Mike Parsons (born March 13, 1965, in California) is an American professional surfer and surfing coach. [1]
Mike Parsons (born March 13, 1965, in California) is an American professional surfer and surfing coach. [1]
Parsons was raised in Laguna Beach, California and began surfing when he was six-years-old. [1] In 1983, he earned second place in the Junior Division of the United States Surfing Championships.
In 2001, Parsons was towed into a 66-foot wave at Cortes Bank, CA, for which he was awarded $66,000 the highest prize ever awarded in the history of professional surfing. This money was awarded by the Billabong XXL competition which paid tribute to the biggest waves ridden each year. Parsons also surfed a 64-foot wave during competition at the Jaws break on the north shore of Maui. It was filmed by helicopter and used as the opening scene of the 2003 film Billabong Odyssey . [2] A usually uncredited clip of this sequence has gone on to become a viral video.
Parsons later broke his record on January 5, 2008, at Cortes Bank, when he was photographed surfing a wave that the Billabong XXL judged to be 77 feet, which put him in the Guinness Book of World Records, officially, for biggest wave ever surfed. Nearly 4 years later Garrett McNamara improved on this record with a 78-foot wave off Nazaré, Portugal on November 1, 2011.
In 2011, Parsons became the full-time coach for surfer Kolohe Andino.
On January 20, 2013, Parsons suffered a broken C7 vertebra in his neck and nearly drowned while surfing triple-overhead surf at Ocean Beach, a beach break in San Francisco, California. [3] Parsons was able to return to surfing four months later. [4]
Parsons was inducted into the Surfer's Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach, California in 2008. [5]
Laird John Hamilton, né Zerfas, is an American big-wave surfer, co-inventor of tow-in surfing, and an occasional fashion and action-sports model and actor. He is married to Gabrielle Reece, a former professional volleyball player, television personality, and model.
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.
Tow-in surfing is a surfing technique which uses artificial assistance to allow the surfer to catch faster moving waves than was traditionally possible when paddling by hand. Tow-in surfing was invented by surfers who wanted to catch big waves and break the 30 ft (9 m) barrier. It has been one of the biggest breakthroughs in surfing history.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Pete Cabrinha is an American big-wave surfer, windsurfer, kitesurfer and artist. He is the founder and brand manager of Cabrinha Kites.
Randy Laine is an American big-wave surfer, co-pioneer of tow-in surfing, extreme watersports athlete, celebrity-enthusiast, television personality, commercial product endorser and spokesman, and on occasion a men's fashion and action-sports model. Laine is considered to be one of the top, if not the best professional freestyle Jet Skiers to date. In October 2008, Laine will be inducted into the IJSBA's Hall of Fame, where he will be honored for inventing many of the extreme aerial maneuvers used in freestyle jet ski competition today. The ceremony is to take place in Lake Havasu, at the conclusion of the IJSBA World Finals.
Maya Reis Gabeira is a Brazilian big wave surfer. She surfed a 22.4 m (73 ft) high wave in Nazaré, Portugal in February 2020, recorded by Guinness World Records as the biggest wave ever surfed by a woman. She also held the previous record for biggest wave ever surfed by a woman, of 20.8 m (68 ft) established in January 2018.
Easkey Britton is an Irish surfer from Rossnowlagh, County Donegal. In 2010, she won her fifth consecutive Irish National Surfing Championship title at her namesake wave in County Sligo and in 2009 became the British Pro-Tour Champion.
Greg Long 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.
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'.
Jeff Rowley is a professional big wave surfer from Torquay, Victoria, Australia. He grew up at Bells Beach, a popular surf location in regional Victoria.
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.
Mark Mathews is an Australian professional big wave surfer.
Will Skudin is a native of Long Beach, NY and a professional surfer. Skudin is a third-generation surfer and along with his brother, Cliff, is the co-founder of Skudin Surf and Surf for All, a nonprofit organization.
Justine Dupont is a French professional surfer.