Original subtitles

SPEAKER: You can look back into history,

and you can interview a lot of people,

and they're gonna tell you about this notion

of the 100-foot wave. The biggest waves

in the world are there in Nazaré.

It's really become one of the most famous surf spots

in the world right now.

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

SPEAKER 2: WSL Tow challenge has been watched

all around the world.

SPEAKER 3: Without my family around, a lot of times I think,

"Oh, I could do the contest, but I wasn't ready."

SPEAKER 4: You're gonna see thousands and thousands of people

just covering the cliffs.

Every important big wave surfer, everyone's there.

ANNOUNCER: We are expecting some epic performances.

The world's best big wave surfers all pushing the limits.

SPEAKER 5: Kai is excited, been training for it all year.

SPEAKER 6: Kai Lenny,

he's just a once-in-a-generation freak.

SPEAKER 7: Everyone wants the same thing,

that wave that's gonna make your career

and change your life.

[TV static drones]

[bright tone]

[dramatic string music]

- Good morning and welcome to Nazaré in Portugal.

The World Surf League's Big Wave Tour

now brings its focus to the shores of Western Europe.

Where's the limit? We're gonna find out.

- The World Surf League

runs surfing competitions all around the world.

- You couldn't plan it any better.

- And most of those events are held in waves

that'll be from 2 feet to 6 feet.

The offshoot of it is the Big Wave Tour

where the waves need to be

at least 35 feet on the face and preferably bigger.

- A humungous wave pulling into a big barrel!

- Nazaré has been a incredible resource

for running big wave events

because there are so many big waves.

We ran three editions of the Nazaré challenge

as a paddle event, and it was radical.

- I can remember going there

for the Nazaré challenge paddle-in surfing competition,

and I remember seeing these giant waves and going,

"How did I get myself into this mess?"

The night before the competition,

I was laying in my bed going,

"I really hope I don't die tomorrow."

[crowd cheering]

- Oh! Oh, wow.

♪ ♪

- The reality of it is we had too many days

where the waves were just too big to paddle.

- Oh, no. - Oh!

- Will go over the handlebars, so to speak,

and take a wipeout.

- Oh, my gosh!

- Getting absolutely steamrolled!

- World champions were just terrified of it

and were just getting destroyed.

After that, we just went,

"Look, you know, maybe tow surfing

"is the right format

for this spot because it's never too big."

- You know, I ended up surviving the event,

but I was like,

"I'm okay without ever coming here."

Pretty much all my friends from Hawaii were like,

"We're not coming back here ever again."

And it's odd because over the years,

it's completely changed, and now I long to go

to a place like Nazaré.

I love Nazaré.

It's one of my favorite big waves in the world

'cause it's such a challenge,

and I've just decided to accept that challenge.

[soft music]

- Check out these monster 100-foot waves

off of Portugal.

- The biggest wave ever surfed,

as high as 100 feet.

- To put that 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.

- Biggest wave ever surfed. - The biggest wave ever--

- Will be the biggest wave-- - The biggest wave--

- The 100-foot wave.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- The Nazaré Tow Surfing Challenge really was

the first event of its kind ever,

a performance oriented, purely tow surfing,

competitive event at this arena

where thousands of people were watching.

- Welcome back to live action

from the Nazaré Tow Surf Challenge.

Prize out here today, best ride.

We are underway,

so heat one will be one hour long.

- Our goal with the format

for the Nazaré Tow Surfing Challenge was

to have as much action going on as possible

without jet skis crashing into each other

and too much going on

where you lose track of the surfers.

So we had a priority system

that had never been used before

where we had a big screen up on the side of the lighthouse

and a judge that would say,

"Hey, once you caught a wave,

basically, you go to the end of the line."

- Black is clear.

- Here we go, Andrew Cotton,

Team Great Britain, big fade.

He did ride that wave really well.

He put himself in a great position.

- That was Lucas Chianca,

massive wedge of a peak.

Now look at this thing.

That's one of the biggest waves we've seen.

Tom Butler that was.

- That was a very, very tall one.

- Right now Kai Lenny got involved.

What you expect from him, he's gonna do stuff like that,

complete spin, 360 degrees, lands with control,

and then drops back in and loses control.

Oh, and what a tumble!

Wow, that was crazy stuff.

- There was thousands and thousands of people.

That was pretty astonishing

just to see that amount of people.

I felt like a gladiator in Thunderdome.

- We're over here to see Andrew surf

for the first time.

Andrew Cotton, that is.

- We've seen him

scores of times on videos and TV

but never actually been here, so it's amazing to see it.

- We gotta manifest one really good wave

for Cotty and one really good wave

for Tom in this next seed.

I'm gonna go up there and study so that I can call the wave.

First peak, first peak.

- Here we go, doubles.

- Nice, yeah, here we go.

We got Cotty on the inside.

[soft dramatic music]

Oh, and they both peak off, so that's a share.

[soft music]

- That is Justine Dupont, and that is a massive wave.

- She has her wings out, stabilizing herself.

♪ ♪

- She is next-level.

I could see her winning actually,

beating all the guys.

I would love that.

♪ ♪

- She kicks out, and she's happy,

as well she should be.

- Justine Dupont, you just surfed your half hour heat.

How was it out there? - I was so lucky.

I had a really nice wave at the beginning of the heat,

so then we was pretty confident and just having fun.

[speaking French]

- Tell us about the conditions today.

Is this everything you'd hoped for for the event to run?

- Yeah, it's really good.

It's not that much wind,

so we are not used to have this condition,

like, that perfect.

- Right now, I'd like to be in the water, yeah,

'cause it's so smooth.

This is the kind of day that I live for.

- Looks like Maya Gabeira. - Wow!

- And this wave's got a wall on it.

This is the kind of wave you want

if you can get around that.

This is commitment right here.

Uh-oh.

- Well, now she's gonna deal with some white water here.

- The noise, the power that exploded all around me.

I mean, I don't know how I would have reacted

on a free surf, but because I was competing,

I saw that bomb, I didn't even think about it.

I went all the way to the bottom,

and then I saw that there was no way I was gonna be able

to turn at that point.

I just held on.

- An explosion of white water gets the better of Maya.

- I got really lucky because I just held enough

that I was thrown forward and not down.

- And now we get to see Sebastian

and his ability to get in.

And there's the pickup for Maya, all good.

- I just got so close to something so scary

that I must say that it took a lot of my confidence away.

I was one athlete until that point,

and then I became another athlete

for the other part of the competition

where I was like, "Okay,

"I don't want play that close to fire, you know?

"Like, I want to surf well,

but, like, this is not worth, you know, my life."

- Not this one but the next one.

Where are you guys?

- He just rode the wave, I think.

- There's Cotty! He's still riding.

- Spotting is really tough, yeah, really tough.

I'm just trying to study the wave,

so I could choose better, but it's so challenging

to pick the right wave.

I got a lot of sympathy for the spotters.

- Riding up the big one!

- Can you tell me where red is? Where's red?

- I know he found it more difficult

than what he envisioned,

and I think that's probably because he's used

to being out in the sea.

When you're in the water, you're more focused

on just what's around you, not every aspect of it.

- Red's first priority now, yeah?

You guys have priority. Wait for the bomb.

There's--looks like a bomb coming.

Looks like a set coming.

Tell Cotty I'll let you guys know

if it's a good right.

The rights are hollow and amazing.

If it's a good right, tell him to go right.

[tense music]

You guys are priority. This next wave is really good.

This next wave right here.

- I was surfing,

and Garrett called a wave on the radio.

It was a left-hander and a right-hander.

- It was a perfect peak. You could've gone either way.

- We were down at, like, fifth priority at this point.

And we saw the other team going,

and we had to wait to see what they did first.

- I was just looking left.

I didn't see what was going on behind me

or over my shoulder on the right.

- When we figured out that they were going left,

"Oh, scoop me on the right."

- Oh. - Red, 1.5 left.

- Left, left, left, left. - And blue.

Blue going right. - Left, left, left, left.

Left, left, left. - Oh, my God, that's a...

[crowd cheering] Oh, my God!

[soft orchestral music]

- That was Kai?

♪ ♪

- Kai just had this wave that just was that wave

that everyone draws during their algebra class.

It was this perfect 70-foot barrel.

♪ ♪

- Kai Lenny, just in from last heat,

and, mate, looked like you're having fun out there.

- Yeah, it's super fun.

Man, it's super sick to just be here right now.

Both Lucas and I want to ride, like, an 80-footer

if one eventually comes in.

- Well, one heat to go.

You seem to be in the nominations so far.

Good luck with the rest of the event.

- Thank you.

[crowd cheering]

- There's tons of waves. Don't worry.

There's tons of waves. Let everybody go.

- We can hear when you talk,

but all we hear is "krrrr" when you're not talking.

- I think he knew that he was losing it towards the end,

you know, like "Ahh!"

Like, 'cause it was, like, all over the shot and that like.

- Left inside, go, go, go, go.

Way over, way over! This next wave is the wave.

That's where you don't want to be.

Second, third peak. [exhales]

- "Oh, over here, over there! Left, right, left."

You know, that's, like, classic Garrett.

- How much time?

- Time is 2 minutes 45.

- Two minutes, guys. Let's get you a nugget.

There is a big set coming. There is a big set coming.

Get on the rope. Get on the rope.

Get on the rope.

This is the wave. This is the magic wave.

Go for this wave.

[horn blaring]

- Fuck! - What?

- Fuck!

- Towards the end of that final heat,

I was towing Cotty into a wave,

and then, yeah, it kind of came across the radio like,

"Ski's down, ski's down."

♪ ♪

- Is that Hugo?

- Whoa! - Oh, my God.

- We lost a ski. We lost a ski.

There he is, inside!

- Alex and Hugo were on the inside.

They didn't have backup safety.

They were going back out,

and there was this white water and then a sideways wave,

and they flew over the sideways wave,

landed sideways, hit the ski really hard,

and I think Alex knocked out on impact.

And then both of them were in the water,

and Hugo's there trying to get back on the ski.

- And that ski is gonna go over now.

- Oh-ho-ho! - That we were just told...

- Literally end of the day.

Anything can happen.

- And they're still underwater, not popping up.

And then everybody realized this piece of foam

that they saw floating wasn't just a piece of foam

or a life jacket. It was Alex.

There he is, there he is.

- Oh, it's a body. - Oh, shoot.

[indistinct chatter]

- [speaking Portuguese]

- It's the second time that we ever

really see a body floating out there.

First time was mine. Now it's the second.

[indistinct yelling]

♪ ♪

[tense music]

- There was no real info.

It was just--no one really knew what happened.

It wasn't until I was on social media,

saw the video, and then it was just like, "Oh, shit."

- Extraordinary pictures that have come in

from Nazaré in Portugal.

Alex Botelho got wiped out while on a jet ski.

- Botelho was unconscious

when lifeguards pulled him from the water.

♪ ♪

- It looked like he broke his back there,

and then, boom, wave washes him,

like the heaviest thing, and then he's just out.

He's just out, and, like, there's no skis.

- So you saw the whole-- - Well, I--dude, it was live.

- Oh. - It was live.

But yeah, heavy.

♪ ♪

- It's hard.

I surfed the contest really expecting my body,

if eventually, it floated unconscious,

to be grabbed and taken to the beach very quickly.

And to see that, you know, it didn't go that way

with a friend of ours, you know, it's just...

I don't know, it's scary.

♪ ♪

- A lot of preparation went into having a safety plan,

but in the end,

Alex Botelho was not riding a wave.

He was just getting a lift back out with his partner,

and the jet ski crashed.

If you attended all the safety meetings,

that wasn't something that everyone was looking for.

- Luckily, Alemao followed Hugo, or Alex wouldn't be here.

He was watching for other teams at the same time,

but he made sure that he went in and got Alex.

Alemao's the real hero.

- It definitely makes me think,

"Is it all worth it, this big wave riding?"

Then when you're out in the water,

everything changes.

You're like a kid in a candy store.

[car horn honks]

Usually.

- How was today, Cotty?

- Yeah, it was all right.

Couple big waves,

but sort of a bit of a weird one,

ending like it did.

Hopefully, he's all right.

Public speaking is one of my biggest fears.

And now I do it for a job, so...

[laughs]

That's way worse than surfing 80-foot waves.

- Andrew, Tom, thank you very much for doing this.

First of all, tell us what conditions have been like

for big wave surfing there over the last couple of days.

- Today the swell sort of peaked

probably at like 60 feet maybe?

And it was the Nazaré Tow Challenge,

the WSL Nazaré Tow Challenge.

Yeah, it's been a great day.

- And how are you getting on in the competition?

- We actually--we don't know yet.

We surfed all day today,

and we find out tonight at 7:00.

There's an award ceremony at the lighthouse.

- I hate to remind you, Andrew,

of what happened there a few years ago

when you had a spectacular wipeout--

- Never forget this part.

- Nearly ended your career.

How are things progressing from then on?

- Yeah, you know, yeah, the wipeout a couple years ago,

you know, obviously, it was traumatic,

but it was just an injury and...

Whenever I do an interview,

it's all about the broken back.

It's all about the injury.

It's like, shit, I've surfed so many good waves,

you know, like...

and all they want to talk about is injury,

which is kind of sad, isn't it?

Like,

you know, no one really cares about the ones you make.

They want to see about the ones you don't, you know?

- How many times have you been asked about your--

- Wipeout, it's just like, oh, my God.

- All right, mate, nice job. - See you later.

- I'm so glad you guys are all right.

Thanks for looking after Tom for me.

- We did good. We did get some good waves.

- Yeah, we got some good ones. Nice one, mate.

- [unintelligible] find a shirt, eh?

- You've got one in that camper van.

- I have, yeah. [laughter]

- See you in a little bit! - See you in a bit!

- Hi, mate. - Hi.

- Sorry I wasn't that good up there.

It's so hard.

- Yeah, you're fine.

It's good. It was good.

It's hard though, eh? - It's so gnarly.

- Hard, eh?

Did anyone get any--what was the...

- Your last wave was probably a contender.

Nobody shot it. - What?

- They were all shooting the...Alex.

- Nobody shot the last wave? - No.

- From what they were doing, your wave should be top five,

the last wave.

- Last wave.

- Yeah, but they couldn't find it.

- That's just like-- it doesn't matter, does it?

Wow.

- And then-- - All right, I'm gonna go.

- Okay, good surfing.

- Basically, the rules of the biggest wave

within an event really depend on the video

and photographic evidence.

Andrew Cotton caught an amazing wave

the last minute or two of the challenge,

and tragically, it was not captured.

- I remember them saying, like, they counted Cotty's wave

in the score and that he caught it before the horn blast.

[horn blares]

But everything was happening on the inside

with Alex and Hugo,

and the attention obviously went to that.

- How this can happen

when you have, like, eight, ten cameras?

They were pointing all the cameras

to the accident to the point they lost Cotty's wave,

which was one of the biggest on that day.

- I looked up, and I saw it, and it was a stunner,

but unfortunately, not only everyone working

on the event but everyone, apparently,

who had a camera who was attending the event

looked the other way.

So it was not up for consideration

in the event, and nor was it up for consideration

for the biggest wave of the year.

Until we can have a camera

over every square centimeter of the Earth,

a few things are gonna go missing.

[light music plays over speakers]

♪ ♪

- Hello. - Hey, Mom.

- How are you my darling? Well done.

You did so well.

- You didn't even know which one I was.

But I think I managed to see sometimes.

No, it's great.

I'm just so glad that I was able to see.

It was brilliant.

- Yes, we were fortunate to be still out there watching

on the final wave.

And it really, really was a big wave,

but I don't think an awful lot of people did see it, though.

- All right, my darling.

Love you lots. We'll see you in a bit, okay?

Oh, it's just so good to see you.

It's been a really exciting day.

I loved it.

See you in a bit. - See you later.

[soft music]

- Cotty loves surfing big waves.

It's all he wants to do.

He is hungry, super hungry.

♪ ♪

- I've surfed a few big waves

but never really...

you know, never really...

never really won anything or really had that moment.

[cheers and applause]

- Oh, we got Seb. You're gonna come up.

Thank you, Seb, or you want to say something?

- I just came from the hospital.

Alex has a problem with his lung,

a lot of water in there, but he will push through.

And Hugo will also be kept there overnight

but probably also be fine.

And he asked me to pass a message,

which is that he really enjoyed the day with all of us.

He's stoked that everyone charged,

and he's happy to come back and see every one of us.

That's the message.

[cheers and applause]

- Beautiful stuff.

So to the--unique to this event,

we have the surfers voting on all of the awards tonight.

It is something where you can't blame the judging

because you are all the judges as athletes.

I'm now gonna introduce the highlights of today,

so please pay attention to this very closely,

so you guys can get your votes in.

♪ ♪

- The idea was we'd watch everyone's rides back,

and then we'd all judge 'em.

- Surfing is more of an art than a sport and hard to judge

in a lot of ways.

It was just about the gut feeling.

As a surfer participating in the event,

what spoke to you?

- Well, there you go, round of applause

for an incredible day of surfing right there.

We'll call up each team,

so when you hear your name, please come up here

and cast your vote.

Team Brazil.

Rodrigo Koxa and Pedro Scooby, please come on up.

Big round of applause for Team Brazil.

♪ ♪

- I like the way the contest was organized,

but I don't like compete, you know?

For me, big waves,

it's about you and God, you know?

- Kai Lenny and Lucas Chianca, come on up please.

- But of course, it's amazing for the big wave community,

and I respect a lot.

- Our tabulator here working quickly.

And first award, women's wave of the day over here,

and it will go to Justine Dupont!

[cheers and applause]

- Do you recall the wave of the day?

- Yeah, one was kind of special.

- Right on. Thank you very much, Justine.

Which now brings us to the men's wave of the day.

I think that this one, the wave did a lot of the work,

but the teamwork got the wave.

So congratulations to Kai Lenny for the wave of the day.

[cheers and applause]

Kai, I want to ask you first.

That wave was pretty special.

You ended up splitting the peak with somebody

on that one, right?

- I think it was Team Britain that was going on the left,

and I yelled at Lucas, I'm like, "Let's go right!"

And he's like, "Right, really?"

'Cause it was gonna go straight to the cliff.

And he just whipped me up it,

and the wave was so smooth,

I didn't know how big it was behind me.

- If you were to ask any surfer to draw the perfect wave,

it would probably be something like that, you know?

Wouldn't you agree? - Yeah.

- To be honest, I remember seeing Kai on the right,

and I don't even remember seeing what happened

on the left.

That was how good the right was.

- Yeah.

- Congratulations, you two.

- Hindsight is 20/20, and I've been on the other side

of the stick as well where, you know,

you could've gone on the wave of the day.

I think it happens to every big wave surfer

where you shoulda, coulda, "Why didn't I?"

But you just have to go back out there,

and hope you get another opportunity at it.

- Well, you might stay up on the stage

because the next one, you guys are the best team.

All right, so you won the best team as well.

[cheers and applause]

One more round of applause for all the competitors.

- Don't think there's any video,

but there's a still,

which is just nice, you know?

But there'll be bigger waves tomorrow,

bigger waves Monday.

It's just another... another wave.

- Oh, I gotta go. - All right.

- All right.

- See you in a bit. - I'll see you in the morning.

- No, he's gone. He's in there.

- I should've done the contest.

There's a small percentage of me that wanted to.

The teams are gonna get more organized.

They're gonna figure out how to do better.

And it's gonna get harder.

It's just like the paddle contest.

I should've done the first year,

but I had a broken arm.

Now this one, I got a broken foot.

There's some weird little juju going on.

I don't know what's wrong.

Gotta figure out what I'm doing wrong,

or maybe I'm not doing anything wrong.

I don't know.

- What would have you done, though, that no one else...

- I would've got barreled.

Plain and simple, I would've got barreled.

I would have found the right barrel,

and I would've got blown out of a monster barrel,

and that's what would've won the whole thing.

At 52, that would have been pretty inspiring.

- If it would have been perfect conditions,

Garrett would have surfed the contest.

I think he was just feeling fear,

fear of loss or fear of another injury.

- Garrett ten years ago was, like,

he wanted every wave under the sun, you know, like,

he was hungry,

but now a growing fear of wipeouts,

the impact, the dangers.

Garrett's had a lot.

He's had more than most, isn't he?

He's had a lot of beatings.

- Oh, my God.

Oh!

- The last four years of injuries,

he hasn't surfed as much, you know?

- Before I got hurt,

I really enjoyed being underwater,

enjoyed getting pounded, enjoyed every moment,

and Mavericks smacked me down.

The pain was so severe for so long

that it changed my outlook a bit.

♪ ♪

And then in G-Land, during that wipeout,

it was spooky getting pounded

and thinking about my family while I'm underwater,

not being there for them.

Definitely weighs on you a bit.

- Big wave surfing is one of the most challenging sports

one can undertake

because no matter how good you really are,

you're going to reach a situation

that'll nearly send you into oblivion.

- The fear that comes with big wave surfing

is obviously fear for your life.

You can't go out into the sea and not be scared.

- Fear is an ever-present emotion,

yet you have to go out into certain conditions.

You have obligations to yourself,

to your own drive.

- Whenever you let go of the tow rope to catch a wave,

you don't know what's coming next.

You have no control over these elements.

The only control you've got is over yourself.

There's a nervous energy there.

But then there's a moment in time it just disappears.

A deathly calm comes over you,

and the fear completely drains.

[light music]

- We know it's a sense of flying.

It's like being a bird.

We know that it's all-consuming,

like, you're not thinking about anything else.

- You're completely absorbed in the moment.

Time goes slow, you know?

A second probably equates to more like ten seconds.

- You become part of something that is greater than you,

part of nature, part of the universe.

- It's the closest I've ever felt to euphoria.

I feel like I'm Icarus,

and I'm getting so close to the sun,

but my wax wings haven't melted just yet.

- They're putting their life on the line

every day when they go there.

Every wave can be their last wave.

It's what makes them feel alive.

- It is magical, and I think,

once you get a connection with the ocean,

I think it can be with you forever.

That feeling is the feeling that I think

you end up chasing for your whole life.

I've been surfing now for 33 years,

and I'm still chasing that same feeling.

- And that's why we pursue it.

That's why we do it our whole life.

That's why we fly around the world

because there's no one alive that when riding a wave,

wouldn't experience that feeling

and not want to go back out

and spend their whole life doing it.

♪ ♪

- We were trying to do this remote control jet ski set up,

and we're attempting to capture the wave

from a bunch of different angles.

And then in the midst of all that,

Garrett I think decided to catch a wave

all of a sudden.

- We're looking up, and this perfect,

smooth right's up at third, fourth peak.

I'm like, that's like the dream.

It's just so fun.

I'm thinking, okay, I'm gonna go take Cotty

on a couple waves, and then he's like,

"Mate, you want one?"

- I'm like, "Uh, okay."

- It's been four years since, you know, like,

he had a really big wave.

- Hee-hee-hee-hee.

Yeah, boy!

♪ ♪

Just all follow our hearts, everything will go great.

I get on the rope, and there's the set.

♪ ♪

- Whoo!

- There's Garrett. - Garrett!

- Garrett. - Whoo!

- Fear is something we choose.

♪ ♪

Fear is when we're not in the moment.

♪ ♪

When we choose to think about the past

or think about the future-- two things that don't exist.

♪ ♪

For the big waves,

the only thing that exists is right now.

♪ ♪

- He got a bomb wave, but then it was disaster.

♪ ♪

He got pounded.

♪ ♪

He went over the fall.

♪ ♪

And then he got washed up on the beach.

Saw him on the beach on his knees there,

and I thought he was hurt.

He just got a horrific wipeout.

He got two big waves on the head,

held under for 35, 40 seconds,

and he came back smiling.

♪ ♪

[applause]

- Five years I don't get pounded, so whoo!

Feels so good!

- You did a good job.

♪ ♪

- I've been letting fear consume me.

I wasn't sure if I enjoyed being underwater anymore.

I really enjoyed it.

Yeah, when I saw that big white water coming at me,

I wasn't afraid, and then when I went over the falls,

and the next one, I wasn't afraid,

so it was, like, back to normal, pretty cool.

It was so good that that happened.

It was a sense of relief.

- The fear?

As of now, I feel the fear has disappeared.

Yee-haw!

GMAC is back!

Look at how good it is up there.

Oh, I might have to go back out.

♪ ♪

- I think the spark is back. Garrett's back.

And he's gonna ride a 100-foot wave here.

♪ ♪

- If the 100-foot day comes, and the conditions are right,

I'll definitely go out there and ride it.

There's no doubt about that.

♪ ♪

Obrigado, everybody!

♪ ♪

Welcome to Nazaré.

Never a dull moment. [laughs]

- Breaking news, stay at home.

That is the order tonight from four state governors.

- Governor David Ige announcing

a mandatory two-week quarantine

for all travelers arriving in Hawaii

beginning Thursday, March 26th...

- My foot's all better.

No pain at all.

Gotta keep you outside, okay?

Outside, outside.

- This is probably the longest we've ever been home.

- Cilantro...

what's this one?

- Sage. - Sage.

- Whoa. - Yeah.

- Sometimes it's great, and other times,

it's not great. [laughs]

- Being trapped with my family has been interesting.

It's been beautiful just surfing regular waves

and fun waves, and just slowing down enough,

and remembering to enjoy it.

Garrett's also really connecting

with what's really important to himself and his life.

- I've actually been just relaxing

with the family.

Definitely start appreciating everything

out of the water more,

not having to base everything on the next ride

and needing that fix, that rush.

The best time of my life right now, the best time.

- Me come.

- You're gonna go on the jet ski?

- Yeah. - You want to go with Barrel?

- Yes, Daddy.

- Kind of good to be home, really.

I can't remember the last time I was at home for this long.

The work thing is eliminated.

It's been good to enjoy time with the kids.

But at the same time,

as soon as Portugal's open for surfing again,

I wanna get back down there.

It's what I've gotta be doing, really.

♪ ♪

- I actually miss Nazaré very much right now.

It's the only thing I'm missing from this quarantine

'cause we're supposed to be there.

As soon as we can go back, we're going back.

- I'll probably be more prepared than I've ever been.

Definitely the best shape I've been in

since I got injured.

Tighten those abs!

My body's strong enough.

My ligaments, my tendons, my muscles are all solid.

Shoulder and foot are ready.

- He's looking good and feeling good,

and he was out there surfing today,

and he got some waves.

♪ ♪

- Couldn't get off the bottom,

and the board was going like that,

and then I hit the bottom really hard,

and then I kicked off the bottom

like Superman.

- Training for next season, it's continuous, you know.

Like, being ready physically, mentally.

I think Garrett's been a really positive role model,

and to surf big waves into your 50s,

that's inspiring for me to keep fit,

keep injury free, keep focused.

- Cotty's ready. Cotty wants it.

100%, if it comes and Cotty's there,

he wants it.

And I really feel it going to Cotty

'cause he's given me all my best waves.

- How many 100-foot waves have ever broken on planet Earth?

10, 20, 30, thousands?

There's a lot of luck involved with big wave surfing.

But you make your own luck, don't you?

♪ ♪

- CJ, if he wants it,

then it could easily come to him.

♪ ♪

- I definitely could. I know that I can.

Sometimes I don't want to

just 'cause maybe there's some fear,

and I think, "Okay, one little bump the wrong way,

and I'm paying the price."

But most of the time,

seeing those big, massive waves when it's good,

most of the time I want to.

And I'm feeling energized to go back to Nazaré for sure.

♪ ♪

- When Garrett started surfing big waves,

I'm sure he was only one of a handful of people

on the planet that wanted to surf 100-foot wave.

Now I think he's inspired a whole new generation,

and a whole new group of people

to want to go ride these giant waves,

especially the 100-footer.

- There's no doubt with Nazaré

coming onto the scene that 100-foot waves

are definitely achievable.

And I think we all know there's bigger waves

out there and that at some point in time,

somebody'll ride one of them.

- The 100-foot wave's probably gonna be 120-foot wave

when somebody rides it.

And if it's not Garrett, I hope it's me.

♪ ♪

- I don't like to get too attached

to numbers, goals, and things.

I want to perform really well, but I don't want to be greedy.

♪ ♪

- Surfers always have traveled in search for waves,

in hopes of finding something incredible

that might be greater than any of the waves

that we've ever ridden.

That's what we do, that's what we've done,

and that's what we'll always do.

♪ ♪

- When we met you, Garrett was talking

about the 100-foot wave.

Do you feel like after this last year and a half,

like, do you think that's still the goal,

or do you think it's changed?

- You know what? I don't know.

I haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet.

- Let me get a little wax on there.

- No, I need help because it's small.

I need help with getting in.

- Past the wave? - Yeah.

- But I can't imagine if that swell

that we've always known could come comes,

I don't think there's any way that he would be able

to stay out of the water.

If it's perfect condition, he's gonna go.

♪ ♪

- This is the 100-foot wave. Life is the 100-foot wave.

This right here is the 100-foot wave.

♪ ♪

- He was saying the 100-foot wave is right now.

- Yeah. [laughs]

Yeah, I think it's definitely changing for him.

I don't know if it's old age or what,

but he seems a lot more content.

- Go, go, go, go, go! Yes, yes, yes!

♪ ♪

If you can live life

like you're riding the 100-foot wave all day every day,

you're gonna have really amazing days.

♪ ♪

[soft piano music]

♪ ♪

[bright tone]