Garrett fresh off the plane from Alaska: He had this to say: “It’s like the Empire State Building about to come down on top of your head, I’m glad to be home. That was the heaviest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” Garrett
4 minute Teaser video at Deepwater Films
Press Release:
GLACIER TSUNAMI TOW-SURFING SUCCESS
Hawaii’s McNamara and Mamala First Surfers to Ride Alaskan Glacier
Tsunami Waves
Honolulu - (August 15, 2007) - Hawaii tow-in surfing team Garrett
McNamara and Kealii Mamala have just returned from Alaska where they
became the first - and possibly last - surfers to successfully ride
glacier-generated tsunami waves of up to 25 feet. Their tsunami surfing
experience took place at Child’s Glacier on the Copper River, in
South-Central Alaska, located near the town of Cordova, Alaska.
Sheer ice faces of over 400 feet calved away from Child’s Glacier,
crashing into the waters below and setting off left- and right-breaking
waves that peeled across a pebble-bottom river bank for more than 300
yards, offering rides of up to one minute long. In order to catch them,
the surfers would wait up to several hours in the icy water for a
glacier to fall, then chase down the ensuing wave on their jetski and
attempt to ride with being injured or killed by ice and rock debris.
Video and still images from their adventure can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
alaska)
http://www.deepwaterchannel
http://www.bobridges.com
Despite years of towing into waves of up to 70 feet, and a prior scout
of the glacier last month, the experience turned out to be an
overwhelming one, almost sending the pair home after a series of highly
dangerous, unsuccessful attempts on day one.
“It was way more than I expected,” said McNamara. “I was almost going
home the first day.
“After the scout, I guaranteed that we would ride a wave - any wave.
After the first day, I just wanted to make it home alive. Not knowing
where the glacier was going to fall, where the wave would emerge, or
how big it would be. It was so different to anything we’ve experienced
in our big-wave tow-surfing history. I spent most the time thinking
about my family and wonderingif Iwould survive tosee them again. It
was in a realm all its own.”
The largest wave Garrett rode was a 15-foot face. Keali’i rode a 20- to
25-foot wave. The most memorable and unnerving moments came when the
glacier calve “booked”, or fell like a book off a shelf, landing flat
on the surface of water, causing a deafening eruption of water and ice
to explode into the air, and forcing them to make a run for their lives
with the assistance of their jetski.
“This has changed our outlook on big-wave surfing. In this case, we
didn’t even need a huge wave to get a rush. It was the heaviest rush
just sitting out there, dwarfed by this enormous glacier face, waiting
for the whole thing to crash down in front of us and hoping we’d
survive it when it did.”
As to the future of this new surfing spin-off? Perhaps take heed of
what Garrett, one of the world’s most daring surfers has to say: “I
wouldnt recommend it for any one. I won’t be going back. This is not a
new sport.”
A feature film and one-hour television show is now in production, being
created by Ryan Casey of Deepwater Films. Casey was responsible for the
discovery of the wave at Child’s Glacier.
# # #
To obtain footage and images from this adventure, contact:
Ryan Casey, Deepwater Films LLC
Tel: (858) 349-5634
Email: ryanmayrcasey@hotmail.com
For still images, contact:
Bo Bridges Photography
Cell: (310) 937-3764
Email: bo@bobridges.com
For media information:
Jodi Wilmott
Cell: (808) 258-8533
Email: oceanpromotion@hawaii.rr.com