Stay ConnectedSurf stories, ocean adventures + the aquatic experiences that shape us.
Listen with Lauren L. Hill and Dave Rastovich as they gather stories, insights and useful skills from some of the most outstanding waterfolk on the planet.
Waterpeople is where our global ocean community dives into the facets of watery lives lived well: ecology, adventure, community, activism, science, egalitarianism, inclusivity, meaningful play, a sense of humour. And, surfing, of course.
Copyright: ℗ & © 2019 Waterpeople Podcast
Most conservation organisations mirror corporations in structure, operation, and strategy. But has that been effective?
Andy Ridley, founder of Earth Hour and Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, doesn't think so. He's asking how we build the 21st century conservation operation with the citizen at its heart.
"The traditional way of doing conservation is 'pass us your money and we'll go and do it.' But we know that hasn't worked at the scale required."
Andy is betting on harnessing the power of citizenship -- the rights AND responsibilities of belonging -- to create mass engagement in environmental initiatives.
And he's been successful. Andy's Earth Hour concept — which asks everyone with electricity to simultaneously turn off their lights for sixty minutes to acknowledge the impact of climate change and our ability to influence that change -- is recognised as one of the largest mass participation movements in history, with hundreds of millions of participants around the world.
Andy’s newest platform is Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, which serves as a way to engage people all around the world in the future of the reef through citizen science.
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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander
Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
Waterpeoplepodcast.com
...
Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander
Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.
What happens when you lose it all? After a successful, 14 year professional surfing career, Karina Petroni discovered that all of her earnings and assets had suspiciously vaporised.
Karina was born and raised in the Panama Canal Zone, but is known as one of The East Coast's surf prodigies. In 2006, the New York Times called her one of the “scions of Florida's recent surfing tradition."
Karina’s promise for professional surfing, combined with her family’s investment in managing her career, was so great that she was earning a living from surfing as a ten year old. Karina went on to compete on the World Championship Tour for more than a decade, holding the top spot on the leaderboard for a spell in 2008, and in 2009 Karina featured in the Academy Award winning documentary The Cove.
Karina now happily resides in the Caribbean with her husband Dave, where she sails, surfs, freedives, and assists with marine salvage operations.
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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander
Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
Waterpeoplepodcast.com
Photo Credit: Carl Rosen
...
Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander
Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.
Gwyn Haslock has nearly 6 decades of surfing under her belt. She was born in Cornwall in 1945, and is renowned as one of the UK’s original surfers. Gwyn holds many competitive surfing accolades, including multiple British National Champion titles.
We first heard about – and wrote about -- Gwyn’s story in 2015 after connecting with English bellyboarding enthusiast Sally Parkin, who said:
“I am not sure who you would say started Men’s competitive surfing – but there is no doubt in my mind that Gwyn Haslock started women’s stand up surfing in England – she entered the first ever British National Championships in 1966 – she was the only female competitor and it was because of her that the surfing organisers started a Ladies National Championship in 1969 – there were six competitors and Gwyn won. She went on to win the first ever GB Ladies surfing championships in 1970, 1971, 1972 1973 and 1974 – came 2nd in 1975 and won again in 1976 – she also won the English Surfing Championships in 1990.”
Gwyn joins us for a lighthearted chat about surfing beyond retirement, being happily unmarried, and staying fit for surfing.
…
Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander
Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
Waterpeoplepodcast.com
Photo Credit: Ian Taylor
...
Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander
Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.
For many, 2020 was the worst. Chelsea Woody, a neuroscience nurse who moonlights as a Vans surf ambassador, is clear that it was “the worst year of her life.”
After getting COVID from work, and subsequently experiencing a painful loss, — while witnessing the suffering of so many through the pandemic - Chelsea wished (for the first time) that she’d chosen a different profession.
Parallel to the suffering both personal and all around her, Chelsea’s surfing career blossomed: she made the film Sea Us Now, and expanded the organisation she helped found, Textured Waves, interjecting the presence and prowess of black and brown female surfers into surf circles, and far beyond. The Textured Waves crew has since partnered with big brands like Adobe, Adidas, and were featured on a billboard in Times Square for a big bank.
Through her own surfing as an African American woman, and via her filmmaking and writings, Chelsea is creating fresh narratives that are rippling around the globe.
Listen in as Chelsea shares about learning to surf later in life, the colonial roots of hair straightening, and finding her limits during her first season on the North Shore.
Chelsea’s latest film Night Crawler, handles the topic of surfing as otherworldly escape from shift work.
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We reference sociologist Jean Kilbourne’s pioneering media/advertising study Killing Us Softly in this episode. Click through to learn more about her work.
…
Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound Engineer: Tiffany Richmond
Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
Waterpeoplepodcast.com
Photo Credit: Samantha Hunter
...
Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander
Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.
In Greek myth, staring at the monster Medusa would turn mortals to stone; one needed a mirror to take the edge off. Surfer, filmmaker and musician Jack Johnson reckons music and art can play a similar role in reflecting more digestible, less paralysing iterations of the ills and obstacles facing us all.
Jack studied film at UCSB, and went on to make culture shaping movies like Thicker Than Water and A Broke down Melody. More recently, he’s a Grammy nominated artist, and founder of two charitable foundations with his wife and business partner Kim, including the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation, which supports and funds environmental, art, and music education, and the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, which provides experiential environmental education in the schools and communities of Hawaiʻi.
We caught up with Jack as he prepped to release his eighth studio album Meet the Moonlight in June 2022 about Greek mythology, watching dragonflies, balancing family and work, the function of the artist today and where style comes from — in both music and surfing.
...
Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander
Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
Waterpeoplepodcast.com
Photo Credit: Protect Our Rivers
...
Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander
Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.
What if your homeland was suddenly the target of foreign attacks ? What would you do?
Ukrainian Kshisya Tachanskaya fled with her two children, a few belongings, reluctantly kissed her husband farewell, and drove for a familiar coast -- some 4000km away (2500 miles).
Kshisya is part of Ukraine’s tight knit surfing community who enjoy the couple of windswells that the Black Sea delivers each year. Before she found surfing, Kshisya was a water skier, and later opened Kyiv’s CitySwell Club, and worked as a wake surf instructor.
Shortly after her arrival in Portugal, Kshisya got to work doing what she could to contribute: hosting GOOD DAYS Surf Camps for refugee families, now without community, homes or support. More than 12 million people have been displaced from their Ukrainian homes, forced out by Russian attacks.
Kshisya has received hundreds of applications for her Good Days Surf Camp sessions, and is seeking financial support to help cover the costs of providing free access to the week-long camps that include surf and skate lessons, but also ocean safety and literacy, food, psychological counselling, as well as yoga and meditation classes.
Her mission: to share the ocean’s healing with as many as possible.
Head here to learn more or to gift access to ocean play to Ukranian families seeking refuge.
...
Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound Engineer: Tiffany Richmond
Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
Waterpeoplepodcast.com
Photo Credit: Tata Lelitsa
...
Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander
Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.
Unlike golf clubs and tennis racquets, surfboards are still largely made by local artisans. But, what sets the surfboard making industry apart from parallel industries? Why do local shapers still make boards?
Master shaper Tom Wegener examines this question -- and much more -- in his PhD thesis and book Surfboard Artisans: For the Love.
"How can an industry which values passion over money be resilient and sustainable in a capitalistic society which has money as the primary value?," he asks, and goes on the elucidate how commitment to culture has made for an exceptionally resilient, even logic defying industry.
Tom started shaping and glassing in 1978 in his parents garage and is best known for helping to re-popularize old and ancient Hawaiian surfcraft, as celebrated in films like Thomas Campbell’s The Present, Nathan Oldfield’s Seaworthy, Jack McCoy’s A Deeper Shade of Blue, and Cyrus Sutton’s Tom’s Creation Plantation.
What sets Tom apart as a shaper is his surfing prowess. Tom played an integral role in keeping the traditional logging approach alive when it fell out of fad, embarking in self-funded films like Ten Toes Over and Siestas & Olas, which Steve Pezman, of the Surfers Journal, reviewed as the “best surf travel movie since Endless Summer.”
With more than four decades of building boards under his belt, including homegrown timber crafts which exemplify a more sustainable approach, Tom shares with us about the responsibility he feels charged with -- to pass along the knowledge he has acquired and share his journey as a relentless artisan.
....
Learn more:
www.tomwegenersurfboards.com
...
Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander
Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
Waterpeoplepodcast.com
...
Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander
Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.
Part Two of our meandering conversation with master shaper Tom Wegener talking the nitty gritty of board construction, how he almost got the call to be in The Endless Summer II, experimenting with ancient techniques in the shaping bay and which mode of wave riding is stoking him out the most right now.
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Tom started shaping and glassing in 1978 in his parents garage and is best known for helping to re-popularize old and ancient Hawaiian surfcraft, as celebrated in films like Thomas Campbell’s The Present, Nathan Oldfield’s Seaworthy, Jack McCoy’s A Deeper Shade of Blue, and Cyrus Sutton’s Tom’s Creation Plantation.
What sets Tom apart as a shaper is his surfing prowess. Tom played an integral role in keeping the traditional logging approach alive when it fell out of fad, embarking in self-funded films like Ten Toes Over and Siestas & Olas, which Steve Pezman, of the Surfers Journal, reviewed as the “best surf travel movie since Endless Summer.”
With more than four decades of building boards under his belt, including homegrown timber crafts which exemplify a more sustainable approach, Tom shares with us about the responsibility he feels charged with -- to pass along the knowledge he has acquired and share his journey as a relentless artisan.
....
Learn more:
www.tomwegenersurfboards.com
...
Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander
Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
Waterpeoplepodcast.com
...
Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander
Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.
Waterpeople is back with a fourth season of stories about the aquatic experiences that shape us, change us, and call us into this quirky community of water folk across the globe.
This season we'll hear from 16 waterpeople - some globally renowned, others under appreciated - and learn about the moments that changed everything.
In this episode we sit down for a catch up with our new sponsor this season Sunbutter Skincare. Founders Tom and Sacha talk us through why they, as a marine biologist and conservation ecologist, started a business, and how protecting people and the planet is embedded in every decision they make. We also dive into the sunscreen nitty gritty: physical vs. chemical barrier, nanoparticles, plastic packaging, and understanding what “reef safe” actually means.
...
Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound Engineer: Tiffany Richmond
Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
Waterpeoplepodcast.com
...
Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander
Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.
What happens when life calls you to face your fears? Surfer, adventurer and mother of three Sam Bloom had to face that call after a 2013 family holiday went tragically wrong.
Sam is a two-time world para surfing champion. She is the bestselling author of two books, and the subject of the 2020 film Penguin Bloom, starring Naomi Watts. Those three works detail the tragic accident that left Sam paralysed from the chest down, and the unexpected guest – an injured magpie in need of care -- who helped Sam rehabilitate and regain a deeper sense of herself again.
Sam shares about her experience of moving away from brink of despair, navigating grief, and how getting back in the water first angered, then buoyed her.
....
Learn more:
Penguin Bloom
Spinal Cure Australia
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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound Engineer: Tiffany Richmond
Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
Waterpeoplepodcast.com
Photo Credit: Cameron Bloom
...
Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander
Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll
Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring
Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.
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