Laird Hamilton's first career was modeling, despite being an accomplished surfer by his mid-teens. He continues to do occasional modeling even now. During the early eighties, he left modeling to pursue competitive surfing; however, he soon became disenchanted with the World Championship Tour. He had little desire to participate in this type of surfing, owing to his view of surfing as an art form or performance art instead of a scored sports competition.
Instead, beginning in the nineties, Laird Hamilton elected to achieve surfing fame by catching bigger waves. Some of this time in his career is chronicled in the well-received surfing documentary "Riding Giants" which appeared at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. Hamilton is credited with the development of tow-in surfing, where a surfer is towed by a watercraft or helicopter when waves are too large for hand-paddling to get surfers into position. This allows them to catch waves in excess of seventy feet high, in some cases.
Currently, Laird Hamilton is married to volleyball star and model Gabrielle Reece, with whom he has two daughters in addition to a daughter from a previous relationship. He has family homes in both California and Hawaii. Hamilton is a supporter of environmental and charitable causes, particularly autism.
Laird Hamilton's Career Highlights
- In 1996, Hamilton and Manu Bertin demonstrated and popularized kitesurfing off the coast of Maui.
- In 1999, using a windsurfer, Hamilton sailed from the island of Oahu, Hawaii to Kauai, fifty miles away, in approximately five hours.
- On August 17, 2000, Hamilton's tow-in surfing expertise was tested in Tahiti. This feat became the highpoint in his career as a professional surfer and affirmed his reputation as a world class big wave surfer. Laird surfed what many consider the most dangerous wave ever ridden - known simply as The Wave. A photo of him made not only the cover of Surfer magazine, but more mainstream media outlets as well.
