Even after he won the as a senior in high school, Greg Long knew he wanted to dedicate his life to chasing big waves. Grinding out a tour was not his idea of surfing nirvana. Tackling giants was a progressive endeavor he began at the age of 15, and something he wanted to continue full time. “Everything else in my surfing life was just basically turned upside down,” says Long in the video above. “Contests didn't matter. My performance surfing just kind of, you know, was dismissed. I knew then, big waves, that's my love and passion and that's what I'm going to dedicate my surfing life and career toward.”
Long reveals more about surfing mutants in the video profile above by , which is packed with highlights of some of his most famous rides. Since committing to big waves, the San Clemente, California, native has plenty of nominations and victories at the . In 2009, he won the . To understand what motivates Long, read “Swell Guy,” by Matt Warshaw.
Here's a sample:
Long is familiar with every centimeter of his boards and can do basic
maintenance on his jet skis. At his favorite big-wave breaks, he knows
the topography, the currents, and how a 10-degree difference in swell
angle will affect the takeoff and the inside bowl section. He knows the
local surfers. What the hierarchy is. Who sits where in the lineup,
who鈥檚 going to charge the set waves, who鈥檚 going to hair out. He gets
along well with everybody. For all his intensity, he might be the least
greedy, most patient pro surfer ever.
鈥淕reg can sit there for
hours at a time, just waiting,鈥 says Evan Slater, a three-time finalist
in the Maverick鈥檚 contest and a former Surfing magazine editor.
鈥淗e鈥檚 way further out then the rest of us, kind of in his own zone,
while everybody else is hassling, catching waves, paddling back out,
talking. Sometimes you forget he鈥檚 even out there. But when Greg鈥檚 wave
finally does come, everybody clears out. It鈥檚 his wave all the way.鈥
尝辞苍驳鈥檚
personal life is just as efficient and goal-driven. No drugs. Very
little drinking or partying. (He鈥檚 sponsored by Peligroso tequila, but
my guess is he doesn鈥檛 get through more than half a bottle a year.) No
romantic drama. No family drama. This makes Long less exciting to talk
to than his borderline-deranged predecessors but also uniquely suited to
the mind games one must win to succeed at big-wave surfing. Surviving a
monster wipeout is actually a kind of parlor trick….
H/T:
鈥擩oe Spring