Big Wave Surfer Garrett McNamara Tells Skater Tony Hawk How it All Began

At around 35 minutes in, Hawk broaches the topic of what inspired him and Ellis to start skateboarding. 

Addressing McNamara, he says:

"What I wanted to ask you is, what was the catalyst for you, like your moment? 

"I saw people flying out of pools and I was like, 'That's what I want to do, I'm dropping everything else.' 

"What was you're moment, that it was like, 'This is what I want to do?'"

McNamara answers:

"Surfing itself? I got to Hawaii when I was eleven, and we didn't have much, my mom's husband left her and we were in Cement City [condos in Haleiwa]. We were on welfare, we were barely getting by, and my mom got us a surfboard."

Hawk interjects and asks: "To share?"

"To share, yes. Fifteen dollars at a garage sale, super heavy, two guys had to carry it to the beach.

"And that was it," he says. 

Surfing stuck, and when he was 13, mom got him another surfboard. This one was "a little lighter, little shorter." But it was still too big. So McNamara improvised. 

"I cut the middle out. About a foot or two out of the middle in my bedroom and then fiberglassed it back together, and it ended up a stinger," he says. "And that was my board. I was so stoked."

Hawk asks if they "got vibed" by the locals.  

No, McNamara says, because they "weren't any good."

"It was never going to be a career."