Laird Hamilton
From letting go of the two rope to rocketing into the channel in a gale of compressed air and spray, the apex of one man's life all came together in a mere ten seconds which shook the surfing world. In August of 2000, Hawaiian big wave waterman Laird Hamilton, one of the creators of tow surfing, was pulled into the largest wave of the day by jet ski in the sleepy town of Teahupo'o. Broadcast internationally by CNN, Reuters and AAP news feeds, Hamilton's feat including being sling shot over a thick ledge where the wave hit the reef and almost tripled in size, which would have ended in severe injury or death if not successfully executed. The entire story of this amazing trip to Tahiti is documented a film The Surfers Journal hails as "the greatest combination of soul surfing and cutting edge futuristic surfing like never before seen!"