Order of Man - December 01, 2020


Chasing Down Your Fears | SHANE DORIAN


Episode Stats

Length

1 hour and 21 minutes

Words per Minute

206.08205

Word Count

16,856

Sentence Count

1,082

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

5


Summary

In this episode, Ryan Michler is joined by surfer and father, Shane Dorian, to talk about how to manage fear and use it as fuel to do great things in our lives. We talk about the power of proximity, why mentorship is so crucial, the necessity of evolution, the concept of progressive exposure to the things that scare us, loving the challenge, and ultimately how to chase down our fears.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Each and every one of us deals with fear. And most of us are either consciously or subconsciously
00:00:04.720 running away from what we fear most. That's unfortunate considering that what lies beyond
00:00:10.140 the fear that keeps us back is what we desire most in our lives, fulfillment and satisfaction
00:00:15.360 and purpose. Today, I'm joined by big wave surfer, Archer and father Shane Dorian to talk about how
00:00:21.780 to manage fear and use it as fuel to do great things in our lives. We talk about the power
00:00:26.900 of proximity, why mentorship, even if it's informal, uh, is so crucial. The necessity
00:00:32.540 of evolution, uh, the concept of progressive exposure to the things that scare us, loving
00:00:38.160 the challenge and ultimately how to chase down our fears. You're a man of action. You live
00:00:42.600 life to the fullest, embrace your fears and boldly charge your own path. When life knocks
00:00:47.300 you down, you get back up one more time. Every time you are not easily deterred, defeated,
00:00:52.980 rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who you are. This is who you will
00:00:59.600 become at the end of the day. And after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.
00:01:05.680 Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler. I'm the host and the founder
00:01:09.500 of the order of man podcast and movement. Welcome here and welcome back. We have got a lot to talk
00:01:14.180 about today and a lot to cover. Uh, I've got a very good one lined up for you today. Like
00:01:17.940 I do every single week. Uh, the men that we've had on over the past several months now
00:01:22.160 are absolutely incredible. And I know that it's resonating with you because I'm getting
00:01:27.120 hundreds, if not thousands of messages at this point, every single week, uh, letting me know
00:01:32.500 that the conversations we're having are impacting you in a positive way. And that's initially why I
00:01:37.200 set out to do this podcast and this movement is to give you the tools and resources and guidance
00:01:42.280 and direction. Uh, and not just you, but me too, that we need to thrive as fathers and husbands
00:01:47.460 and leaders in our community and business owners. And if it's not evident to you at this point,
00:01:53.620 uh, that more bold, strong, competent, courageous men are needed, then I don't know what it's
00:02:00.640 going to take. So this is a movement to help you step up the way that you want to step up
00:02:06.480 and the way that the people around you need you to step up. So this one's going to be a good
00:02:10.780 one. It's all about fear. Uh, we're, we're talking with a friend of mine. I'm going to
00:02:14.700 introduce Shane here in a minute. If you don't know, already know who he is, but before I
00:02:18.320 do, I just want to make a quick mention, uh, of our friends and show sponsors origin, Maine,
00:02:23.440 as you know, Christmas is coming up. If you want to get some Christmas shopping done, there's
00:02:27.620 two great places. One is the order of man store. And the other is the origin store. Uh, if you're
00:02:32.800 looking for denim or boots, the boots make a great gift, by the way, I've got the, uh, the
00:02:38.060 bison boots. They're phenomenal. They're absolutely phenomenal. And I, I had the benefit of a year
00:02:45.540 and a half or two years ago, making my own pair of boots. If you're interested in that
00:02:49.480 process, you can go over to our YouTube channel, uh, and check out the video that we did for
00:02:53.300 that. But, uh, yeah, if they got the boots, they've got the denim, they've got supplements
00:02:57.300 that's a Jocko fuel. So they've got discipline and joint warfare, which is what I take to
00:03:02.220 ale, these nagging fingers and elbows from jujitsu, but they've got it all. Go check it
00:03:07.940 out. Origin, Maine as in the state, Maine origin, Maine.com. And if you're picking anything up,
00:03:13.840 use the code order, O R D E R at checkout. So you can get your discount and save some money
00:03:19.160 again, origin, Maine, use the code order at checkout. All right, guys, let me introduce
00:03:23.900 you to Shane. If you don't already know who he is. Uh, he's somebody who's well known for
00:03:28.080 his ability to ride huge wave, but, uh, what he's accomplished in his life goes much deeper
00:03:34.060 than just surfing. Uh, I met Shane earlier this year, we were hunting in Arizona. I was
00:03:39.100 immediately drawn to his calm and his confident presence, considering what I knew about what
00:03:46.440 he's been able to accomplish in his life. He's a family man. First, we talk a lot about that
00:03:49.880 on today's podcast. Again, he's a big wave surfer. He's an inventor. We actually cover that
00:03:54.080 as well. Uh, he's an avid bow hunter and he's also just an incredible human being who's faced
00:03:59.720 life and death situations in the ocean. He's built a successful career on the back of a
00:04:04.140 surfboard, which is not an easy feat. Uh, and of course he's a leader of his family as a devoted
00:04:10.360 husband and father. So guys, you're going to enjoy this one. Sit back and, uh, enjoy the
00:04:15.240 conversation with Shane and I. Shane, what's up, man? Good to see you again. It's been, it's
00:04:20.220 probably been close to a year at this point, I think since our last hunt together.
00:04:22.840 Yeah. Ryan, good to see you too. Thanks for having me on the show. I appreciate it. Yeah.
00:04:27.160 It's, it's, uh, it's been almost a year now. Are you going back to Arizona in January?
00:04:33.240 I don't think I am. No. Yeah. I don't think I am this year. I wish, uh, I kind of have a
00:04:38.520 lot of, a lot of stuff happening this, this January. I'm trying to take my, my family on
00:04:43.240 a, on a, uh, on a snowboarding trip. Um, and then I also might have to do some coaching
00:04:50.740 as well. Like for, um, there's a big surfing event at sunset beach on the shore in January
00:04:56.640 and I might have to coach one of the athletes.
00:04:59.400 So you do, uh, do you do individual coaching or how does that work? I mean, you're, people
00:05:04.160 are hiring you. Surfers are hiring you to coach them. Is that, is that what's going on?
00:05:08.740 Yeah. I mean, I don't really think of myself as a coach at all. Um, but I, I've been coaching
00:05:16.340 a little bit in the last couple of years. Uh, last year I coached a guy named Italo Ferreira.
00:05:22.100 He, um, I coached him at the pipeline masters here on the North shore in Hawaii. And he was
00:05:28.500 going for the world title at the time. He ended up, um, doing really well in the event. He won,
00:05:34.200 um, he won the world title last year and it was, it was incredible. And, and, and he won the event
00:05:39.000 as well. So I'll be coaching him this year again at the pipe masters. And then he wants me to also,
00:05:43.220 uh, work with him for the sunset event in January. What type of, uh, like, what does that actually
00:05:49.660 look like? Cause when I think of it, and so this is my ignorance speaking when I think of it, I'm
00:05:54.280 like, okay, well, like, are you teaching him balance? Are you teaching him to read the wave?
00:05:57.940 Like, what is it exactly? Like, I don't know what you'd be coaching him on. I'm really curious.
00:06:02.900 It's more just a game plan. Like, uh, in a competitive situation, it's more of a,
00:06:08.000 you know, what, you know, watching the surf, watching the conditions, um, you know,
00:06:12.540 watching all the previous heats and who's winning and how they're doing it, who's losing and why
00:06:17.480 that's happening. And just try and formulate a game plan and, and keep the athlete in a good
00:06:22.820 mindset. Um, you know, super confident and, and, you know, erasing all the noise and focusing on
00:06:29.520 what needs to happen in that timeframe. You know, when you're, when you're, when you're competing,
00:06:34.160 you get really emotional, you know, you get excited or worried or anxious or whatever it is.
00:06:39.020 And I feel like as a coach, um, you know, someone who's a really good coach is going to just keep
00:06:43.660 you in a really solid mindset and keep what's really important at the front of your mind.
00:06:49.300 Got it. Yeah. That makes sense. So it's more of the soft skills than the actual
00:06:52.640 skill of surfing. Cause I mean, this is a guy who's probably been surfing for
00:06:56.400 three or four decades. So it's like, what are you going to teach him, right? That he doesn't
00:06:59.840 already know or hasn't experienced.
00:07:01.340 Yeah. There, there, there is nothing I know about surfing technique that he doesn't.
00:07:07.560 That's what I'm saying. He's a, I, I, I would, I'd kill to be able to do the things that he can
00:07:12.160 do on a surfboard. I mean, he's, he's one of the greatest surfers of all time. So it's just fun
00:07:16.820 to work with him because he's a, he's a student of the game. He wants to get better all the time.
00:07:20.920 He's, he's actively training and practicing and surfing as much as he possibly can. So it's fun to
00:07:26.280 work with a guy like that. It's, it's infectious, that energy level. Um, you know, he's just
00:07:30.980 incredibly passionate about what he does and, and it's, it's a lot of fun. So I don't really
00:07:35.380 see myself as a coach, but if I can help, help people to do a little better, it's a good thing.
00:07:40.860 Do you enjoy that side of it? I mean, I imagine there's a side of just writing, for example,
00:07:46.120 and then there's this whole other aspect that goes on behind the scenes that the average
00:07:50.560 individual just doesn't see or appreciate. Yeah. I mean, I've, you know, I mean, I, I started
00:07:58.180 surfing when I was, I mean, I, I learned to swim when I was like two and then I started
00:08:04.100 riding waves when I was three and I started surfing on a surfboard when I was five. And
00:08:09.320 so it's really all I've ever known in my life. So I I'm still wildly in love with surfing and
00:08:16.540 it's, it's a huge part of my life. You know, I mean, it's, it's really given me pretty much
00:08:21.100 everything I have at this point. It's, it's how I met my wife. It's how I make a living. It's,
00:08:27.240 it's what I do with my kids to share time. Um, it's what we do for family trips. And so,
00:08:34.560 I mean, it really encompasses a lot of like a huge portion of my life and, and it's a really
00:08:40.220 positive thing for me. So, you know, now, now I'm getting a bit older, I'm 48. And so I've
00:08:45.460 been surfing professionally for a very long time. And now it's really fun for me to start working
00:08:50.360 with like the jet with like some kids, some up to coming kids, the next generation. And
00:08:55.160 um, yeah, it's just a lot of fun to just to, to help them along their path.
00:09:00.360 I'm curious what you think about as you talk, cause I see you with, do you have three boys?
00:09:06.040 Do you have, I have two kids. I have a, I have a boy who just turned 14 and I have a girl
00:09:11.420 who just turned 11.
00:09:13.040 And so both of them surf.
00:09:17.820 Yep. They both surf. My, my,
00:09:19.900 my son is very into it. He, he's pretty much all he thinks about, all he wants to do.
00:09:27.200 All right.
00:09:28.060 And he's starting to become like competitive and stuff and getting sponsors and all that.
00:09:31.860 And then my daughter loves to surf. She surfs with me and she's more of like a social surfer.
00:09:37.340 So she surfs with me and, and then, or she'll surf with her buddies. So she just goes out there
00:09:41.840 and chats with all like her little girlfriends and stuff. It's pretty funny.
00:09:44.440 Yeah. That's cool to see. So do you see, it's interesting to me because when we're in the
00:09:50.080 midst of things, I think we think that, that, uh, you know, we're at the pinnacle of our
00:09:53.960 achievement, whether it's surfing or hunting or podcasting or any facet of life or something
00:09:59.620 that we're interested in. I'd be really curious what you see is the evolution of surfing and how
00:10:03.740 not only your children, but the other young kids that you are coaching and teaching and instructing
00:10:09.040 what you think they'll be able to do for the sport itself that maybe you and your generation
00:10:14.700 hasn't accomplished. Yeah. I mean, I mean, a sport of surfing is, is pretty darn young as far as like
00:10:23.240 competitive surfing goes, you know, it's really only since like the, maybe the seventies and really
00:10:28.520 more like the eighties and it's become like a professional sport. And now it's in the Olympics
00:10:33.400 and, um, you know, you know, mainstream, you know, corporations are coming into the space
00:10:40.160 and there's, there's a lot of money flowing into it. Um, so it's just grown a ton and things
00:10:46.340 have gotten more serious as far as all that business side of things goes. But, um, I mean,
00:10:52.160 at the heart of it, people, people fall in love with surfing because it's fun. It keeps you
00:10:56.260 young, keeps you sane. Uh, it's great exercise. It's just, it's just a really, really, really
00:11:02.160 fun thing to do. So, um, yeah, I mean, it's, it's just been a really, really good part of,
00:11:08.260 um, you know, my life and for the kids that I work with, it's, it's just a really healthy,
00:11:13.860 healthy thing for them to do, you know, all the time. So, um, yeah, I'm pretty grateful in that
00:11:18.500 respect. Yeah. I mean, I think it's cool to be able to see not only yourself, but your kids and
00:11:23.080 the people you coach have, have this outlet. Cause it seems to me, and I look at my own kids,
00:11:27.760 I've got four kids and I see so many different outlets that they could take that are not healthy
00:11:31.860 for them. Right. Like whether it's, it's drug abuse or alcohol abuse, or just buying into the
00:11:38.800 misconceptions they hear from their peers. And I think about this outlet for, for us, it happens
00:11:43.200 to be hunting specifically with my oldest son. And that's something that's relatively new to me,
00:11:47.640 but I see a lot of similarities between what you're doing with, with your kids and what I'm doing
00:11:52.760 with my kids in different aspects, but just being able to channel that energy towards something
00:11:57.680 that's going to improve them physically and mentally and emotionally is, is really, really
00:12:02.960 rewarding to watch and experience. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's a lot of distractions these
00:12:10.240 days for kids, you know, probably more than ever, you know, you know, when I was, when I was
00:12:14.740 growing up, I'm sure when you were growing up, you know, life was a whole lot simpler than
00:12:20.140 there, there was no internet, like the, you know, like the, like the video game thing was,
00:12:27.580 was hardly a thing when I was a kid, you know, there was, there was, there was friends I knew
00:12:32.120 had video game consoles, whatever, in their, in their house and they would get super into
00:12:36.360 it. But hardly anybody had those things when I was a kid, I didn't really know anybody who
00:12:40.300 had the money for video games. And, and like in my neighborhood, like literally nobody had
00:12:43.940 that. So, um, there was no social media, no smartphones, no, um, you know, Twitter, Instagram,
00:12:51.380 Tik TOK, all this stuff. So like these kids are growing up with so much more, um, data,
00:12:58.280 so much more, uh, marketing, so much more information, so many more distractions and they're being forced
00:13:06.580 to grow up a lot quicker, I feel like. And so if, if they can get into whether it's hunting
00:13:12.920 or surfing or snowboarding or soccer or something outdoors, something that they can do with their
00:13:19.080 friends, that's super healthy for their minds, for their bodies, um, for their soul, that's,
00:13:24.320 I feel like if they can find something like that at a young age, that's, that's, that's, um, just
00:13:29.620 gives them a huge advantage in life.
00:13:31.900 For sure. Did your, did your folks teach you to surf or where did you pick this up at such
00:13:35.940 an early age?
00:13:37.620 So my parents, this was like in their early seventies, but my parents, um, started a little
00:13:44.840 restaurant right on the beach, Kona on the big Island. And so I grew up in the restaurant
00:13:52.240 and right outside the restaurant was this like little beach. And that's where I learned to
00:13:57.300 swim. That's where I started like riding waves on a bodyboard, body surfing, surfing. That's
00:14:03.440 where I started fishing. I fish every day when there was no waves. I was, that's, that's
00:14:07.500 where I started diving. And that's where I met all my friends. So it just was like a
00:14:12.200 natural thing for me to like, um, like spend my whole, whole, you know, upbringing in the
00:14:17.840 ocean. And I just fell in love with riding waves. I just, the, the, the feeling of riding
00:14:22.560 waves was just, um, something that, I don't know, it sounds super cheesy, but it's just,
00:14:29.560 it was such a cool experience. Like I never grew up in church or anything like that, but
00:14:33.780 like something about like being out in the ocean with sun coming up in the morning and
00:14:37.720 just, that's, that's all I needed was my surf trunks and my surfboard. And there was like,
00:14:42.720 like every other kid growing up, you have really stressful times in your household. I grew
00:14:46.240 up with, uh, by far, my father was kind of a gnarly alcoholic and my parents would scrap
00:14:52.680 all the time. And, um, my, you know, they, they are getting divorced when I was pretty
00:14:56.760 young. And so I had a lot of like crazy stuff happening in my life. Um, not unlike everyone
00:15:02.600 else, but surfing for me, it was like my, it was like my outlet. It was like my, like the
00:15:08.380 thing I would always go to, um, when I was stressed out or angry or upset or whatever it
00:15:13.540 was, uh, surfing was always there for me. So that, that was a thing that made me really
00:15:18.920 connect with riding waves when I was a kid. Yeah. It sounds like, um, that, that idea of
00:15:23.720 the proximity principle, right? That the waves and the ocean was close to you. And so that's
00:15:29.660 what you naturally gravitated towards. But I'm curious when you started to get more intentional
00:15:34.940 about it, because as I understand it, you're, you're a big wave surfer, right? And so that's,
00:15:40.280 that's different than somebody who's going to do a bunch of tricks on smaller waves
00:15:43.400 and ride these short sets. So when did you start getting more intentional about it and
00:15:47.780 deciding, okay, this is the path that I want to take that I'm more excited about?
00:15:54.080 Well, it started when I was pretty young, I started getting into trouble. I started, uh,
00:15:58.900 you know, getting into trouble with, um, you know, started having bad grades and hanging
00:16:03.800 around a bunch of stupid kids that were doing really stupid stuff. I started getting involved
00:16:08.220 in that and started getting into trouble a little bit. This is like in seventh grade.
00:16:11.020 And, um, and I kind of, like I got my surfboard taken away for a whole quarter until I got my
00:16:17.300 grades better. Um, and I realized really quickly, like, Hey, this is like, like these choices that
00:16:23.080 I'm making are, are bad choices. And they're taking me down a road that a bunch of idiots
00:16:27.660 are on. Like my, my friends at the time were, were idiots. They were, they were really hellbent
00:16:32.440 on going in a bad direction. Right.
00:16:34.700 I woke up to that. Um, when I got my surfboard taken away and, uh, I kind of just turned away
00:16:41.640 from like those choices and what was happening in my life at that time and, and really hunkered
00:16:45.920 down and in the surfing thing. And I was like, this serving things bringing great things to
00:16:50.920 my life. And I, I, I had some really cool mentors at the time, uh, come and talk to me
00:16:55.200 about, you know, what was happening in my life and just really helped me kind of with that
00:16:59.340 perspective. And, and so ever since then, I, I just, um, became hyper-focused on surfing.
00:17:05.640 Um, soon after that, I, um, I asked my, my mom if I could move to the North shore of Oahu,
00:17:12.480 which is like Mecca for surfing. So, um, I had a job at the time and I saved up some money
00:17:16.880 and I shipped my car over to the North shore and went to school there, um, ninth through
00:17:23.700 12th grade and, and lived with friends, lived on couches and, and, um, basically just, you
00:17:30.140 know, lived surfing. And it was my, I was obsessed with getting better and I really wanted to do
00:17:34.720 it for a living. I had some friends that were, were working towards the goal of surfing as
00:17:40.000 a pro. And so I just kind of got on that program. I was, I was really excited about kind of going
00:17:45.320 in that direction. I kind of poured all of my energy into that goal.
00:17:49.000 Um, what, um, when you, you talked about mentors as, as, uh, coming into your life
00:17:55.700 when you were younger, how did you find those mentors? Did they find you? Are these guys that
00:18:01.160 you surfed with? Like what, what, what led you down the path to find those guys in particular
00:18:05.860 or those individuals? Um, one of them probably was, uh, uh, one of them was my surf shop sponsor.
00:18:15.140 Okay. Time. So I had, I had a surf shop sponsor that was, that was helping me. And, um, when
00:18:23.300 I started doing that in school and, and, and things, things started kind of going in the
00:18:27.700 wrong direction for me, she actually asked me to come in and talk to her. And so she had
00:18:33.580 a pretty long conversation with me about life and about decisions and about friends and about
00:18:38.400 who we hang out with. And, and you know, that just like, like we don't get a second chance,
00:18:43.300 but the basic, the basic message from a couple of these people were like, you don't get a second
00:18:48.540 chance to do this. You get one chance. And so don't screw it up. You know, it's, it's a blessing.
00:18:53.960 It's a, you gotta be really grateful for this opportunity to be alive. I mean, I got, I got,
00:19:00.260 I have no excuse. I have, I have two arms, two legs. I can run fast. I can swim far.
00:19:04.860 And so I don't want it to take it for granted, you know? And so it was one of those, just,
00:19:09.160 it was like a wake up call, like just get your shit together. Basically it was a message.
00:19:13.320 What did, uh, what did she see in you? Like, is that, is that a relationship that you actively
00:19:18.840 went out and you were trying to get sponsorships or did she approach you? Like how did that
00:19:23.600 relationship form?
00:19:26.020 No, I, I think she just saw some potential. And then as far as like, I, I, I think she'd seen
00:19:34.480 a lot of kids from my area grow up with, with some potential. And then, you know, like, like
00:19:39.520 we all do, we see kids going down the wrong path and they become burnt out or get into drugs or
00:19:45.200 start hanging out with a bunch of scrubby kids and just doing stupid stuff. And, and that just
00:19:50.160 leads, you know, like we, we all know where that leads. Um, you know, those kids start going,
00:19:56.160 keep, keep on that, on that bad path. And, um, you know, they crash and burn. She didn't want
00:20:02.780 to see that happen to me. And I was showing a lot of potential on the surf and the surfing
00:20:06.440 thing. And so she really wanted to support me and, and not see me go down that bad road.
00:20:11.220 And, and so I was super grateful and I'm still friends with her today. And, and, um, you know,
00:20:17.620 it's, I feel like you don't need that many mentors in life. You can just even be one, but
00:20:23.220 in those moments where, um, you may not be making the best decisions, it's your, your real
00:20:29.220 friends and people who really care about you who are going to step up and actually keep
00:20:32.900 you in check.
00:20:34.140 Yeah. I mean, mentorship is weird because a lot of the guys that listen to the podcast
00:20:38.940 will, will ask me questions like, how do you find a mentor? And they think it's this
00:20:42.660 kind of strange one-on-one Obi-Wan Kenobi relation. And it's like real formal. And I've,
00:20:52.160 I haven't found it to be that, you know, I have mentors come and go. And sometimes they're
00:20:55.680 there for a couple of weeks or sometimes somebody just says something like, maybe you say something
00:20:59.640 in this podcast. I'm like, yeah, man. And that sticks with me for the rest of my life. And other
00:21:04.000 times it's a longer relationship. But I just think we're like, when it comes to mentorship, we're
00:21:08.440 trying to fit this, this, like our, our idea or our notion of it. And it limits us to just these
00:21:15.660 random interactions that we might have with people that could radically change our lives.
00:21:21.380 Yeah. And like for some people like Joe Rogan is their mentor.
00:21:25.680 Right. Right. And they've, and they've, and they've never met Joe. They, but they, you
00:21:31.920 know, they, they, uh, you know, they, it's, it can be anything, right? It can be just something
00:21:38.140 in your life that just makes a lot of sense to you and like talk some sense into you, even
00:21:41.360 if you don't even know that person personally. Um, you know, I, I feel like that's what, I
00:21:46.120 mean, podcasts are so good in that way. I mean, there's, there's, there's, uh, I mean,
00:21:51.000 I listen to a lot of podcasts all the time, but I feel like mentorship is,
00:21:55.680 uh, you know, for some kids, they don't even have access to it. You know, they, I mean,
00:22:00.900 there's, there's a lot of kids who don't, they literally don't know a single adult that
00:22:05.360 they really, really look up to. I mean, there's, there's kids out there for sure. Like that.
00:22:08.760 I was really lucky in that I did have, have adults. I have, you know, my mother was an
00:22:14.220 amazing role model. She had tons of discipline. She was a really hard worker, incredibly smart,
00:22:19.700 hard work, just really hardworking. Um, so I had, I had a great example at my own home.
00:22:24.980 Uh, and so she, she, she was not only my mom, she was definitely a mentor in my life. Um,
00:22:30.840 so I really had no excuse. Yeah. I mean, we can craft all sorts of excuses, right? But usually,
00:22:37.400 usually when we look back, they don't really, uh, they don't really hold any weight. That's for
00:22:41.800 sure. Yeah. I'm really curious because my wife spent a little time in Hawaii on the big Island and,
00:22:47.040 um, she didn't, she didn't really have a positive experience. And so I'm really curious what it was
00:22:53.500 like for you growing up in Hawaii as, as a white kid, you know, did you see any challenge with that,
00:22:59.400 with that? Did you have to get into fights? Like, like, I'm just really curious of your perspective
00:23:04.320 from, from that angle. Yeah. That's a, that's kind of a funny question because if you, if,
00:23:11.480 if you'd never been to Hawaii a long time ago and you've only been to Hawaii in like last 10,
00:23:15.880 15 years, then that, that, that question makes no sense. Um, but yeah, in the, in the early seventies,
00:23:21.860 when I was a little kid, um, you know, white people were the minority, right? For sure.
00:23:28.800 In my classroom, you look at my school pictures when I was in first, second, third, fifth grade,
00:23:35.180 there was very few white kids. Um, and we were like second class citizens. There was tons of racism.
00:23:42.160 Um, you know, we were looked down upon, uh, and called names and it was pretty intense. I was pretty
00:23:49.660 lucky. I was really good friends with a lot of like big Hawaiians. And, um, for some reason,
00:23:55.340 I don't, I really don't know. I think I knew some of them, some surfing and, and stuff like that,
00:24:01.140 but I never, I never really had a hard time when I was a kid, but definitely just in general being a
00:24:07.240 white kid when I was, when I was a kid, um, in the town I grew up in was definitely, uh, it, it, uh,
00:24:13.700 it made for challenging situations for sure. Like a lot of people like would call you out for fights
00:24:18.840 and stuff like that all the time. Right. Yeah. And that was kind of my wife's experience,
00:24:22.940 you know, as, as, as she spent a couple of years there with school, like she was really picked on
00:24:27.460 and really bullied. So I was wondering if that, if you feel like that had any sort of,
00:24:32.920 I'm sure it had an effect on you, but I'm wondering if it changed some of your mentality,
00:24:36.740 not, not towards another person or anything, but just changed who you are,
00:24:40.880 or maybe gave you a competitive edge, anything like that. What's that? Sorry. I didn't get that
00:24:45.100 last part. I said, if it changed you, not necessarily your outlook on other people,
00:24:50.300 but gave you a, an advantage or a competitive edge, or you were able to utilize some of that
00:24:54.680 as fuel, something like that. Yeah. I think it was just a wake up call that, Hey, like, you know,
00:25:01.840 like life, life isn't always perfect. Like life is, um, you know, there's people, people are flawed
00:25:08.360 and you know, we all are. And, and so to experience, it's experience being treated a
00:25:14.900 certain way because the color of your skin is radical wake up call when you're a kid,
00:25:18.540 because that's all learned. That's all learned behavior. We're not, we're not, we're not born
00:25:23.000 that way. We're not born, um, seeing people by their skin tone. Right. Um, so like, it's so funny.
00:25:29.700 There's probably a lot of people listening to this podcast. Like what is this guy talking about?
00:25:32.260 He's got white skin. There's no one is judging him for his skin color. Right. But, um, you know,
00:25:37.720 if things were things, things are totally different in different parts of the world. And you know,
00:25:42.040 where I grew up having white skin wasn't cool when I was a kid. So, um, but yeah, it was,
00:25:47.180 it was definitely a situation where I felt like I had something to prove. I felt like, um, you know,
00:25:52.480 it did give me feel like to get hated on when I was a kid a little bit. Um, and I just let it kind
00:25:58.880 of fuel me. And, uh, I don't, I don't really know how to answer that question really well,
00:26:03.300 but, um, yeah, I think, I think it was a really good lesson learned at an early age for sure.
00:26:08.920 Yeah. And I'm not looking for the perfect answer. I'm just really curious as your impact and how that
00:26:13.940 might've changed you or made you see the world, not even the world, just your, your, your corner of
00:26:20.200 it, right. Your, your, your community. I am really curious though. One thing that, um, it sounds like
00:26:25.180 you have a lot of respect for your mother, which I feel the same way about mine. Uh, and, and I'm
00:26:29.980 interested in you approaching her. It sounds like you were maybe ninth grade or so. It sounded like,
00:26:35.920 or, or nine years. I can't remember ninth, ninth grade or nine years old, somewhere in there.
00:26:39.140 Ninth grade, ninth grade. Okay. And you approached her and said, Hey, I want to go to North shore.
00:26:43.220 And I'm sure you had some friends and things like that. What, what made her agree to that? Like,
00:26:49.140 what is it that she saw or what, what was her, her, uh, justification for lack of a better term for
00:26:55.920 allowing her, you know, 13, 14 year old to go to a completely different Island and go pursue his
00:27:04.040 dreams at that age. Honestly, um, she said flat out no, when I asked her and she said, there's no
00:27:14.620 chance you're going over there by yourself. There's no chance you're moving to a different Island and
00:27:18.460 he's staying at your friend's house. Um, and so I had to really like negotiate with her for a couple
00:27:25.220 of weeks. It was all about my grades. It was all about my, it was all about my grades making like
00:27:31.380 she, I had to basically like have like this huge thing of rules, like all these things I had to
00:27:35.900 abide by. And second, I, I either had bad grades or I, I skipped school. Even one day I was coming
00:27:42.720 straight back. Um, and I had saved up a bunch of money from my job at that point.
00:27:48.340 So I just kind of, I was a pretty independent kid already at that age. And, and so I, I,
00:27:54.920 and then I, I, I spoke to my friend, um, and his family who his father was shaping my surfboards
00:28:01.820 at the time. Can you hear me still? It's kind of raining. Yeah, it's okay. Yeah. I can hear
00:28:06.780 you just fine. Yeah. The background noise makes it more interesting. So yeah, we got you, man.
00:28:11.820 You're all good. Cool. Yeah. So it was funny because like my surfboard shape at the time,
00:28:17.620 I was really good friends with his son and they said, Hey, if you, if you get the green
00:28:21.720 light for your, from your mom, you're welcome to come over and live with us. And so I basically
00:28:26.260 like negotiated with my mom for a couple of weeks straight. And eventually she said, Hey,
00:28:31.020 as long as you, um, follow all these rules and abide by them and have a lot of respect for,
00:28:35.840 for, for this contract, then you can go. But the second you screw up, you come straight back.
00:28:40.960 And so, but that was a huge opportunity for me. And that was a crazy, like, even now looking back,
00:28:47.300 she's like, what was I thinking? Like letting you go over there when you're, you know, just barely
00:28:51.260 15 years old. Man, let me hit the pause button really quickly. I know earlier I talked with you
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00:29:55.140 quickly. Get it done after this podcast, because for now I'm going to finish it up with Shane.
00:30:00.780 Yeah. Cause I look at my, so my oldest son is 12 and you know,
00:30:04.760 in two or three years, I can't imagine turning him loose. You know, even if he had this,
00:30:09.320 this desire to do this one thing, it would be a, it would be a difficult,
00:30:13.760 it would be a difficult choice and a huge sacrifice on the part of a mother to be able to do that. She,
00:30:18.700 she, she must've seen something in you that, that allowed that to be okay. And that's,
00:30:23.160 that's actually pretty telling. I think itself.
00:30:24.820 Yeah. I mean, I, I definitely was like hyper-focused as a kid and I had a huge goal in mind and I was
00:30:33.900 working towards that goal. And, and at that point I was pretty on the straight and narrow as far as
00:30:39.980 like getting good grades and really not doing anything too stupid. And so I just asked her to
00:30:46.500 trust me and said, Hey, this is what I really, really want to do. This is all I want to do.
00:30:50.360 This is the only thing I want to do in my life. And so please give me the chance to do this.
00:30:55.620 And she just said, Hey, you got it. I'm going to put you on a short leash, but you can go.
00:31:00.740 And I had a ton of respect for her because she gave me that independence. She said, you know,
00:31:04.660 you're really going to have to earn this. And you know, it's, I just incredibly grateful because
00:31:10.340 in my life, that was such a turning point. That was like the biggest thing ever for me,
00:31:15.120 having that independence and an opportunity and having the trust of my mom, who I, who
00:31:19.740 I looked up to so much, uh, say, Hey, look, you can go and do this. Like, I really trust
00:31:25.800 you. I want you to have what you want in your life. That was a huge thing for me. And
00:31:29.560 it's funny because my kid just turned 14 and I, I would never in a million years, let
00:31:34.360 him move out of the house and go live at somebody's house. No chance. Um, but he's also
00:31:41.380 a different, I'm a different parent. He's a different kid. Um, so things are just different
00:31:46.460 these days. And also at the time, my, my mom was a single mother, um, struggling to make
00:31:52.380 ends meet. She had two jobs. She was hardly ever home. Um, you know, my dad was kind of
00:31:57.800 out of the picture. And so in, in my household, it's totally different, right? I have a, I have
00:32:02.940 a pretty, I have a pretty functional marriage. I have a great wife, a great mother. Um, we have
00:32:09.260 a pretty solid family foundation, um, in the house. Um, so there's not really, and, and
00:32:16.320 my, and my kid who's very focused on surfing as well, he, he has a lot of opportunities
00:32:21.160 that I never had, right? Like we're, we're, we're here on the North shore right now. Um,
00:32:26.200 in a big part because of my kid loves to surf. So, yeah, I mean you, you've, and, and you've
00:32:32.720 done this, so I don't want to diminish or take away from what you've done, but you've
00:32:35.340 created a lot of congruence in your life, which gives yourself the opportunity to provide
00:32:39.420 things for your children that maybe you didn't have those same opportunities. So you've done
00:32:44.300 that. But then also just in modern times, right? The, the, the society in which we live
00:32:49.360 allows us to create these lives where we can do anything that we want to do and still provide
00:32:56.300 and still lead and do all the things that we're quote unquote supposed to do. Did you ever
00:33:00.380 think that surfing would become what it is for you? Did you think you could make a career
00:33:07.700 and make income and then provide for a family? Was that even on your radar when you were younger?
00:33:14.660 Never in a million years. I never, I never saw it coming. I never knew it had any kind
00:33:19.940 of potential the way it turned out. Um, it's been a crazy ride on, honestly, I never thought
00:33:26.040 I'd be able to make a living from surfing. And then when I started making a living from surfing,
00:33:30.140 when I was like 20, I thought that by the time I was like 27, 28, I would be retired from surfing.
00:33:37.040 I thought I would have to get a job and do something totally different. And then when I
00:33:40.400 was 27 or 28, I thought at the longest, this thing will last until I'm like 31. And then
00:33:45.740 when I was 31, I thought of for sure it's going to be over when I'm 35 and I'm 48. And, um,
00:33:52.040 I just recently signed a three-year contract with my, my clothing sponsor. And I'm still
00:33:57.460 renegotiating my contracts now with existing companies. And, and so things just, it's really
00:34:03.440 strange. I'm baffled all the time, but, um, it's still, it's still happening.
00:34:08.940 Isn't that amazing? So the way I understand it, primarily your income is derived and not
00:34:15.960 specifically you, but income from, from these athletes derived from sponsorships. I mean, is that,
00:34:21.100 that's the big income source? Is that correct?
00:34:26.200 For sure. Um, it's just about working with brands and, you know, working with their marketing teams
00:34:31.540 to get their, their message out there, their brands out there, their campaigns out there.
00:34:35.680 Um, I serve for fill-a-long clothing and wetsuits. Uh, they're, uh, they're, uh, they're from Australia
00:34:41.220 originally, but now they're global and they, uh, their, their whole DNA is in surfing and
00:34:47.540 they have an incredible surf team of young kids coming up and world champions. And, and so,
00:34:52.740 you know, my job basically is to, um, you know, get exposure for the brand, get exposure for myself,
00:34:59.420 you know, keep doing what I'm doing, riding waves and being a mentor to kids. And, and, um, yeah,
00:35:04.600 it's really difficult to explain it. I still think it's strange to get paid to go surfing. Um,
00:35:10.220 it's, I've been doing that for a very long time now. And every time I look at checks coming in the
00:35:17.440 mail, I am shocked. Cause like when you're doing something that you absolutely love and get paid
00:35:23.180 for it, it is very surreal. And, um, I feel like I definitely don't have a job.
00:35:28.840 Are there things though about the, maybe not your, you know, your quote unquote job,
00:35:34.760 but about the industry that you struggle with, you know, that you have to do and you have to complete,
00:35:38.920 but it isn't enjoyable to you. And you wish if you could wave your magic wand that you wouldn't
00:35:44.920 have to do these types of things, whatever those are. For sure. And I don't, I'm not complaining at
00:35:51.180 all. Um, I'm incredibly lucky and grateful for what I get to do for a living, but yeah, every single
00:35:57.320 job, no matter whether you're Tom Brady or whether you're the president of the United States,
00:36:02.340 it looks really good from one side of the coin. But if you look at the other side, there's always
00:36:07.500 drawbacks. There's always sacrifices that these people are making huge ones, especially as like
00:36:11.920 if the job is really good and you're making massive sacrifices. Like there was, you know, for 15 years
00:36:18.000 of my life, I was out of the country for 10 months a year. Um, and then when I had, I had really young
00:36:24.720 kids and I got married, I was spending tons of time away from home because I had to job.
00:36:29.980 And so even now I, I still travel probably five, five or six months a year. Um, and that's my job.
00:36:37.000 It's travel. I'm always traveling. That's, that's how, that's like a huge part of my work. So
00:36:42.440 do you take your family with you when you travel?
00:36:44.860 It's non-negotiable. Sometimes I do. Um, and now because there's so much synergy between what I do
00:36:52.060 and my son is very interested in surfing and he's also kind of surfing for a living already. Um,
00:36:58.320 I take him with me a lot, but I'm not able to take my daughter and my wife a whole lot, but I do take
00:37:04.140 them on certain trips. But yeah, so, so that's the sacrifice. I don't, I don't get to be home all the
00:37:09.760 time. I don't get to see my wife and daughter as much as I would like to. Um, but, uh, you know,
00:37:16.940 every, everybody, the thing is when I'm at home, even though I'm away from home, like four or five
00:37:22.580 months a year, when I am home, I'm there, I'm there for my wife and I get to see my daughter
00:37:27.640 24 hours a day. You know what I mean? I'm, I'm there, uh, when she's going to school,
00:37:32.060 like before this whole COVID thing, um, you know, I'm getting her up in the morning and helping her
00:37:36.960 make lunch and making sure she's done her schoolwork and, uh, taking her to school and picking her up
00:37:41.560 from school and taking her surfing and making sure she's doing her schoolwork and, um, you know,
00:37:46.840 reading with her in the evenings and putting her to bed. Like I'm there a hundred percent when I'm at
00:37:51.400 home. So it just looks different. Instead of me being away eight hours a day at my nine to five,
00:37:56.480 I'm gone five months a year. And so when I'm home, I'm not working. So it just looks a little bit
00:38:02.240 different. For sure. I mean, it's just a different dynamic. How does your wife deal with the dynamic?
00:38:07.460 Um, I mean, she married a surfer, like she probably, it sounds like, does she surf as well?
00:38:11.560 It sounds like maybe she does. No, she doesn't. Oh, she doesn't. Okay. No. So she married a
00:38:16.020 surfer. She knew you were a surfer. So, I mean, she kind of, at some point probably knew to some
00:38:21.440 degree what she was getting into, but how does that, how has that evolved and changed in her
00:38:25.620 perception of what you do now that you're 48 years old and you're still traveling five, six months a
00:38:30.820 year? She definitely knew what she was signing up for. Um, I, you know, like the day she met me,
00:38:39.840 I was already traveling full time and this is what I've been doing for a living ever since
00:38:44.220 she's known me. So it's completely normal for her. And we've been together for a very long time. We
00:38:49.320 actually started dating when I was 20. Um, and then so, so we, we dated, she was from California.
00:38:57.540 I'm from Hawaii and I was traveling full time. So we kind of had a long distance relationship
00:39:01.500 for about five years. And then it just got to be really, really complicated when she was
00:39:07.680 in college in LA. And then she started working full time and I was traveling full time.
00:39:12.020 So we split up and became just worked, stayed in touch and worked really good friends for about
00:39:17.640 three years. And then we ended up getting married and we've been married for, um, I think 18, 19 years
00:39:23.600 now. And so she just, we know each other really well. We have a lot of trust in our relationship.
00:39:28.720 So she's not like me being gone for three weeks at a time is totally normal for her. She,
00:39:35.240 we, we FaceTime all the time. We talk every day and I don't know, it's just our, I remember
00:39:40.360 every relationship is different. I have a lot of friends who are like, Oh my God, my wife
00:39:44.300 would kill me if I was gone for three weeks or, Oh my gosh, I need to talk to her on the
00:39:47.920 phone for like two hours a day. Like sometimes I just text her once, you know what I mean?
00:39:52.000 During the day. That's not weird at all. It's totally normal. And it just, it's something
00:39:56.600 that works for us, you know? Yeah. I think the dynamics different for everyone. I was
00:40:00.680 going to say that the times that I leave is probably actually really good for my relationship
00:40:04.220 with my wife. She would probably attest to that as well. Uh, and then even when I'm gone,
00:40:09.420 you know, if I'm on a hunt or, or a trip or whatever it may be is I may text her or shoot
00:40:13.940 her a quick, you know, five minute phone call and that's adequate for us. So I think we've
00:40:19.180 been able to create something that works well for our dynamic. And I keep those lines of
00:40:23.120 communication open and it sounds like you've done the same thing and that's what works for
00:40:26.900 you guys. It is. Yeah. And it, and it works just, just great for us. The really hard thing
00:40:31.720 is my daughter because I get to take my son a lot. So I spend a ton of time with him, but
00:40:37.320 a lot of times I have to leave my wife and daughter at home. And so, um, I definitely spend a lot
00:40:41.600 less time with my daughter. And so when I'm at home, I try and that's like, that's like at
00:40:46.220 the forefront of, of, of my worries and my, like, as far as like being a father and stuff,
00:40:53.080 I really try to put a lot of energy and effort into that. And that is something I really want
00:40:56.720 to do right. And I really want to do well. I feel like we really only have one chance
00:41:00.680 to do it right. Um, and so I worry that I'm not spending enough time with my daughter.
00:41:06.100 So that's like anytime I'm home, anytime I'm with her, I'm always trying to spend as much
00:41:10.660 time as possible with her, take her surfing and do things she likes to do. Um, so that's
00:41:16.020 definitely something that, um, that I feel, uh, you know, as a father that I'm, I'm, I
00:41:23.100 have a lot of worry about that, that I'm not, I'm unable to spend as much time as I probably
00:41:27.540 should with her. And so I want to make sure she's okay all the time.
00:41:31.880 Do you feel like there's any sort of, um, any sort of animosity or has she ever expressed
00:41:38.000 or voiced any concern that you're always with, you know, your oldest, your son and not with
00:41:42.400 her? Is that something that she's expressed to you?
00:41:46.020 A little bit. It's something that I definitely don't avoid talking about. I mean, I speak
00:41:53.320 to her about it all the time and I try to explain to her like the reality of what I do for a
00:41:57.660 living and how I have to travel and, um, that he does the same thing for a living now. And
00:42:03.380 that because of that, this is how our lives kind of look right now. And, um, but I do try
00:42:08.120 to try to take her on trips as well. Um, and she has to travel, you know, here and there.
00:42:13.240 She's a very lucky girl, but yeah, I mean, I, I really don't want that animosity and I
00:42:18.340 don't, I don't see it yet, but I'm definitely already thinking about it. And I, and I don't
00:42:23.080 want that to be a real negative in her life growing up. Um, I've seen that in the past
00:42:28.040 with siblings where one of them is extremely passionate about something and gets a lot
00:42:32.340 of opportunities because of it. Um, you know, I mean that, that, that's exactly what happened
00:42:36.260 in my life. You know, I was, when I was a kid, I was already, like I said, I already
00:42:39.640 moved away from home when I was in ninth grade. I was completely financially independent,
00:42:43.360 uh, like before graduating high school. And I was basically on my own and I had a ton
00:42:48.400 of opportunities because of my passion for surfing. And so I just grew up a totally different
00:42:53.440 way. And that's kind of like repeating itself in my own household. And I just want to be hyper
00:42:58.280 aware of how that's affecting my daughter.
00:43:01.860 I'm glad you brought it up because, and the reason I even ask it is because not only do
00:43:06.300 I deal with it, but I'm sure a lot of guys who are listening deal with it. Cause again,
00:43:09.360 my oldest son, he loves to hunt. I really enjoy hunting. So naturally we go out and we spend
00:43:14.060 a lot of time out on the property and we're taking care of the food plot and we're sitting
00:43:19.100 in a blind or we're walking around the mountains because I like it. He likes it. And so of course
00:43:23.640 we're going to spend more time together. And so, yeah, sometimes I do feel like I'm neglecting
00:43:28.180 to a degree the others. And, uh, that's something that I personally wrestle with
00:43:31.840 as well. So that, that's why I asked about it. Cause it is important to me just as it
00:43:35.980 sounds like it's important to you.
00:43:38.840 Yeah, it's very important. I mean, being a, being a good, being a parent is the most important
00:43:44.600 thing that I've ever done. And I, I really do feel like you only get one chance. You don't
00:43:49.560 get a second chance to be a good, a good father, you know?
00:43:52.380 And it goes super quick, right? Like so fast.
00:43:55.440 It goes super quick. You blink and they're out of the house. So, you know, I already feel
00:44:00.460 like that's kind of happening with my son. He's 14. He's growing up quick. And my daughter
00:44:04.600 is 11 and like, I'm going to blink and they're both going to be out of the house. So this
00:44:08.960 is, this is the window of opportunity right now to be a good father. And so that's where
00:44:12.960 I'm, you know, putting a lot of my energy and, and, but it's a delicate balance. Like
00:44:17.620 everybody else probably listening to this podcast, watching this podcast, I mean, like trying to
00:44:22.240 balance family, work, you know, finances, bills, um, time to go do what we want to do
00:44:28.980 as well. Like for us, it's bow hunting. And that's like a huge part of my life. And, but
00:44:33.540 trying to like balance that time, like carving out a little bit of time to do what I really
00:44:38.140 enjoy doing, which is bow hunting and then trying to be a good dad and trying to make sure
00:44:44.160 my work thing stays intact. Um, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's, it's not easy, especially for
00:44:50.300 a long period of time. I definitely want to get into the bow hunting thing, but I'm curious
00:44:55.020 with you knowing as much as you know, about the surfing community and the industry, are
00:45:01.580 there things that you are keenly aware of that you're trying to steer your son towards or away
00:45:07.880 from? Like, how do you navigate those waters and teach him? These are good paths. These are
00:45:12.860 paths you ought to avoid and pitfalls you need to be aware of. What are those types of things?
00:45:19.160 Uh, he doesn't really listen to me.
00:45:21.720 That makes sense too. I mean, that's, that's pretty standard and typical as well.
00:45:28.280 Yeah, no, I mean, he, he definitely doesn't seem like he is, but, um, but yeah, I mean,
00:45:33.600 I think I'm because it's, it's hard. It's, it's kind of funny because he didn't want to serve.
00:45:42.860 I mean, like when he was little, he didn't know any better. I would take him surfing all
00:45:46.640 the time. Like I would put him on the front of a longboard or a soft top and we would catch
00:45:50.840 like little six inch waves. And we started off like that when he was literally like, he
00:45:55.100 was six months old and he could just hold his head up straight. I was taking him to ride
00:45:58.260 waves. And so before he had a chance to say no, he was already surfing. And then once
00:46:03.740 he got a little bit older, they got like maybe a five, six, seven years old. I would take him
00:46:08.280 surfing all the time. We would surf together. He would be on my board or I'd take him on
00:46:11.880 his board by himself and I would always help him out. And then he, and then he, when he
00:46:16.700 got about eight years old, seven or eight years old, he started skateboarding and then he got
00:46:23.020 really good at skateboarding super fast. And then skateboarding became his thing. He poured
00:46:27.760 all his energy into skateboarding. He didn't want to skate. He didn't want to surf every day.
00:46:31.920 He just wanted to go to the skate park. And so I would spend hours and hours and hours
00:46:35.960 and hours of skateboarding with him. And then sometimes I would be like, Hey dude, we're
00:46:39.680 going to go to the beach today. I know. And he'd be like, no, I don't want to go to the
00:46:42.880 beach. I want to go skate. I'd be like, if I can take you to the skate park for five hours,
00:46:47.260 you can come and catch 10 waves with me. Right. And so for a long time, he was like, dude,
00:46:51.120 the dad's surfing is your thing. I'm a skateboarder. And he really was reluctant to
00:46:55.740 surf. He didn't want to surf. I think he viewed it as it was dad's thing. I want, I don't
00:47:00.020 want to do, I want to, I want to do something that's my own. Interesting. Yeah. Which I
00:47:04.860 totally understand. And I kind of anticipated that, um, you know, we normally want to either
00:47:10.160 do what our, be like our dad or totally be the opposite. Yeah. And so that wasn't super
00:47:15.340 surprising to me at all, but I wasn't like, Hey, you need to surf and get good at this because
00:47:20.720 you need to do it for a living where I need you to surf good. I honestly was simply wanting
00:47:26.360 to have him fall in love with surfing because for kids who fall in love with surfing, it
00:47:31.880 is such a cool thing in their lives. I mean, it says something that you can do until you're
00:47:35.640 90 years old. Um, and normally you're just a really positive stress reliever and, and a
00:47:42.260 way to connect with friends and, uh, stay connected to your friends over, you know, decade after
00:47:49.320 decade. It's like something that brings people together and is good for your soul. And that's
00:47:53.900 literally the reason I wanted him to like surfing. And so for about three years, he didn't want
00:47:59.120 to surf at all. And then slowly, but surely he realized, Hey, surfing is really fun. And
00:48:04.060 my friends are starting to surf. This is when he was about nine, nine or 10 years old. And
00:48:08.020 then once he realized all his buddies started surfing, then he, he's really social. So then
00:48:12.580 he wanted to go to the beach every day and go surfing with them. And so it was a really natural
00:48:16.480 thing. I never pushed him. Um, you know, I would take him to the beach all the time. And then
00:48:20.480 once he started really liking surf, then I would take him every single day and, um, try
00:48:25.080 to support him in that way. But really, even now, even though things have gotten a little
00:48:29.460 more serious with sponsors and, um, you know, business agreements and stuff for him, which
00:48:34.560 is super strange.
00:48:35.680 Weird at 14, right? I'm sure.
00:48:37.700 I really am. Yes. It's really weird. You know, he's paying taxes at 14 for surfing. So,
00:48:43.720 um, it's, but it's, and it, and that's a very strange thing for him. It's a very strange
00:48:50.180 thing for me as a parent, but, but more important than all of that stuff is just keeping that
00:48:57.180 healthy relationship with surfing and, and making friends that are, that are, that are,
00:49:02.120 that love surfing as well and are on a good path. That's more what it's about for me as
00:49:05.820 a parent. I really want him to have, um, surfing his life because like I said, it's just been
00:49:10.960 a really cool thing and a positive. It's been zero negatives with surfing for my life.
00:49:16.000 It's been something that no matter if I did it for a living or not, I would surf every
00:49:19.180 day.
00:49:20.220 You know, one of the cool things that you were talking about and that we talked about last
00:49:23.420 year when we were hunting together is I I've seen just from the outside looking in briefly,
00:49:27.780 um, that not only are you, you're, you're continuing to surf, but that you're evolving
00:49:33.560 to your, your approach to it. And I think this is something a lot of guys can get from our
00:49:38.020 conversation is, you know, you talked to me about the, um, I'm going to butcher this,
00:49:42.480 but you know, the, the wetsuit with the flotation devices, I think built into it that, that you
00:49:47.180 helped create. And so that's a way for you to stay involved in the industry, but maybe
00:49:52.780 at a, at an evolved level or a different level than you have in the past, which is just writing
00:49:57.320 waves. Right. And, and I see that I'm like, man, that's really cool. Like now he's innovating
00:50:02.400 in the industry that has served him well over his entire life.
00:50:09.440 Yeah. I mean, that, that, you know, that was a lot of fun, like coming up with that idea and
00:50:12.660 developing it. It was, um, and it's, it's really cool because before that happened, you know, there
00:50:20.180 was quite a few people passing away, certain big waves because they were drowning. You know, we started
00:50:25.340 surfing waves that were so big, no matter how fit you are, no matter how long you can hold your
00:50:30.020 breath, um, the, the waves, you know, at some point are too strong. Right. You're going to,
00:50:35.200 you're going to lose if you fight mother nature in the ocean. Um, and so I developed a suit,
00:50:39.480 like you said, that has like built in, um, CO2 cartridges and a big air bladder and like you pull
00:50:45.880 on, like kind of like the, you know, the back country, like the back country backpacks I've seen,
00:50:50.800 like for heli, heli skiers, right for avalanches on avalanche. Yeah. You pull the things and it blows
00:50:59.220 up into a huge bubble and pulls you to the top of the avalanche. So that, that, that was kind of
00:51:03.000 the inspiration for that for surfing was, um, I was trying to make sure that I can get back to the
00:51:08.020 surface. Um, if the wave was too big and I couldn't get there on my own power, I was, I wanted some
00:51:13.900 help. Um, and not because I wanted to, I, I mean, I simply wanted to make things safer for myself so
00:51:20.700 I could justify continuing surfing big waves. That was the, that was the point surfing big waves had
00:51:26.200 become so dangerous in my life. I felt like there was so much risk with a young family and a wife
00:51:31.300 at home and a lot to lose. I just wanted to try and make big wave surfing as safe as I possibly
00:51:36.140 could. So, um, I actually never intended it for anyone else. I didn't even think it was going to
00:51:40.600 work to be honest. And I didn't know that anyone else would be keen to try it. So like once I
00:51:46.920 developed it and had some prototypes, I, I gave it to some friends and made it available to people
00:51:51.120 and, um, man, it's really taken off. So like these days, if you go out to, um, any big wave spot in
00:51:57.840 the world, like whether it's Mavericks in Half Moon Bay or Jaws on Maui or any one of like dozens of
00:52:03.980 big wave spots, literally a hundred percent of people are wearing flotation wetsuits and inflatable
00:52:09.620 wetsuits. So, um, it's been a real positive for surfers. Um, as far as industry goes and
00:52:15.900 all that stuff, it doesn't, it's, that's like meaningless to me, but the fact that it's,
00:52:21.380 we haven't had a single person drown surfing big waves with one of those suits on and there,
00:52:26.400 there hasn't been anyone pass away, um, since the, since the introduction of the inflatable
00:52:31.940 wetsuit. So that's pretty crazy.
00:52:33.940 Yeah. I bet that's really rewarding to, to see those statistics and, and those numbers. I can't
00:52:39.680 even imagine. So I don't know if I told you this, but I know you've got an affinity and background in
00:52:43.980 San Clemente. So when I was, uh, I must've been 12 or 13 years old. I had a really good friend at the
00:52:50.560 time and he was really into surfing. He was very athletic. He loved the beach. He loved the ocean.
00:52:55.880 And he's like, all right, come surfing with me. I'm like, all right. And I've never really spent much
00:52:59.940 time in the water. So he took me to San Clemente, he took me to trestles and he's like, all right,
00:53:04.960 here's a board go surf. And I'm like, okay, what do I do? And he's like, you just paddle. And then
00:53:11.240 you catch the wave and you stand up on the board. I'm like, oh, all right, I'll try it. And I swear,
00:53:16.520 I remember to this day, a, probably a, a three foot or a four foot wave. If that literally tried
00:53:23.440 to kill me. And, and I remember being under the water and then I get up and that next wave rolled in
00:53:28.120 and crashed down on top of me, right. As I got back up to the top of the surface and I just put
00:53:32.780 my board down. I said, I'm done with this. I'm not doing this anymore. So I think I spent the rest of
00:53:37.420 the time on the beach while my buddies were in the water. What's the, uh, what's the biggest wave that
00:53:42.300 you have, uh, that you have surfed? That's a good question. Um, probably about 70 feet on the face.
00:53:53.920 Holy cow, man. I can't imagine that. What's your thought process. You see this wave and you're
00:54:00.060 like, I want to, I don't know. I'm not putting words in your mouth. I'm really curious, but it's
00:54:04.400 like, I want to, I want to conquer that wave. I want to tame that wave. Like, what is your thought
00:54:09.000 process when you see that? You're like, I want to ride that. Cause that's not probably a normal
00:54:12.460 thought or a common, maybe not normal is the right word, but it's not a common thought.
00:54:20.100 Yeah. It's funny because it's not, it's for me, it's not even fun. It's, it's, uh, it's more of
00:54:25.220 like the, the, the fun is not the, so much the riding the wave part. The fun for me is conquering
00:54:30.960 my fear and rising to the challenge. Uh, you know, that, that's something that terrified me when I was
00:54:36.720 a kid. Like anytime the waves got really big, I was terrified. And I would see pictures in
00:54:41.360 magazines of guys riding really big waves. And I would be like, never going to do that in a
00:54:45.580 million years. Never, never, never, never, never. And I grew up in a, at a, at a place in Hawaii
00:54:49.860 where the waves don't get very big. It's really rare when the waves are big where I live. And so
00:54:53.880 I grew up with little waves. And so I was terrified of big waves when I was a kid and
00:54:57.980 something that didn't come naturally to me when I was young. And then when I, when I, when I moved to
00:55:02.720 the North shore, like I told you, when I was 15, I got introduced to surfing big waves very quickly. I
00:55:07.820 ended up living with, with friends who were really good at surfing big waves and extremely
00:55:12.660 into it. So, and they were, they were radical into peer pressure. And so when the waves got
00:55:19.480 big, I didn't have a choice. I was going surfing in big waves, whether I liked it or not.
00:55:24.080 And, uh, and I ended up liking it. I thought it was a lot of fun and I love the challenge. I love
00:55:29.220 the personal challenge of like being scared and being able to, to face that fear and rise to
00:55:34.820 the challenge and, and kind of make sense of my emotions and all that stuff, like staying level
00:55:40.720 headed and in a, in an intense situation and, and under pressure was something that I thought was a
00:55:45.880 lot of fun. Have you had any, uh, any sort of close encounters where you legitimately thought
00:55:51.280 I'm under this wave, I'm under the water. Like this is it. I'm going to die right here.
00:55:55.460 Yes, I have. Um, twice once when I was, um, once when I was 18 years old, I was surfing an outer reef
00:56:06.460 here on the North shore, just a couple of miles away from where I am now. Um, I was surfing with
00:56:12.700 two of my friends. They were older than me. They were, they were like my heroes growing up. They,
00:56:17.140 they were incredible big wave surfers and we were the only three out there. And I let my ego take over
00:56:23.840 and I went on a wave because I wanted to impress my friends. You know, these older guys that I
00:56:28.820 really looked up to, I want that. Like I, like I wanted them to, to see that I had what it took
00:56:34.160 in big waves. And I went on a wave that I definitely should have, shouldn't have, uh, pure out of pure
00:56:39.120 ego. And I ended up, um, falling and I got the wind knocked out of me as I fell. It was like getting
00:56:46.400 like body slammed by like a big 300 pound dude, just spotted by slamming you on your chest. I lost all the
00:56:52.460 hair on intact and then got held underwater for two waves. So I was underwater for a long, long time.
00:56:58.340 And then I was like trying to swim up and my body was, I don't know if you've ever tried to hold
00:57:02.260 your breath for a super, super long time, but your, your body will do these involuntary like,
00:57:07.260 right. Right. I don't know if you've ever had that, but, um, I was doing that as I was swimming up
00:57:13.180 and I had no air left at all. And I was about 15 feet from the surface and the next wave. So I was
00:57:19.140 underwater so long that the next wave started breaking over me and that wave pulled me straight
00:57:23.580 back down and I lost consciousness is going to sound super cosmic and cheesy, but I basically
00:57:30.180 don't remember anything after that until all of a sudden I like, um, regain consciousness,
00:57:41.100 whatever you want to call that. I'm not very like into cosmic stuff, but I remember like looking up and
00:57:46.360 realizing all of a sudden that I was like five, six feet away from the surface and swimming up to
00:57:50.800 the surface and I got to the surface and I was, I was throwing up all this stuff from inside. I had
00:57:55.700 like a bunch of water in my lungs and all this foam and orange stuff was coming out of my stomach and
00:58:01.460 my, um, and my lungs. And I'd been underwater for three waves and my two friends, I could see them
00:58:08.740 and I was like seeing double and my legs felt like they didn't want to work. And, um, I was
00:58:14.280 crying uncontrollably and I had the most crazy, you know, emotional experience. And I thought I was
00:58:20.820 going to die for sure in that moment when I, when I was losing consciousness and losing my breath
00:58:25.800 swimming up in that next wave broke over me. That was, that was extremely terrifying. And one of my
00:58:32.040 friends that day, um, had that similar experience right before me, like the year before. And so he,
00:58:39.140 he can't, I got washed all the way to shore and both of my friends came in and, and my, and my one
00:58:44.240 friend Brock little, he's, he sat down with me for a while and I was like crying like a baby. And, um,
00:58:49.720 he just said, Hey man, like I had that same experience about a year ago. I realized I could die. I realized
00:58:55.220 I was mortal. Um, and it's real, man. Like you can really die doing this stuff. And so you don't want
00:59:01.760 to surf with your ego. You really have to make calculated decisions. And, and the next time the
00:59:06.620 waves get big, we're going straight back out there. And so about a week later, the waves got big and we
00:59:12.740 paddled out to the same surf break. And, um, and I got back on the horse and, and, and that was a
00:59:19.300 really important thing for me. Um, and I've been doing it ever since, but it's crazy because both of
00:59:24.860 those friends that I surfed with that day passed away. One of them passed away about three or four years
00:59:29.060 ago from cancer. And he was probably one of the greatest big wave surfers of all time.
00:59:33.780 The other guy drowned surfing big waves before the introduction of the inflatable wetsuit.
00:59:41.460 Wow, man. That's, I, I can't, I got so many questions.
00:59:44.000 Can you hear me Ryan or is the, or is the, um, internet connection okay?
00:59:47.720 Yeah, no, it's good. I can hear you. Okay. Are we, we good? Can you hear me? All right.
00:59:54.100 Yeah. You let me know. Um, I can shift to my, um,
00:59:57.880 I can shift it. I'm on a wifi right now, but if it starts getting kind of funky,
01:00:02.600 I can switch it to my hotspot. Yeah, no, I think we're good. I think we're good.
01:00:07.160 Um, I was saying that I have so many questions about that. How do you, how do you determine if
01:00:13.080 when you're looking at a wave, okay, is this something that I want to take upon me as a
01:00:18.220 challenge to conquer my fears? Or is that my ego speaking? Cause there's probably a fine line
01:00:23.400 between being arrogant and over, over inflated ego. And I think I can do this. I think it's
01:00:30.060 within my skillset and I want to take upon that challenge.
01:00:36.560 I think it's a little bit of both. I think if you're just being calculated and you're just
01:00:41.720 making decisions with zero ego, you're never going to be, you're like, you're never going to, um,
01:00:48.040 perform at the very top of your potential because you only, it's, it's like, I really feel that you're
01:00:58.360 only capable of what you believe you can achieve. If you, like, if you're a stock trader and you
01:01:04.100 believe your, your, your upper limitations are having 20% returns a year, you're never going to
01:01:11.220 have a hundred percent returns a year. You have to believe that it's possible. If you want to become
01:01:15.900 the greatest football player on earth, you have to believe that you're going to become the greatest
01:01:20.220 football player on earth. There's, there's no way you're going to outperform your goals and your
01:01:24.600 dreams. There's no way. Um, I really, really, truly believe that. And a lot of that has to do with
01:01:29.420 ego. I mean, if, if, if you, if you are super, super confident, you go out and surf big waves
01:01:36.180 and you push your risk level up and you have great ability and you're going to surf really,
01:01:43.560 really well, you're going to, you're going to serve to your greatest potential. But if you're,
01:01:46.960 but if you're being too conservative, too humble, too like operating with no ego, then you're probably
01:01:54.040 not going to, um, perform to your, to your upper limits, your potential. So it was a fine line between
01:01:59.800 being able to incorporate your ego and try to become super confident without being pure ego. And,
01:02:08.840 um, I don't know how to explain that, but especially with big wave surfing, because
01:02:12.980 there are serious consequences. I mean, you can do, I've had quite a few friends pass away surfing
01:02:18.320 big waves. Um, and so your life is literally on the line. So if you operate with too much ego and you
01:02:25.580 get in over your head, you die. So it's just a balance of trying to make sure you're in the sweet spot of
01:02:31.720 being super prepared, being very confident. And then also, um, using kind of progressive
01:02:41.200 exposure, if you will, it's like, Hey, I caught one wave. I did everything right. I had great time.
01:02:47.100 I had great positioning. I'm going to up my wrist level slightly. And then, you know, the next wave
01:02:51.760 or the next session, you push it a little bit, a little bit, a little bit as you gain experience.
01:02:55.700 And you have, you have that positive feedback of like, yeah, I'm doing this right. But if you're
01:02:59.980 surfing five foot waves all the time, and then your goal is to surf 70 foot waves, you can't just
01:03:05.940 bridge that. You can't just like jump. You can't just go to that next level. So even if it's your
01:03:11.140 goal, that's all ego, you need to have like that, you know, set incremental goals on the way. I feel
01:03:18.220 like that's really important. Yeah. I mean, I can appreciate you saying, I don't know if I'm
01:03:22.400 explaining it right. Cause how do you explain that font that like really fine thin line? It's
01:03:27.640 very difficult, but I do like that idea. I wrote that down a progressive exposure.
01:03:31.480 That's an interesting concept. I want to go back to what you said about you use the term cosmic when,
01:03:38.000 when you were under the water, when you went through that experience that you just shared with us,
01:03:42.520 do you think that it was cosmic or divine, or do you think it just, it is what it is and it happened.
01:03:49.940 And that's just how it played out. Like, I'm really curious what, how you've interpreted that
01:03:54.520 moment in time for yourself.
01:04:00.400 Uh, not divine. And I don't, I, that's, I don't know. I, I, I, I don't know. I'm, I'm, um,
01:04:13.440 I interpreted that I got lucky, honestly. Um, you know, I feel like sometimes I feel like
01:04:23.860 everything does happen for a reason that I wasn't supposed to die that day. And that's all I kind
01:04:30.820 of read into it, but it didn't make me start going to church every day. Um, do you know what I mean?
01:04:35.780 I didn't think like the hand of God reached down and pulled me out of that situation. Um,
01:04:41.060 not saying that that didn't happen. That totally could have happened. And I'm open to that. That's
01:04:46.520 fine. That would be amazing. Um, but, uh, but yeah, I feel, I feel like I wasn't supposed to
01:04:53.080 die that day. And I simply look at it like that. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's, that's it. I'm always
01:04:59.200 interested in that perspective of how, cause isn't real like life. I just look at life. Isn't,
01:05:03.760 isn't it the way that we interpret it? You know, you can have two things happen to different people
01:05:07.600 and it could be a very similar or, or just almost identical experience and two different people can
01:05:13.020 interpret it completely different. And then that interpretation of that event is what causes us in
01:05:20.880 some small way to make different decisions moving forward. And so it's always interesting the way that
01:05:25.600 we interpret our experiences and then what that does to our potential future. That's always something
01:05:30.760 I'm, I'm very interested in and curious about. For sure. And I think everybody's different and
01:05:36.200 that's the beauty of it, you know? And, um, I, I don't know. It's, it's, uh, I don't know.
01:05:43.680 It's funny. We, we all have so many different kinds of friends that interpret things totally
01:05:47.520 differently. Right. But yeah, that's just my, my personal perspective of, um, yeah, it's interesting.
01:05:55.380 How does, uh, how does bow hunting come into the mix? Cause here's what I, here's what I envision.
01:06:00.100 And, you know, if I didn't know you better and maybe if I was just looking from the outside,
01:06:03.220 I'd be like, okay, well, you know, you have this hobby of, of, of archery and bow hunting,
01:06:07.540 but you're actually living your hobby. So it's like, like, how do you then shift or has this always
01:06:14.340 been part of your life? Cause I know hunting is big in Hawaii. So has bow hunting always been a big
01:06:18.740 part of your life too? No. So I didn't find hunting until I was about 30 years old. So I,
01:06:27.140 so I always lived pretty close to the beach and then it was always my dream to like live in this
01:06:32.180 area where I live now up on the mountain where, um, like now I live in a rain forest and I live at
01:06:38.100 4,000 feet elevation. So it's pretty far away from the beach. Um, and it was always my dream to live
01:06:43.120 there just as a beautiful place. There's a lot of, um, privacy and a lot of land. And I love the
01:06:48.860 rain forest. I like the weather and it's nice and cool up there in a fireplace. And so it was like
01:06:53.580 always my dream to live up there. And then when I moved there, all of a sudden I had this problem
01:06:58.400 with the wild boars at my house. So everything I planted, they would just dig up and they were just
01:07:03.680 digging up the forest all over the place and they were a nightmare. And so I was planting like trees
01:07:08.240 and plants and everything would just get dig up, get dug up. And so one of my, and I didn't hunt
01:07:13.560 at all. And so like one of my buddies gave me a shotgun and said, Hey, you shoot a couple of these
01:07:17.960 things and they'll leave you alone for a while. And so I didn't, I never owned a gun before. I never
01:07:23.900 had a gun. And so that's exactly what I did. I shot one with a gun and I realized immediately that guns
01:07:31.200 weren't my thing. Um, I didn't like the noise. I didn't like the, you know, just the racket they made.
01:07:37.160 Um, I didn't like the power and I didn't like how dangerous and scary they were to me.
01:07:43.440 Um, and so I immediately gave the gun back to my buddy. And, um, and then I met one of my,
01:07:49.520 I met one of my neighbors. This is right when I moved there. So I didn't really know anybody,
01:07:53.460 but I met one of my neighbors. He was a bow hunter. He had an extra bow. So I started going
01:07:58.200 over to his house in the afternoons and we'd have a couple of beers and he taught me how to shoot.
01:08:02.080 Um, and we'd shoot arrows in the afternoon and, and, um, I immediately got super hooked on it.
01:08:07.720 And then he was like, Hey, once you can group your arrows, um, like we can go hunt one day.
01:08:12.920 And so he took me hunting one evening and we hunted some pigs and I made a ton of mistakes,
01:08:17.140 but I instantly loved like that chess match between your skill level and what you were doing and all
01:08:23.380 the choices you're making in real time. And like, kind of like how that plays out with the animal and
01:08:28.560 the wind and the terrain and like trying to be sneaky and trying to be like a, you know,
01:08:35.080 that's the whole, that whole game was super interesting to me. And I was fascinated by
01:08:40.240 trying to get better at it and better at archery. And so that was how I got started at Bowen.
01:08:46.380 Yeah. I have a very similar experience. I mean, I started later in life. I only started three years
01:08:50.440 ago and I remember even in, in Arizona, we're down there together, you know, to see a deer and to
01:08:55.960 stock up on a deer that doesn't know you're there and your heart's beating and he doesn't know you're
01:09:01.380 there and you're trying to kill him and he's trying to stay alive and he's trying to outwit you and
01:09:06.200 you're trying to outwit him. Yeah. Regardless of the outcome. It's such a fascinating, wild experience,
01:09:12.540 man. I think you and I have very similar, uh, a very similar perspective on that, especially coming
01:09:17.560 into the game late. For sure. I mean, that's probably one of my, my biggest regrets is not finding
01:09:24.660 bow hunting earlier. And it was funny because I, you know, I found surfing extremely early and a lot
01:09:29.780 of people feel that same way about surfing that they just really, really wish that, um, they found
01:09:35.260 it earlier in life because it's so much fun. It's so easy to become passionate about surfing. And,
01:09:39.940 and I, that was always my first love, you know, and I still love surfing, but I never found anything
01:09:46.080 that could hold, hold, hold a candle to surfing. And then when I found bow hunting,
01:09:50.340 I fell in love with the mountains and, and I fell in love with, with walking in the mountains all
01:09:56.920 day long with my bow. And I, I always loved camping and being in the outdoors, but I never really had
01:10:01.080 a real reason to go do that. And so even though like, I love bow hunting and stuff, I'm, I almost
01:10:07.940 love camping and hiking and just being on adventures and spending, spending multiple days in the woods
01:10:13.160 in a tent. I just love that whole thing. So like the bow hunting part of it is super cool and I love it,
01:10:19.460 but, um, I love the whole experience of like either staying with friends and being in elk camp
01:10:25.340 together or deer camp or being on a backcountry bow hunt with friends and in tents or being completely
01:10:31.360 alone for a week in a tent and being in the woods on my own. I love all aspects of, of all those sort
01:10:37.280 of adventure hunts are definitely my favorite. Yeah. I mean, it sounds to me like you're very
01:10:42.180 obviously connected with nature and willing to explore and willing to engage. And I think that
01:10:47.580 there's a lot of power in that. And I think also that we've lost a lot of that too. We live in
01:10:51.500 these concrete jungles and we're always connected. Right. And, and we never take the time to appreciate
01:10:57.160 either the ocean or the mountains or the growth or the animals or whatever it is. And there's so much
01:11:02.140 power that can be found in those things, unplugging and, and going out and experiencing what the world
01:11:08.040 and nature has to offer for us. Yeah. It's, it's pretty funny because if I'm at home for a little
01:11:15.620 while and I'm being a jerk to my wife or I'm in a bad mood or I'm cranky and she doesn't know what
01:11:23.060 my problem is, she'd be like, okay, you got to go hunting soon. And then sometimes she'll just call
01:11:28.600 one of my friends and be like, Hey, you got to call Shane and take a hunting because he's being a dick
01:11:32.580 right now. It's pretty funny. And so she knows that like a large part of my sanity, a large part
01:11:43.760 of me being at peace and being in a great mood has to do with my consistency of hunting. And so I'm
01:11:49.880 very lucky to live in Hawaii, which is a place that I can hunt 365 days a year for every single
01:11:56.840 species, you know? So I'm extremely lucky. I don't have a hunting season. Hunting season is every day.
01:12:03.000 Right. I don't get to go every day, but the fact that I can just, you know, at four o'clock in the
01:12:08.940 afternoon, all of a sudden my buddy calls me, Hey, you want to go on a quick go on? Yeah. I'll just
01:12:12.500 jump to my truck and go meet him real quick or I'll really walk out my door and hunt pigs right
01:12:15.880 outside my house. So I'm extremely grateful for having those opportunities for sure. And it definitely
01:12:22.400 keeps my head on straight. I mean, it's such an amazing place to do it too. I remember, you know,
01:12:26.840 three years ago, I think I was in Hawaii and, and I'm hunting, but at the same time I'm walking
01:12:32.100 in a rainforest on a volcano, like, like you can't be, even if you're not seeing any animals,
01:12:40.600 you're just thinking as you're walking around this rainforest on a volcano in the middle of
01:12:44.900 the ocean that how can this be beat? This is absolutely amazing. What it is you're doing
01:12:50.000 right now. And then you get to harvest an animal and it just is that much better.
01:12:53.420 Yeah, I agree. It's, it's crazy. I mean, the, and the place that the animals live in Hawaii
01:12:59.920 is amazing. Like, uh, you know, just a couple weeks ago, I was bow hunting and I did a stalk
01:13:06.320 on this huge buck and I got to 61 yards and I was starting to draw and his does caught my
01:13:13.540 wind and they all ran. And I was upset because I just walked about a mile uphill. I glassed this,
01:13:19.580 this, this, this group of deer for about a mile and a half away. And I had to gain about 1200
01:13:24.480 feet of elevation and I was already pretty high elevation. And I blew the stock. I didn't blow
01:13:30.380 the stock, but like the wind blew the stock, but it took me about an hour and a half to get to where
01:13:34.620 that deer was of like straight, like trying to sprint because I was afraid he was going to go
01:13:40.020 into the forest where he was. And, um, it ended up not panning out. And I was, and I took a video
01:13:46.000 of myself, like a selfie video in the moment explaining what just happened. So I could relive
01:13:50.900 that moment years from now. And I remember just, I look back at it now. I'm like sweaty and pissed
01:13:56.120 off and all grumpy because I blew the situation. It almost happened. It was a monster buck and all
01:14:02.100 this stuff. And I was so frustrated. And then all of a sudden I just realized where I was and I did
01:14:07.820 like, I panned and I was like on the top of this mountain and the oceans in the background and you
01:14:12.180 could see the surf down below and just like rolling Hills. And I was just in the most beautiful
01:14:16.620 place in the world. And I was just like, I can't believe how lucky I am. Like, this is incredible.
01:14:21.120 I just blew the stock. The buck got away and I'm at a hundred percent happiness right now. You know
01:14:26.820 what I mean? It's just, it's so incredible that bow hunting gives us those moments, you know,
01:14:31.720 whether or not you come home with the animal has nothing to do with it, honestly.
01:14:36.120 Well, and then here you are speaking of that experience with fondness and good memories,
01:14:41.140 even though in the midst of things, it was very frustrating. Right. And you still speak
01:14:44.660 about it. It's usually, it's usually the, like the crappiest situations that create the best
01:14:49.720 stories. And then I don't know what it is about human beings, but we have this incredible ability
01:14:54.680 to forget how shitty a situation was and just remember those situations and the positives and
01:15:00.560 the benefits of, of everything that you just went through.
01:15:04.720 Yeah. I mean, anyone who bow hunts can relate. I mean, bow hunting can be incredibly frustrating.
01:15:11.460 It's amazing how many things can go wrong in a row. Yeah, for sure. I mean, oh, I, yes. When
01:15:21.580 I'm intimately familiar with that. If you are 10 yards away from a giant bull elk and you execute
01:15:28.340 a perfect shot and it goes in the perfect pocket and that elk goes 20 yards and keels over in front
01:15:35.380 of you, do you know how many things have to go right for that moment to happen?
01:15:40.440 Yeah. Like a hundred things in a row, like this went right. And then this went right. And then I
01:15:45.280 made that choice and this went right, the wind, the right thing. And then, so I went behind this tree
01:15:49.220 that went right. And then I covered that ground and went from a hundred yards to 70 yards. And then
01:15:54.020 his cows weren't looking at me. And then it's like a million little puzzle pieces have to fall into
01:15:58.500 place for that perfect execution of that opportunity and making the most of, of that crunch time under
01:16:05.240 pressure. It's just, that's what fascinates me about bow hunting is it's so damn hard. It's so
01:16:10.980 damn challenging. The odds are stacked against you. You have to get in range of like, despite the odds.
01:16:17.440 I mean, hunting access deer here in Hawaii is ridiculous. Like I was just hunting and I could,
01:16:24.020 I could not find a group of deer under 50. There was 50 deer minimum in a group.
01:16:30.020 Right. And which sounds really good, right? Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah.
01:16:33.000 They're everywhere. Ringing about having 50 deer.
01:16:36.260 Try to get in bow range of 50. If I had a, well, if I had a gun, I would have killed the five biggest
01:16:42.160 bucks in that group easily. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. They're all dead.
01:16:45.700 But, um, but it didn't work like that. I have to get 40 yards away. So, um, I was getting schooled
01:16:52.400 by these deer because there's a hundred eyeballs. Yeah. They're busting deer. And so that's what I
01:16:59.560 love about it. I love, I love how damn tough it is. So when you do have that moment, when you walk
01:17:04.700 up to your deer and it's time to get to work with your knife and, and, and the meat care and getting it
01:17:10.580 all feel dressed and, you know, taking care of that meat, when, when, when that moment happens,
01:17:15.780 it's just, it's so satisfying because so many things went right. I love that. I'm fascinated by
01:17:21.100 how many things have to go right to have that moment. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Well, I hope you
01:17:26.640 and I can get on another hunt soon. I'll be out there next year. Uh, we'll have to connect if we
01:17:30.340 can and make it work, but I'd love to hunt with you again. Shane, I really appreciate you, man. I
01:17:34.360 appreciate your perspective and all that you've done. I've been inspired by what you're doing. It's cool to
01:17:38.200 see, you know, the, the, the thing that I'm inspired by mostly out of all the things that
01:17:42.980 you've done and all the things that I've seen on Instagram and our, on our conversations is how you
01:17:48.120 lead your children. You know, I see that and I don't know if it's rare. I don't think it's rare,
01:17:52.580 but it's just something that we don't get to see a lot. And so for me to be able to see that and the
01:17:57.780 people that are connected with you to be able to see that, I think that's really, really powerful.
01:18:01.900 And I think it's a message and an action that needs to be shared more in society and
01:18:05.740 you're living it, man. So I'm honored we could have this conversation today.
01:18:10.800 Thanks a lot, man. I really appreciate it. And really fun to be on the show. And I agree. I mean,
01:18:14.680 it's funny because it's, it's happening everywhere. There's good dads everywhere.
01:18:20.280 There's good parents everywhere. I mean, we, we all know so many of them and, and, and there's so many
01:18:27.440 good dads that aren't on a podcast. There's so many good dads that aren't on Instagram. There's so many
01:18:31.860 good dads that, that aren't exposing that side of things. We're just inundated with all this BS.
01:18:38.040 And so you never get to see it, but it's happening all around us. And, and that's,
01:18:42.000 I feel like it's so important to just remember that, like a lot of the crap that we get fed all
01:18:46.980 day long, it's not reality. It's not the real deal. There, there's incredible parents out there
01:18:51.460 doing the right thing. And, um, I'm inspired all the time by, by people who, uh, don't live their
01:18:58.440 lives on social media. And then even though it's a part of my job and it's something that, um, I do
01:19:03.100 all the time. Um, I think it's important to, to, to, to, to watch shows and, and follow accounts and,
01:19:10.380 and watch podcasts that, um, you know, exposed to good parents and people who are trying to do the
01:19:15.400 right thing. Right on brother. We'll keep leading. Um, you and I'll stay connected. I'm looking forward
01:19:19.780 to building our friendship, but, uh, again, appreciate you. And, uh, thanks for taking some time today,
01:19:24.080 man. Sounds good, man. Let's go bow hunting soon. Absolutely.
01:19:29.000 Gentlemen, there you go. My conversation with Shane Dorian. I hope that you enjoyed that one.
01:19:32.760 I know I did. It was good to talk with him, uh, and, and, and learn a little bit about his backstory
01:19:37.980 and how he got into surfing and how he's overcome his fears and all the wonderful things he's doing.
01:19:42.780 I know he doesn't do a whole lot of podcast interviews. So, uh, which is unfortunate because
01:19:47.140 he's got so much great information to share. So we were honored to be able to, to have him on.
01:19:50.960 And I was honored to be able to spend some time with him earlier in the year. Uh, if you are interested
01:19:55.800 in what Shane is all about and what he's doing and what he's up to, I know a lot of you will be
01:19:59.140 then go connect with him on the socials, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, parlor, Tik TOK. I don't even
01:20:06.020 know if he has all those things, but, uh, you get it wherever you're doing the social media thing,
01:20:10.200 look into him, check him out. He's a great guy. He's a great human being, a great father and husband.
01:20:14.100 Uh, and of course a great surfer as well. So make sure you connect with him on the socials,
01:20:19.000 connect with me. Uh, I really got to tell you guys, I appreciate you leaving all the messages
01:20:23.840 for me primarily on Instagram. Cause that's where I'm most active. Uh, but, uh, yeah, I,
01:20:29.520 I appreciate the messages. I appreciate the shares. You guys are sharing the show. You're
01:20:34.300 taking a screenshot of you listening and sharing it. That goes a long way. Um, connect with me on
01:20:38.760 Instagram. I'm becoming increasingly more active on parlor. If you're not familiar with that,
01:20:42.900 you can go check that out. Um, that seems to be a pretty good platform of, uh, like-minded people
01:20:47.400 that, uh, are interested in growing. So you can check that out, uh, both Instagram and parlor
01:20:52.380 at, or at Ryan Mickler. So check it out. Connect with me. I try to get to everybody. I know I don't,
01:20:58.620 but I do try to make a conscious effort to get back with everybody who reaches out. So, uh, leave me a
01:21:03.620 message, share the show, leave a rating review, uh, wherever you're listening to the podcast.
01:21:08.040 And we will be back next week. I've got two, two phenomenal guests over the past,
01:21:12.220 uh, next couple of weeks. So they're all great. These guys are going to be outstanding. Trust me.
01:21:17.600 So make sure you subscribe. All right, guys, we'll be back, uh, tomorrow for the ask me anything
01:21:21.560 with my cohost, Kip Sorenson until then go out there, take action and become a man. You are meant
01:21:26.860 to be. Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life
01:21:31.700 and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.
01:21:42.220 Thank you.