Waterpeople
by Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich - surf stories & ocean adventures
Surf 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.
Episodes
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Daniel Treloar: Built to Bend
Have you felt the difference a magic board makes in your life? This episode, Dave sits down with the man behind the core of his current magic carpet. Daniel Treloar is a waterman and the founder of Grow Blanks. Daniel was born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa. He grew up with a severe…
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Knowing When to Go (po'e wa'a) with guest host Chris Miyashiro + voyaging friends
Who talks you out of your worst ideas, and into your best ones? For the first time, we hand the mic to our mate Chris “Mysto” Miyashiro: surfer, artist, voyager. Mysto takes us into Hawaiʻi’s underground voyaging communities, where backyard builders keep canoe sailing traditions alive with…
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Rodrigo Perez: Active Patience
What do you need to change to still be surfing in 20 years? Performance and longevity coach Rodrigo Perez is practical about what it takes to keep surfing as we age, from mindset and community to the unglamorous basics of strength and mobility. He is the author of The Art of Longevity. Rod’s path...
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Shaun Tomson: Age of Acceleration
When everything is taken from you at once, what is left? Shaun Tomson is the 1977 World Surfing Champion, the author of Surfer's Code, and a keynote speaker whose work has reached Harvard, Google, Disney, and SEAL teams. He was shaped by his upbringing in South Africa, by the pro tour's formative...
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Laura Crane: Befriending Fear
Have you had someone believe in your potential before you could see it yourself? Laura Crane is a big wave surfer from North Devon. She came of age in a surf industry that measured her worth by how much exposure her image could earn. Laura stepped away from pro surfing in her early twenties, took…
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Whaia: Mana Waka
Who has the right to speak on behalf of water? Who carries that responsibility? Drawing on her lineage of wayfinders and traditional music makers, Whaia regularly takes the stage of international political gatherings – like the United Nations Climate Summit – to invoke the voice of water. She is…
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Jon Swift: Making Friends with the Cosmos
Has something astronomical ever made you reassess your life's trajectory? Jon Swift is an astrophysicist and lifelong surfer with a PhD from UC Berkeley. He runs a research observatory at The Thatcher School in Ojai, California, teaches math and science, and his music has featured in cult surf...
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Bryanna Bradley: All That Lingers
How good are you at convincing people you're fine? On a burnout-inspired whim, Bryanna Bradley booked a one-way ticket from inland Canada to Hawaii. She quit her job and started putting in hours in the water at Waikiki. Surfing first, but her goal? To become a surf photographer. Bryanna has…
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Ziggy Alberts: Wildly Underprepared
What does it take for you to slow down? Ziggy Alberts started playing live at 17, admittedly underprepared, but fizzing. By 21, he was staring at a studio ceiling noticing the lights had gone dim, but no one had touched the switch. It led him to break down to a friend. After years of...
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Howie Cooke: Artivism
When was the last time you had an epiphany? Artist/activist Howie Cooke shares the sudden realisation that steered the course of his life's work - a handful of decades on the front lines of marine protection via NGOs, art, music and direct action. Howie has spent 50 years boogie boarding, playing...
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Soli Bailey: Maps to Now
There's no straight lines in the ocean - nor in a surfing life. We sit with professional surfer and Bundjalung waterman Soli Bailey to trace his lines from early talent and success, through the grind of competing and a life-threatening neck injury, to a grounded love of surfing that’s deeper than...
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Patti Paniccia: Raising the Bar
What are you unwilling to ignore? Through her experience in pro surfing, journalism and law, Patti Paniccia is a formidable advocate for equity in the water and the workplace. Patti helped build the IPS tour from the ground up, organised the Hawaii Women’s Surfing Hui to create opportunity, and...
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Living the Questions: answering your queries
Ever felt the ocean fix what land couldn’t? This episode, we turn the mics on one another and answer your questions about grief, love, parenting, and crowded lineups. Hear the stories behind the sails, the garden, and the choices that have shaped us. Also: It’s time for our annual giveaway – you...
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The Rivers Run: Theory of Change (pt. 2)
What's a river to you? After cyclone Alfred crossed Australia's East Coast earlier this year, tens of thousands of fish died in our local river, Dave got a persistent staph infection and our community tousled with a question: what's wrong with our river? And what can we do about it ? How does...
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Sterling Spencer: Fan of the Universe
At age 8, Sterling Spencer was signed to surf sponsorship and then had a successful amateur career before chasing the Pro Tour. He was an early internet adopter who found his stride not in competitive surfing, but in making good fun of an earnest surf industry and culture. Sterling is a pro…
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Peter Gash OAM: Custodian of Curiosity
Not long ago, Lady Elliot Island was basically unrecognisable. In the late 1800s, it was mined for guano used as agricultural fertiliser. The island was stripped bare. This is a story about what happens when one person has a vision and refuses to let hard work, qualifications or accepted...
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Ethnomads: Ke'ili Mcevilly + Chris Miyashiro
Grief, love, and lineage shape a rite of passage as our guests recall learnings from storms, stars, mentors, and manta rays at midnight. Ke'ilii Mcevilly is an environmental scientist with a Masters degree in sustainability. Ke'ili grew up surfing in California, and is now based on the island of...
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Chris Miyashiro: Homecomings
A captain wakes in the night certain he’s wrecked in mangroves—only he’s on his own porch. That jarring reentry from a month under sail becomes our portal into a deeper story about attention, tradition, and becoming a different kind of person at sea with artist-sailor-filmmaker Chris Miyashiro....
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John Peck: Rebirth
What does it mean to live a life of service? Pipeline pioneer John Peck was devout to many things over this 81 years, and exploring this question was amongst them. In 2015, we hosted John for what was a precursor to this podcast - a storytelling evening in our local community hall. He was...
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Layne Beachley + Tess Brouwer: Mental Fitness
Two friends chart a path from pain to agency: Layne Beachley examines the drive behind seven world titles and finds a search for self-worth, while Tess Brouwer turns a hidden spinal injury and a hospital-bed reckoning into a mental fitness toolkit. Together, Layne and Tess are the co-authors of…
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Brenden 'Margo' Margieson: Renaissance Man
Every mid-aged Aussie bloke's favourite surfer? That's Margo. Widely recognised as the first paid freesurfer - Brenden 'Margo' Margieson is famed almost as much for his gentle demeanour as his explosive power surfing. We traced some of his undulating journey through a surfing life's highs and…
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Theory of Change (pt. 1): Waterwomen Camp Out
How does change happen when we, and the world, seem stuck in our ways? We’re curious about how change happens – and what people are doing on the ground, in our community, to create the causal pathways to shift social and environmental ideas, norms, and policy. Listen in for stories from the 2025...
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Holly Beck: Simplicity + Therapy
Is there a particular fear that's still holding you back? Holistic surf therapist and coach Holly Beck talks us through the way she sees terrestrial life play out in the water - in terms of how we behave and how we engage with others and with the ocean. Holly spent 10 years as a professional...
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Hunter Williams: Shapes + Templates
Who's your youngest friend? We just met one of ours: 11-year-old surfer, shaper and filmmaker Hunter Williams. This year, Hunter won the grom shorts category at the Noosa International Surf Film Festival with his movie Heirloom. Informing an impressive depth of knowledge about surfboard building...
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Arne Rubinstein: Rites of Passage
Rites of passage, once central to marking life’s transitions, have faded in modernity. As we navigate rising anxiety, social fragmentation, and a world where technology permeates nearly all aspects of our shared human experience, what role could a revival of rites of passage play in reclaiming…
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Bonnie Tsui: On Muscle + Movement
What moves you through the world? In the most literal sense, it's the same answer for all of us: muscle. In On Muscle, Bonnie Tsui brings her signature blend of science, culture, immersive reporting, and personal narrative to examine not just what muscles are - but what they mean to us. Bonnie...
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Dylan Graves: The Levity Effect
How much has your homebreak shaped you - your life, livelihood, the person you've become? The quirkiness of Dylan Graves' Puerto Rican homebreak shaped a lifelong obsession, and subsequent career in chasing, riding, and documenting Weird Waves around the globe. Tidal bores, standing waves…
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Sarah Gerhardt: Unstable Bonds
Besides being a professor of chemistry, Dr. Sarah Gerhardt was the first woman to ride one of the world’s most feared waves, Mavericks in icy Northern California. She is a mother of two and acknowledged as the first female tow-in surfer. Amidst a tumultuous childhood, Sarah found stability in an...
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Kiana Weltzien: More with Less
When was the last time you followed a spark of curiosity all the way to some distant shoreline? Kiana Weltzien's ocean adventures began in 2016 when she left her real estate career in Miami for a year of travel. Along the way, she met a mentor and moved onto his boat; a replica Polynesian...
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Putting Tech in its Place with Helena Norberg-Hodge + friends
What's lost when we hand over skills or experiences to technology ? We sat down with localisation pioneer Helena Norberg-Hodge to learn more about the waves of radical economic and social changes she has experienced first hand. In 1975, as a student of linguistics amongst the glacial melt of the...
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Gary McNeill: Make It Last
How do we make magic boards last longer? Gary McNeill and Dave have been experimenting with alternative, non-petrochemical materials for the last decade. The front runner in their experiments? Flax cloth, for board strength and durability. Stab recently ran The Electric Acid Surfboard Test, to...
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Krista Comer: Reading Power
How do you better a culture? How do we better surf culture? Dr. Krista Comer is a scholar of American literature and cultural politics. She has written widely about women and surfing as a way "to build bridges between university and community, or subcultural knowledges. Because we need each other...
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Otto Flores: Stepping Up
Many professional athletes struggle to transition from their sport-as-career. The highs are often out of reach for pedestrian life - especially for pro surfers who spend their years in whirlwinds of hedonistic wave chasing. For Puerto Rican tube connoisseur Otto Flores, the key to transition was...
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Gail Couper: With Bells On
Called the "most underrated sports person in Australia" and the "greatest Bells surfer of all time” Gail Couper has been both: at the centre and the sideline of surf culture and sport for the better part of her 77 years. She's seen a lot change, and helped to lay the foundation for Aussie surf...
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Lane Davey: Body Language
How many kids from Tennessee end up devoting their life to the world's heaviest waves? At least one. That's Lane Davey: Pipe Disciple, PhD, journalist and college lecturer at UH Mānoa. Lane has dedicated much of her adult life to being present in the line-up at Pipeline – she was long the lone...
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Danny Johnson: Don't Overthink It
We’re getting tangential. This episode is part of a three episode slip slide behind the scenes of a project that Dave’s been working on for the better part of 2024: The Electric Acid Surfboard test. It's a series that explores “alternative” surfboard design. Basically, iconic surfers on…
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Jamie Brisick: Breaking the Surface
Who modelled kindness for you? Who showed you how to be kind and curious in the face of difference? Before he was a Fulbright Scholar, Jamie Brisick surfed on the ASP world tour from 1986 to 1991, and has since documented surf culture extensively. His writings and photographs have appeared in The...
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Josie Prendergast: Tidal Transitions
Longevity in any career begs for reinvention. With more than a decade at the pro surfing game, Josie Prendergast has been navigating new waters in her career - by taking the reins on her own storytelling. Born in Siargao and raised in both Australia and the Philippines, Josie is a standout surfer...
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Hanneke Boon: At the Helm
Did sailing have more to do with early human locomotion than the wheel? Hanneke Boon, head of James Wharram Designs, suggests that may be so. Born in the Netherlands, Hanneke grew up in a sailing family. She was building and sailing Polynesian Catamarans at the age of fourteen and joined the…
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Bob McTavish: Trim & Wonder
Over the last half century, Bob McTavish has shaped thousands of custom surfboards. Always an innovator in surfboard design and technology, Bob pioneered cutting edge changes to the basic concept of a surfboard. In 1965, he started tinkering with rail and bottom design to maximise performance.…
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Ruby Southwell: Natural Action
Did you feel safe in your childhood home? If not, were you able to leave, or did you have to stay? Ruby Southwell hit the road, travelling solo for years, searching for guidance. What she found was a deep and clear inner well - and a renewed love for riding waves. At age 22, Ruby moved to...
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Brett Burcher: Deep Breaths
What's the most challenging experience you've faced? Did it ultimately hinder or heighten your self-clarity? Brett Burcher is a heavy water specialist - a slab hunter who chases the thickest waves to some of the most far flung locations. He was given an irrevocable invitation to learn to lay…
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Levelling Breath Practice with Brett Burcher
As a follow up to our episode with heavy water specialist Brett Burcher we wanted to share a couple of breathwork practices that Brett found most practical in his own life - whether he’s dealing with insomnia, or about to drop into a bomb set wave. This is a levelling breath practice— not an…
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Energising Breath Practice with Brett Burcher
In this bonus episode slab hunter Brett Burcher takes us through an energising breath practice that he’s found useful when you need a little extra pep in your step. This is your reminder: breathe like you mean it. Send us Fan Mail ... Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich Sound +...
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Nidala Barker: Where We Belong
“Whether or not you think you belong to the Earth is irrelevant, for you simply do. By virtue of breathing in you receive a gift of oxygen given by the tree and soil, by virtue of breathing out you gift carbon dioxide to the kelp so the fish may have their home. To accept our shared…
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Dr. Kevin Stone: How to Play Forever
Why are some octogenarians still surfing, while others struggle to walk up the stairs? It isn’t luck. Harvard and Stanford trained Orthopaedic surgeon Kevin R. Stone, MD, believes that injuries present as opportunities to better our athletic potential - they can make us fitter, faster, and…
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Pauline Menczer: The Uncensored Underdog
How to fund a pro surfing career in the 1980s? Sell stickers, Levi’s jeans, bicycles, whatever. Sleep in your board bag. Live on a diet of mushrooms and bread. World Champion Pauline Menczer got resourceful and hustled however it took to get her to the next stop of the tour. “In the 80s and 90s,...
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Sung Min Cho: African Aloha
When is surfing about more than just selfish wave hoggery? Mozambique’s first professional surfer, Sung Min Cho, or ‘Mini’ for short, is writing a new story for surfing – he’s part of a burgeoning surf culture rising from the wake of three decades of armed conflict in the region. In 2018, Mini...
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Torren Martyn & Aiyana Powell: Solo, Together
Ever want to pack up normalcy and set sail over the horizon? What’s it really like to live at sea for a year and rarely be further than 35 feet from your new significant other? Torren Martyn and Aiyana Powell talk us through the peaks and troughs of life aboard Calypte, a borrowed 35-foot sailing...
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Annie Ford: Adventurous Activism
The loudest human-made sounds: Nuclear Bomb (224 dB), Rocket launch (204 dB). And clocking in at 260 underwater decibels is the seismic blast, part of a process for exploring for oil and gas in the ocean. Unlike bombs and rockets, however, seismic blasts "fire approximately every 10 seconds…
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About this show
Surf 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.
Hosted by
Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich - surf stories & ocean adventures
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