frothing.
Nazaré was huge.
I didn't want to wait.
I wanted to get out there.
I was prepared to go all day.
I knew someone was going to get
one of the biggest waves of the year.
I saw some sick fucking waves.
Like sick. A frames.
A lot of people turn up for that swell.
Big and pretty.
It's super pretty. So it looks small,
but it's not small at all.
- How big is it out there, do you think?
- I think it's huge.
Paddling, Lucas?
I'm gonna try.
I hope the wind doesn't
get too strong.
This is my baby. Ten kilos.
In 2017, I was stronger than ever.
After everything I'd been through,
that accident and the therapy,
everything was perfect,
everything was coming together.
I like this wind because it make
the wave bigger.
When I came here this morning
it was just perfect.
The forecasters were wrong again.
You don't get days like this
often here.
You've got the birds
and the sun.
Come on!
It's gonna be interesting to see
who shows up.
It's gonna be exciting
to watch everybody.
Probably I think at the minimum I'll
drive Cotty and Hugo into a few waves
and then I'll assess the situation
out there,
see if there's any waves
that I would like to ride.
I have a feeling
I'm not gonna want to ride any.
It was looking a bit funky
at first light
and then about quarter to seven
I got the sickest set
I've seen in a long time.
Way more groovy
than I thought it would be.
Been visualizing the day before
the wave that I wanted.
I was super confident,
I was in a good place.
It was like an all or nothing day.
I was prepared to put it all
on the line, you know?
What's the worst crash you've seen?
Cotty.
As far as the force
of the sea's impact on a human being
it was Cotty.
I put him on the wave.
I put him on the perfect spot,
it was nice and smooth
and beautiful
and he came down
and he did a little fade
and then he turned so that
he could get into the barrel.
And when he turned it was too late
and the lip was coming
straight for him.
I stayed out the back.
Hugo got him.
Hugo ran him up the beach.
What happened, Garrett?
His back is really sore
and he can't move that well.
And they think it's his spine.
Hold on.
Just get this off. It's okay.
Easy, easy.
Hold on. Don't move your head.
- Same pain?
- Same pain, lower back.
Get a blanket for him.
- Katie?
- Hi!
We've got bad news.
Cotty's alive, but he got hurt.
Is he okay?
Was it in the water?
Yep. We just got out.
Really painful
and doesn't feel right at all.
On three. One, two, three.
We're going to the stretcher now.
He'll be fine, he'll come through.
Cotty's strong,
he bounces back quick.
Bummer.
Garrett in all his positivity,
he's like he's gonna be okay.
He got taken away in an ambulance.
It was really bad.
I think maybe it scared Garrett
so he wasn't giving it the energy
it deserved
as far as how severe it was.
With injuries
and like tragic situations,
he almost can't handle it.
He doesn't do well with
people almost dying.
Perfect. I didn't even have to surf.
Andrew Cotton's accident on that day
I didn't even know it happened.
Because I was outside,
waiting for my wave.
I was with my partner Sergio.
We kept looking for the wave.
The first wave, he went over it.
When I saw the second wave,
it was great.
And I said: "The second one, Sergio!"
And he went over it.
But when I saw the third wave,
he looked at me and he said:
"Koxa, this a bomb!
You wanna go!"
He attacked it perfectly.
I released the rope.
I started to pick up a lot of speed.
For a moment, I was going so fast
that I almost lost my balance and fell.
And a big shadow from the wave
came on.
And I said: "Oh my God,
there must be a monster behind me!"
I just felt like I wanted
to get out of there.
And I saw my partner Sergio.
I told him: "Sergio, you put me
on the wave of my life!"
I got out of the water
and I went to the garage.
And I said: "Garrett!" And I showed
him the image on my phone.
And he looked at it
and zoomed in.
And he showed everyone around him.
And I felt that he knew
it was a really big wave.
And he congratulated me.
Naturally we shared the image
with the world.
And the story became: "Koxa threatens
Garrett McNamara's record."
With a wave measured at 80 feet
and setting a new Guiness World
record,
the winner of the 2018 biggest wave
award is Rodrigo Koxa.
At that moment, I was the man who
rode the biggest wave in the world.
The biggest wave in history.
And there was nobody that I would have
liked to have broken the record
more than him. It would have
been cooler if it was Cotty.
Until that point I'd never questioned
not being able to walk.
Just feeling that I physically
couldn't do it was pretty scary.
And then within like 2 weeks
I was walking around.
See this guy, walking already.
You'll be surfing in a blink.
It's been horrific going through
the rehab,
the uncertainty and the stress.
- How does that feel?
- It feels good.
Do you feel different?
The negatives, all that worry,
the am I good enough?
And then once that happens,
sometimes it's hard to get it back.
Times Square is a place where
something can be seen,
not just by Americans,
but also millions of New York visitors.
So they can learn a little bit more
about our country
and the amazing wave
that is Nazaré.
Tourism in Portugal had this great idea,
we're gonna put Nazaré
in Times Square.
Here it is.
Koxa's world record wave,
80 foot wave right behind us,
in Times Square.
This guy's a visionary.
Garrett has conquered everything.
Standing next to him,
I still feel like a teenager.
But this is my time.
Right here,
world record holder Koxa.
And Garrett McNamara right here,
record holder, world record.
No, he's the record holder.
Now Koxa's the world record holder.
Yeah, Koxa!
To go down a giant wave
is dancing with God.
You see an image of yourself,
and it's very nice,
but it doesn't satisfy you.
You have to get on another wave.
We become dependent on that feeling.
We are completely addicted
to that adrenaline.
I'm preparing my body so that
when I go back to Nazaré,
I will be physically, mentally ready.
I surfed 100 foot wave
a million times in my mind.
I've trained for hours focusing,
manifesting.
This winter is gonna be the big wave.
So I'll be ready.
Big huge breath in, let it out.
Garrett was physically trying
to get back in shape.
Grab some water.
My brother CJ had moved to Hawaii.
Stay focused.
Knees on track.
It seemed like Nazaré was going
to become a big part of your life.
And then you disappear.
Can you talk a little bit
about what transpired,
or why that didn't come to be?
From 2011 it definitely seemed
like Nazaré was like something
super special for me.
It was going to be a huge part
of my life, because it changed me.
It really did.
In 2011,
CJ excelled above and beyond
any expectations I may have had.
He was excited to become
a professional surfer,
a big wave surfer.
And he got injured.
It wasn't a huge day,
it was kinda big.
I'm kind of zipping around inside,
back and forth in the white wash
and looking around and this kind
of weird, little Nazaré tidal wave
sucked up kind of out of nowhere
and I gassed it to get past it,
and I went up on the lip
and it sent me off over the side
of the lip and the ski rolled over.
I got good hit from a jet ski
in my rib.
And then returning
to beach volleyball season,
the way I played was just hard.
Just jumping as high as I can,
hitting every ball as hard as I can.
So I ended up blowing out the disk
in my low back on the left side,
and that's when the sciatic pain came.
I couldn't stand up
for more than 10 seconds,
I would hit the floor
and go into the fetal position.
It was brutal. I couldn't move.
I was absolutely crippled, floored.
My brother, being my brother,
he spent an entire year
trying to heal it on his own.
We didn't realize how bad it was until
his mother went to visit him,
found him laying on the ground.
He was broken.
All of his muscles were atrophied,
he was withering away.
Finally he did the back surgery
after a year of this already.
When he came out of surgery
and he came to,
he just started crying.
CJ suffered a severe mental,
emotional and physical back injury.
And then healing and then recovery
It was a journey.
They say ten to fifteen minutes
of laughter give you the benefits
that you need.
So we're gonna start off with
a really simple breathing exercise.
I'm so different now because
of the injury
that it's so hard to say
what would have happened
had the path continued
and had I not taken this detour.
All the way, in the belly.
In the ribs!
I'd like to think I'd have been amazing.
I'd be this famous big wave surfer,
sponsors just throwing money
and stuff at me.
But it's all the stuff that now
I'm like, what is that even worth?
What does it mean?
I'd probably still have this guilt
and self-worth issues
and I'd have all of this external
attention from big waves
and I'd still be like, whatever,
I'm shit.
So I definitely wouldn't trade it in
for anything.
It's the biggest blessing of my life.
But now I have really
kind of taken a step back,
and I'm planning on going back
to Nazaré with Garrett.
The traditional big wave season
of Nazaré
is October through end of February.
Garrett was in recovery mode
from his shoulder
and so I was like,
okay, let's do this comeback.
Let's get you guys both out there.
We both experienced injuries,
but haven't really broken through
on them
in order to be able to go out
and surf these waves.
When it's time to go to Nazaré
and go ride this giant wave,
I'll be ready.
We were in Bali for a month.
The plan was yoga training
and to really get ready and feel
mentally and physically prepared
to go back out to Nazaré.
It's not just your regular yoga
that you think of with postures
and that's it.
It's about how we hold trauma
in our bodies
and that's what creates pain.
It's also about healing injuries.
I'd been doing like 6 months of quite
intense physio and rehab,
but all of it's been gym based.
The idea was to come up here and
just do a bit of yoga, a bit of moving.
The first movement you need to learn
is to massage the earth.
Come down.
And you've got to put a little bit
of dancer in it.
At first when we had to get up
and dance and stuff I was like, no.
I kinda got into it.
It was quite good to break the ice,
and let your inhibitions go,
and fully throw yourself
into the experience.
People come to us
for a lot of different reasons,
including reasons that they didn't know.
They come for healing.
Sometimes it's the back injury
and sometimes it's a deeper yearning.
And a deeper hidden impulse.
Hear all that? All the ligaments
and tendons popping in the middle.
My body will be as ready as it can be.
The challenge is getting
confidence underwater.
I want to surf, but I don't know
if I want to surf.
I don't even know how I'm gonna
feel when we go back there.
I was trying to paddle in some little
waves, but it was really terrible.
Sometimes, the little days are harder.
I don't know if I'm going to even be
interested in riding some big waves.
You will. As soon as you get
two under your belt.
As soon as I get my lungs.
You'll get a few waves,
it will be clean and nice.
- Back to normal, freaking out?
- Yeah.
He's starting to turn on the muscles
that were just flaccid.
He's not such a stress ball
around his injury.
It's changing beautifully.
Physically, they will be able to do it,
but confidence is a big thing.
The mental preparation.
We have been working on how
to disobey the dictates of fear.
Because when you're doing
anything and your fear takes over,
you're screwed.
You can't be in the throes of fear
and responding at that profound
athletic level that he needs to be.
If you know you can trust yourself,
then you can trust yourself
to do great things.
I do not worry for them at all.
I think that they are ready.
Get in your body.
I suggested the yoga trip to Bali.
But to get Garrett to go to Bali
for a month with his kids
There had to have been some carrot
at the end of the trip.
The carrot was G-Land.
It had been about at least 15 years
since I'd been to G-Land
and we were just there to have fun.
The goal was to get barrels
in Indonesia
and we got to go to G-Land.
Since I was a little kid,
I was like: "Oh, G-Land"
I first heard about it when I saw
"The Endless Summer II".
It's just this remote location that has
this wave that's just perfect,
and you can get the best wave
of your life, if it's right.
As I got ready to paddle out,
I looked at my helmet in my bag
and I decided not to wear it.
I should have put it on.
He hits the reef and he gets
a gash in his head
and amnesia.
He doesn't know where his camp is,
nor where his wife is.
So do you know what the fuck
happened, Garrett?
I remember the wave and I remember
being in the barrel.
I was coming out
and something went wrong.
And then all of a sudden I hit
and I was almost knocking out,
almost knocked out.
I was like fading, fading.
I feel definitely out of it.
I'm having a hard time
remembering still.
I shouldn't still not be remembering
things, right?
No, no, that's normal.
- It takes a while?
- Yeah, like 24 hours.
You'll ask the same and same again,
but it will get better.
If I hit any harder,
I would have knocked out,
I probably wouldn't be here.
I was floating,
but good luck somebody finding you.
My children, my wife, my life
flashed before my eyes
and I thought to myself,
is this even worth it?
These little waves
I could have just died.
I'm just thinking about my family
and stuff.
Garrett, this is gonna sting for a sec.
Just one sec.
Are you alright? It's gonna burn.
I like it. How about glue?
You got any glue?
No, dude, glue won't cut
it for this one.
I got worried, I finally caught another
wave and asked someone
what happened and they said
he had blood on his head,
didn't know where he was going.
I didn't know where I was staying.
Up until about a couple of minutes ago,
I couldn't remember where Nicole went.
The brain's really vulnerable
at the moment,
and if you hit It again, you can get
permanent brain damage.
And you don't want that.
- You good?
- Yeah, I'm good.
- Tomorrow's gonna be really good.
- Yeah.
When Garrett is talking about
going out surfing again
when he's still got a bandage around
his head
and he's had a concussion,
I'm like, the doctor said you
shouldn't surf for at least two weeks.
He just wanted to go out.
There was no convincing him otherwise.
"It's fine, I'll put the helmet on,
it will be fine."
I'm like, okay
The universe said you didn't listen
to my first sign of amnesia,
so now I'm gonna have to do
something different.
Four days later we landed in Portugal
and we went straight to hospital.
How did this happen?
Surfing. The board went
Let's have a look at the exams.
You injured the base
of the third metatarsal.
- So it's dislocated.
- Dislocated?
Yes. There is no bone here
because it's dislocated.
You have to put it back in its place.
What I'm going to do is to put a plate
over the second
and the third tarsal joints.
If they're not steady enough,
the foot in time will start to collapse,
will start to deform,
and you'll not be able to walk.
This is the kind of lesion
that we have to do surgery.
Okay.
If we did nothing, you will not
be able to walk as you used to
and I doubt you'd be able to go on
a board and surf again
as you're used to.
This is the kind of injury
you have to fix.
How long does it take,
the whole process
if everything went really smooth?
For you to be on a board?
Not before 4 months.
The doctor so gently explained to us
that it was pretty much fractured
in like 8 places,
needed a plate
and all these screws and
Okay.
It was like playing back to me,
like the shoulder
and the months of depression
and I was like I cannot do it again.
It really freaking sucks,
I have PTSD from the word surgery.
When you bumped your head
you probably should have listened!
It sucks! And now
we're in the same position.
We don't even have
your shoulder 100%
and now we're going to have
to be rehabbing a shoulder and a foot?
It really sucks.
Thank you for coming.
When I got the wipeout,
my family flashed before my eyes
and them losing me.
There's always the potential of getting
injured lurking in the back of my mind
since the shoulder surgery
that makes me
think twice about everything.
You guys and your waves
They're so fun.
And connected to nature.
Everything else is left behind.
So beautiful.
I feel good, I'm in good hands.
To be honest, when I got hurt
I was almost relieved.
I feel like I need a little more time.
When my body is 100%
and a big wave will come
and if I feel like riding it, I will.
Ace, mate, you've got to get up.
I've got to go today, mate.
So you gonna be good for me
this morning?
Today the flight leaves
at 1:00 from Bristol.
I'm flying to Nazaré.
I've got sort of physical training
to begin with
and hopefully some waves.
And then the big wave season kicks off.
What's a quart graph?
- A quart graph?
- No idea. I can't do anything.
Why do you even need
to know that though?
Ace, he likes it when I'm injured
because I'm home more.
You miss 'em, you know?
You do think what's it all about?
Is it really worth putting
everything on the line?
I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
That will be good.
I don't fear death, you know?
I don't fear dying.
I get more fear for like
not being able to surf again.
I fear that.
He shouldn't had been able
to surf that season.
But Garrett had his mind set
at getting back as soon as possible.
I think because he knew
I was so mad he broke his foot
that he's like I'd better
get it better fast.
- How are you?
- Good.
That's the least excited
I've ever heard you say it.
I'm good,
but I got 6 weeks of off the foot
and 6 weeks of rehab.
And that's the best case scenario.
I think Garrett definitely feels
pressure to get out there.
I'm sure some people really look
forward to seeing him surf
and the Portuguese people definitely
love seeing him getting out there.
Broken.
- Get better.
- Thank you.
When we first came here
nobody knew who Garrett was
because this was not a surfing town,
it was not a surfing country.
But now he's like the George Clooney
of Portugal.
It's amazing how much just seeing him
lights the Portuguese people up.
I don't think anyone can question
that Garrett is loved
by the Portuguese people.
We can say there was a Nazaré
before Garrett and after Garrett.
It was McNamara.
He gave a lot to the sea of Nazaré.
He put Nazaré on the map.
He showed that we are
a surfing country.
We can now attract the best athletes
in the world to do things
that, for a common mortal,
are completely impossible.
Looking good!
The old ladies love him.
He conquered the heart
of the people of Nazaré.
How you doing?
Been a while huh?
I've never been a fan of soap operas,
but this one called "Nazaré",
I watch it.
They were able to weave Garrett
into a specific episode.
I have a bunch of friends coming over,
so I would love to get some fish.
Whatever you guys recommend.
The king of Nazaré!
Let's have a look at your X-ray.
So everything seems to be okay.
He's moving his foot a lot,
no need to move more.
We have to go slowly, but surely.
It seems to be healed.
I'm glad I got the surgery,
because it feels great.
The last one.
Oh my goodness!
Good job.
After the surgery there was no pain,
it was a miracle.
I told Nicole
I am not going to do anything,
I'm just going to stay here
and focus on healing my foot.
And then I said to myself,
man, I've got all of this time,
I might as well utilize it.
And I've never been to Africa.
So Garrett and CJ went to Angola
for a beach cleanup.
And then they went to South Africa
to work with Waves For Change,
who provide surf therapy
and mentorship
to underprivileged youth there.
So is everybody ready
to get in the water?
- Yes!
- Let's go surfing!
And then we went to New York
because Garrett had a meeting
to build a survival suit.
We're in New York
and my buddy, Kyle, is helping me
put together a suit that
I've been dreaming about making
for the last 15 years.
There's no real solid suit
for waves over 80 feet.
The survival suits in 2011
that we used,
most of them were like
Garrett's kind of creation.
And it's just taking like flotation
from life vests
and just like stuffing it into
the wet suit in spots that you need it.
Now the evolution is having a bladder
that inflates when we pull a cord.
Crazy, isn't it?
So Garrett's trying to design a suit
that's as comfortable as possible
so that you can be fully free
and mobile,
but also really solid and safe.
Once in a while in Nazaré
you come up
and then there's this monster and
you have to try and swim through it.
You deflate real quick while
you're waiting.
And get through.
And then you can have another
one breaking
I think building this ultimate survival
suit is going to give Garrett
the confidence he needs to do this
for as long as he wants,
into his old age
and it's just gonna like keep
him together like armor.
Holy shit!
When I got on the plane to Nazaré,
my foot was feeling great.
By the time we got off it was swollen
and sore
and I thought maybe
I reinjured it somehow
from sitting with my foot down
for too long.
Traveling is like the last thing
you want to do with a broken foot.
He was feeling frustration
from what I could see
of having to do all these things and
wanting to really take care of his foot.
And then there was waves
of being grumpy.
You're pinned on the couch,
you can't go anywhere.
You start snapping at people.
I've never been so unprepared to ride
a big wave ever in my life.
I got to Africa, ran around,
and I went to New York,
and ran around.
And it's only my own self sabotage
that I did by choice.
And I could have said, sorry, no,
I'm staying home.
I need to focus on my foot.
And I thought it was a good idea
because I couldn't surf,
so I might as well do other things.
But to get back in the water you got
to focus on getting back in the water,
not doing other things.
Check out the storm CJ.
It's as big as we've seen.
60-80 feet on Wednesday.
Magic. Straight down the pike.
Huge, huh?
Look at the center of it.
The wave that I've been dreaming about
for years is actually on the maps
and potentially coming in
and I'm 100% not ready physically.
I could ride it
and if I make it I'll be fine.
But if I don't, there's a potential
of not coming home.
Garrett doesn't have to stay
20 hours in the water now.
He has kids,
he has family.
He has to make all the stuff there
and he have to come
down a little bit.
Does he have to surf another wave?
No.
Cristiano Ronaldo have to win Europe's
championship of football again? No.
And he's the best of the world.
I think Garrett have to stay around
and have fun
and take control of his life
and growing up with the kids
and that's it.
I think it's the most difficult decision
to look in the mirror
and say, it's time to stop.
I think a surf guy never feel that.
I do not know when big wave surfers
finally say they've had enough.
I haven't seen it yet.
There's a point in surfing when
it might end up becoming selfish
when you're not putting
your family first.
And I think Garrett's been fighting
the demons.
I think there's gonna be a time
when Garrett has to hang it up,
call it a day,
call it a career
and be there for his family and kids
and things and not risk his life
for the 100 foot wave.
Because it may never happen.
I think it's personal when you
decide when the end is.
When you lose the emotional capacity
to be able to go do it,
then I think the physical leaves.
For some people that never ends.
Maybe some people they just
don't ever not want that feeling.
I don't think you call it a day
on surfing,
I think maybe you call it a day
in like chasing it
and like risking it all.
But you don't call it a day on surfing.
Portuguese authorities have
now issued a red weather warning.
They say coastal areas are likely
to get a battering
from the incoming weather front.
Strengthening storm is expected
to bring downpours and strong winds.
Of course apart from wind and rain,
this storm could also generate
significant surf conditions.
Luigi texts back.
I really want to see this X-ray.
He said good. Yes!
Time to rock and roll, now it's time
to get serious. Time to train hard!
Time to get CJ in the water,
time to get in the water.
Real soon I'll be driving a jet ski
and maybe surfing.