Greg Long (surfer)

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Greg Long
Jeff Rowley Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards 2012 Ride of the Year Finalists on stage with Garrett McNamara Ryan Hipwood Greg Long Nathan Fletcher - Flickr - Jeff Rowley Big Wave Surfer.jpg
Personal information
BornMay 25, 1983
San Clemente, California, U.S.
Surfing career
Years active1996–Present
Sponsors Patagonia, Von Zipper, Ocean Minded
Major achievements2001 NSSA National Championship winner
2003 Red Bull Big Wave Africa winner
2008 Mavericks Surf Contest
2009 Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational winner
2009 Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big-wave contest
Surfing specifications
StanceRegular (natural) foot (left foot forward)
Favorite waves Mavericks, Todos Santos, Cortes Bank, Pipeline, Hitchcock's, Trestles
Favorite maneuversBarrels, Big Waves, Tubes

Greg Long (born May 25, 1983) is an American surfer from San Clemente, California. He has won the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational, in memory of Eddie Aikau at Waimea Bay, the Red Bull Titans of Mavericks event held at Mavericks in Northern California, and the Red Bull Big Wave Africa event held at Dungeons in Hout Bay, South Africa. Additionally, he is the most decorated surfer in the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards. He is widely regarded as one of the best big wave surfers in the world.

Contents

Surfing career

Born and raised in San Clemente, Greg and his brother Rusty Long were introduced to the ocean at an early age by their father, who was a lifeguard. At the age of 16, Greg moved to San Diego where he lived with his older cousin David Long who surfed with Greg and helped progress his skills. Greg surfed the waves at Trestles, California at an early age and was highly regarded throughout the community as an up-and-coming star.[ citation needed ] At 17, Greg won the NSSA National Men's Open Title in 2001, and looked to have a promising career in competitive surfing. But, Greg's passion for big surf forced[ citation needed ] him to leave the professional circuit and focus entirely on traveling the world in search of biggest waves.

At age 15, Long first paddled out to what eventually would be his home big wave break, an island off the coast of Baja California called Todos Santos. There, he honed his big wave skills throughout his teen years and had many sessions with big wave rider Mike Parsons. After surfing Todos for a couple years, Long took his big wave act to spots such as Mavericks, in Northern California, and Dungeon's, in Cape Town, South Africa. He won the Red Bull Big Wave Africa at Dungeon's in 2003 at age 19. The win officially put him on the big wave map, and he has since been a standout on every huge swell all over the world.[ citation needed ]

On January 5, 2008, Long and fellow riders Brad Gerlach, Mike Parsons, and Grant "Twiggy" Baker towed into waves at the Cortes Bank off the coast of San Diego, on the swell of the decade, that were estimated to be around 60–80 feet on the face. Greg was credited by the other surfers and photographers as riding the "wave of the day" on something approaching 90 feet tall, but it was not photographed and thus not recognized. This is according to the book "Ghost Wave" by Chris Dixon. That same year, Long won the Mavericks surf contest in 20-foot (6.1 m) surf. In June 2008, he signed a sponsorship deal with Billabong. [1]

Long's biggest career achievement[ according to whom? ] came in December 2009, when he won the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in 40-foot (12 m) surf at the North Shore's Waimea Bay. There, he took down ten-time world champion Kelly Slater and a host of the world's best big wave riders. Long also won the 2009 Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big-wave contest on Waimea Bay, Oahu. [2] [3]

On January 4, 2012, Greg Long, along with his fellow big wave surfers Ian Walsh, Kohl Christensen, Jeff Rowley, Dave Wassel, Shane Dorian, Mark Healey, Carlos Burle, Nate Fletcher, Garrett McNamara, Kai Barger, North Shore locals and others visited the Hawaiian Islands for a day of surfing. [4] [5] Later that year, the Hollywood film he provided stunt surfing for, Chasing Mavericks , premiered. [6] [7]

Long has been known for caring more for the spirit of big wave surfing than the sponsorship deals, media attention, and contest wins.[ citation needed ] At the Mavericks Contest in 2008, for example, Long agreed to split the prize money among himself and the five other finalists. He is also known for pressing the limits of paddle-in surfing, paddling into many waves which were once deemed unrideable without the help of a jet ski. Long was included as an actor and adviser in the Hollywood film Chasing Mavericks, [8] and was featured as the star of a documentary about the psychology of big wave surfing. [9]

Other projects

Long uses his celebrity to donate to charity organizations, and is involved in the Surfrider Foundation, Wildcoast , Parley For The Oceans and Save the Waves. Also, Long focused his efforts on Baja, Mexico, when a natural gas facility ruined a classic big wave surf spot in the area. [10]

As of 2018, Long has been in a relationship with Canadian-born snowboarder, Taylor Godber.

Awards

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waimea Bay</span> Bay on Oahu in Hawaii, United States

Waimea Bay is located in Haleiwa on the North Shore of O'ahu in the Hawaiian Islands at the mouth of the Waimea River. Waimea Valley extends to the east of Waimea Bay. Waimea means "reddish water" in Hawaiian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly Slater</span> American surfer (born 1972)

Robert Kelly Slater is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship Tour victories. Slater is also the oldest surfer still active on the World Surf League, winning his 8th Billabong Pipeline Masters title at age 49.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mavericks, California</span> Surfing location in Northern California, United States

Mavericks is a surfing location in northern California outside Pillar Point Harbor, just north of the town of Half Moon Bay at the village of Princeton-by-the-Sea. After a strong winter storm in the northern Pacific Ocean, waves can routinely crest at over 25 ft (8 m) and top out at over 60 ft (18 m). Routinely, waves that break can be recorded on seismometers. The break is caused by an unusually shaped underwater rock formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big wave surfing</span> Surfing waves at least 20 ft high

Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which experienced surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves which are at least 20 feet high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. Sizes of the board needed to successfully surf these waves vary by the size of the wave as well as the technique the surfer uses to reach the wave. A larger, longer board allows a rider to paddle fast enough to catch the wave and has the advantage of being more stable, but it also limits maneuverability and surfing speed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Aikau</span> Hawaiian surfer and lifeguard

Edward Ryon Makuahanai Aikau was a Hawaiian lifeguard and surfer. As the first lifeguard at Waimea Bay on the island of Oahu, he saved over 500 people and became famous for surfing the big Hawaiian surf, winning several awards including the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship. The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational is named in his honor. He was also a crew member on the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa.

Mark Sheldon Foo was a professional surfer who favored big wave surfing. Foo drowned while surfing at Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, California, in 1994.

Patrick Shane Dorian, or "Shane", is an American surfer from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. He spent 11 years touring on the World Championship Tour as a professional surfer. Dorian quit competition surfing in 2003 to focus on big waves. He is currently a big wave surfer and one of the best in the world at big wave riding.

Jeff Clark is one of the most noteworthy big-wave surfers, famous for surfing Mavericks alone for 15 years before it was widely discovered by the big-wave surfing community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cortes Bank</span> Shallow seamount in the North Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles

Cortes Bank is a shallow seamount in the North Pacific Ocean. It is 96 miles southwest of San Pedro, Los Angeles, 111 miles west of Point Loma, San Diego, and 47 miles southwest of San Clemente Island in Los Angeles County. It is considered the outermost feature in California's Channel Islands chain. At various times during geologic history, the bank has been an island, depending on sea level rise and fall. The last time it was a substantial island was around 10,000 years ago during the last ice age. It is possible that this island was visited by the first human inhabitants of the Channel Islands, most notably San Clemente Island, whose seafaring residents would have been able to see the island from high elevations on clear days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peahi, Hawaii</span> Big Wave Surf beach in Hawaii

Peʻahi is a place on the north shore of the island of Maui in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It has lent its name to a big wave surfing break, also known as Jaws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keala Kennelly</span> American surfer and actor

Keala Kennelly is a professional surfer, DJ, and actress from Kauai, Hawaii. After spending a decade ranked in the top 10 on the ASP World Championship Tour (WCT), Kennelly took a break from the tour in 2007 to explore her passions for acting and music, including a recurring role as a surfer in the 2007 series John from Cincinnati. She continues to DJ and compete as a big wave surfer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Eddie</span> Surfing tournament held in Hawaii

"The Eddie", also known as The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, is a big wave surfing tournament held at Waimea Bay on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The tournament is named for native Hawaiian, champion big wave surfer, and life-saving Waimea Bay lifeguard, Eddie Aikau. Created in 1984 at nearby Sunset Beach, the invitational tournament moved to the notoriously big waved Waimea Bay, where Aikau's family maintains an ancestral tradition as caretakers of the Waimea Valley. It was formerly known as the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau after its sponsor Quiksilver, but the company and the Aikau family could not agree to terms for a new contract after the previous one expired in 2016.

The Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship is named in honor of the "Father of Modern Surfing", Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku. The contest began in 1965 by invitation only at Sunset Beach on the North Shore of Oʻahu until it was replaced by the Billabong Pro in 1985. The championship was the first surfing event to be broadcast on a regular basis by ABC's Wide World of Sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makua Rothman</span>

Makuakai (Makua) Rothman is an American big wave rider, professional surfer and musician. On February 28, 2015, he was crowned the 2015 Big Wave World Champion in the World Surf League's (WSL) first sanctioned Big Wave World Tour (BWWT).

Peter Mel, is an American professional surfer. Mel began his surfing life in Capitola, California before moving on to Santa Cruz. He is known as a 'big wave' surfer and son of John Mel, a four time surfing National Champion.

Mark Robert Visser is an Australian professional big wave surfer, author, keynote speaker and ocean adventurer. Visser is best known for being the first person to surf Hawaii's most dangerous wave Jaws, Maui, at night in 2011. It was documented in a film called 'Night Rider'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garrett McNamara</span> American Big Wave Surfer

Garrett "GMAC" McNamara is an American professional big wave surfer best known for setting the world record for largest wave ever surfed, as documented in the HBO series 100 Foot Wave. McNamara is also known for successfully negotiating a monstrous barrel at Jaws, and being the first person ever to ride a wave formed from calving glaciers.

Chris Christenson is an American surfboard shaper, craftsman, and outdoor enthusiast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surfing in the United States</span>

Surfing in the United States is a popular hobby in coastal areas, and more recently due to the invention of wave pools, inland regions of the country. It contributes to a lifestyle and culture in which millions participate and which millions more have an interest. USA surfing is the governing body for the sport of surfing in the United States, with surf leagues such as the World Surf League available in the country. Surfing can be traced back to 17th Century Hawaii and has evolved over time into the professional sport it is today, with surfing being included for the first time in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

References

  1. ↑ "Greg Long Signs With Billabong". SURFING Magazine. June 10, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Greg Long Wins Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau". SURFER Magazine. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Greg Long upsets Kelly Slater to win the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau". ESPN.com. December 9, 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Jaws sees paddle-in surf madness | Garrett McNamara". Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
  5. ↑ "NPAC GOES XXL: TAKE TWO". Surfline.com. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  6. ↑ Zach Weisberg (October 19, 2012). "Greg Long Discusses Chasing Mavericks". The Inertia. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Chasing Mavericks (2012)". IMDb. October 26, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  8. ↑ Zach Weisberg (October 19, 2012). "Greg Long Discusses Chasing Mavericks". The Inertia. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  9. ↑ The Inertia (October 10, 2012). "Sine Qua Non: The Psychology of Big Wave Surfing with Greg Long - The Inertia". The Inertia. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Greg Long - Professional big Wave Surfer - Biography". About.com Sports. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Film: Psychology of Big Wave Surfing with Greg Long". The Surf Channel. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  12. ↑ Dittman, Earl (October 24, 2014). "Surfer Greg Long heads back to the swells for 'Big Wave Hellmen'". Digital Journal. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
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