Waterpeople Podcast

How does change happen when we, and the world, seem stuck in our ways? 

We’re curious about how change happens – and what people are doing on the ground, in our community, to create the causal pathway…

Is there a particular fear that's still holding you back? 

Holistic surf therapist and coach Holly Beck talks us through the way she sees terrestrial life play out in the water -  in terms of how we b…

Who's your youngest friend? 

We just met one of ours: 11-year-old surfer, shaper and filmmaker Hunter Williams. 

This year, Hunter won the grom shorts category at the Noosa International Surf Film Fest…

Rites of passage, once central to marking life’s transitions, have faded in modernity. As we navigate rising anxiety, social fragmentation, and a world where technology permeates nearly all aspects o…

What moves you through the world? In the most literal sense, it's the same answer for all of us: muscle. 

In On Muscle, Bonnie Tsui brings her signature blend of science, culture, immersive reporting,…

How much has your homebreak shaped you - your life, livelihood, the person you've become? 

The quirkiness of Dylan Graves'  Puerto Rican homebreak shaped a lifelong obsession, and subsequent career in…

Besides being a professor of chemistry, Dr. Sarah Gerhardt was the first woman to ride one of the world’s most feared waves, Mavericks in icy Northern California. She is a mother of two and acknowled…

When was the last time you followed a spark of curiosity all the way to some distant shoreline?

Kiana Weltzien's ocean adventures began in 2016 when she left her real estate career in Miami for a yea…

What's lost when we hand over skills or experiences to technology ? 

We sat down with localisation pioneer Helena Norberg-Hodge to learn more about the waves of radical economic and social changes she…

How do we make magic boards last longer?

Gary McNeill and Dave have been experimenting with alternative, non-petrochemical materials for the last decade. The front runner in their experiments? Flax c…

How do you better a culture?  How do we better surf culture?

Dr. Krista Comer is a scholar of American literature and cultural politics. She has written widely about women and surfing as a way "to b…

Many professional athletes struggle to transition from their sport-as-career. The highs are often out of reach for pedestrian life - especially for pro surfers who spend their years in whirlwinds of …

Called the "most underrated sports person in Australia" and the "greatest Bells surfer of all time”  Gail Couper has been both: at the centre and the sideline of surf culture and sport for the better…

How many kids from Tennessee end up devoting their life to the world's heaviest waves? At least one. That's Lane Davey: Pipe Disciple, PhD, journalist and college lecturer at UH Mānoa. 

Lane has dedic…

We’re getting tangential. This episode is part of a three episode slip slide behind the scenes of a project that Dave’s been working on for the better part of 2024: The Electric Acid Surfboard test. 

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Who modelled kindness for you? Who showed you how to be kind and curious in the face of difference?

Before he was a Fulbright Scholar, Jamie Brisick surfed on the ASP world tour from 1986 to 1991, and…

Longevity in any career begs for reinvention. With more than a decade at the pro surfing game, Josie Prendergast has been navigating new waters in her career - by taking the reins on her own storytel…

Did sailing have more to do with early human locomotion than the wheel? Hanneke Boon, head of James Wharram Designs, suggests that may be so. 

Born in the Netherlands, Hanneke grew up in a sailing fam…

Over the last half century, Bob McTavish has shaped thousands of custom surfboards. 

Always an innovator in surfboard design and technology, Bob pioneered cutting edge changes to the basic concept of …

Did you feel safe in your childhood home? If not, were you able to leave, or did you have to stay? 

Ruby Southwell hit the road, travelling solo for years, searching for guidance. What she found was a…