Review by Frank Cullen. Owner/Head Instructor Of New York Surf School, Rockaway Beach, NYC. Frank Cullen has personally taught over 10,000 students to stand up and ride waves.
Just came back from seeing "Take Every Wave" The Life of Laird Hamilton. It was everything I thought it would be and more. This is coming from a small wave Surfer! What I have always appreciated about Laird Hamilton is that he carved and created his own path. He has been able to make a living with surfing, without going the contest route. I may be prejudiced in my remarks, as I am not a big fan of contest surfing. I have no desire to "beat" someone at surfing. When I paddle out, it's to enjoy the waves with my friends. I don't want to paddle out at an assigned time, when a horn blows and surf for 20 minutes on a board that may not be the best tool for a particular day and do mandatory maneuvers to score points. I love the anticipation of walking up the boardwalk and seeing what's on tap for the day. I love the idea of travelling and surfing distant locales. Laird Hamilton has been able to lead the Surfing Life that many of us dream of.
Take Every Wave can be enjoyed and appreciated by Surfers and non surfers alike. It is the bio of an American Innovator. I very much enjoyed the section with The Strap Crew. This is the part of the movie where you see Tow-In-Surfing from it's infancy. From being an idea to becoming a reality. For those not familiar with the phrase Tow-In-Surfing, tow-in-surfing is using jet skis to pull Surfers into huge massive waves, which would otherwise be un-rideable. Waves too big to paddle in to. I enjoyed the Interviews with The Strap Crew, and Darrick Doerner and Buzzy Kerbox in particular. Laird Hamilton is the epitomy of the great quote of author Napolean Hill "Whatever The Mind Can Conceive, And Believe, It Can Achieve" In Take Every Wave, you'll get to see that Laird Hamiliton is an American Pioneer in the same league as Neil Armstrong. The amount of training and focus to achieve what others believe to be impossible. Being willing to step out on faith, and attempt to do something that has NEVER been done before, with no guarantee of what the result will be. I also enjoyed very much the scene where Laird goes to attempt to surf Teahupoo. This comes towards the end of the movie, after a section of the movie where there's a lot of frowning upon Tow-In-Surfing. Laird Hamilton just does what he does best. Create his own path. Darrick Doerner manned the ski where Laird surfs Teahupoo, and ONCE AGAIN does what said couldn't be done I give this movie 4 out of 4 stars. Take Every Wave is playing at the IFC Movie Center, West 4th Street and 6th Avenue. Greenwich Village NYC.
