IMPACT: HOW THE YAMAHA WAVERUNNER CHANGED THE WAY WE SURF

By Sam George

“Oh, it’s had a humungous affect on the progression of surfing over the past 30 years. No question. ”

This from Frank Quirarte, the renowned surf photographer and heavy water safety expert from Half Moon Bay, California who, having recently returned from an epic strike mission to Cortes Bank, definitely knows what he’s talking about. What Quirarte is pointing to as having the single most significant influence on surfing over the past few decades is the Yamaha Waverunner

Peahi, Teahupo’o, Aussie slabs, Mullaghmore, Cortes Bank, Uluwatu, Nazarè and of course every surf contest on earth, including the Padang Padang Cup, all are now tackled at size with a hand on the throttle. And in each case completely redefining the parameters of what is considered to be rideable surf. Then there’s the paradigm shift when it comes to safety, with the introduction of precise teamwork and coordinated rescue protocol.

First, some super-condensed Yamaha Waverunner surfing history: Early 1980s: Veteran waterman Flippy Hoffman begins using a PWC (personal water craft) to explore and ride North Shore outer reefs.

1987: Herbie Fletcher, now using a souped-up PWC, tows young South African pro Martin Potter into a Second Reef Pipeline beast. 1988: Suitably inspired, legendary Island surfers and Hawaiian Water Patrol founders Brian Keaulana and Terry Ahue adapt new Yamaha Waverunners for lifeguarding duties, eventually adding the rescue sled.

1993: Having previously been towing into giant waves at Peahi with inflatable boats, Laird Hamilton is given a new Yamaha Waverunner. The light bulb goes on. And techniques are developed that are still in use with today’s elite.

Today, the three-seat Yamaha Waverunner like the one Frank Quirarte piloted at Cortes Bank, weighs in at a light 754 pounds. And with a super-charged four-cylinder, four-stroke vortex high output Yamaha marine engine and double impeller intake, it generates almost 2,000 pounds of thrust. And the difference isn’t confined to the power plant. Another key improvement wasn’t about going forward, but backward.“A big game changer was putting the reverse lever on the handlebars,” says Quirarte. “All the new Waverunners have that now, which is a big deal when doing rescues. So when it comes to modern surfing, Yamaha Waverunners are here to stay”.

Despite the pressures that come with great business responsibility, James Hendy remains, at heart, a family man and a surfer, in that order.

By Holden Trnka

It was a perfect opportunity to make a green bubble, test electric vehicles zones and road congestion solutions.

On the Bukit:

Surfing is on the government’s radar as a sport now with Rio Waida competing in the Olympics and making the CT. Like every country, Indonesia wants to have the best athletes. How amazing would it be if they’d take the next step to honor Indonesia’s best loved waves, turn the Bukit peninsula into a World Surfing Reserve. If you go anywhere else in Indonesia or around the world, you quickly realize how incredible the Bukit is. It’s insane how many quality waves there are between Uluwatu and Jimbaran Bay. If you found this stretch anywhere else in the world you’d think it was the best surf spot on the planet. It would be perfect if someone could just turn this area into a giant Marine nature reserve & green zone.

On the future of surfing:

I think things go in cycles, and surfing has definitely gotten to a peak. After Covid, everyone who was a weekend warrior realized that they should be surfing more. I feel like surfing’s at a total saturation point, but it’s still going to grow. I think etiquette has gone out the window, so many surfers have never even heard of that word. I’m just really stoked that I’ve been doing it for 40 years already. The rad thing is, we’re sitting at Uluwatu, one of the most crowded surf spots on the planet, but you can still get sneaky, uncrowded sessions out here. I think that’s it, the guys who really want it will still get their waves. And the learners will have great fun because everyone is doing it with them. Sometimes I paddle out at Ulus and there’s more girls than guys, which really changes the atmosphere. It’s epic. Women are quickly becoming equal in Surfing and will play a huge part of the future of the sport. Did you see what happened when 15 year old Erin Brooks got given the Wild card in the Padang Cup last year? It’s happening.

On what surfing means to him:

How do I say this without sounding cheesy? Surfing has shaped my entire life, from growing up feeling lucky to have the ocean on my doorstep, to every step of my life, surfing has defined who I am. The reason I work for a surfing company is because I’m passionate about surfing. It comes naturally to me, they say do a job which involves what you love and I was lucky enough to have the opportunities presented and I just grabbed them. I still get super stoked on Surfing and I’m still as keen as I was when I started when I was 10 years old.

I hate to be thought of as just a businessman. I’m a surfer. And if there is a better place to be a surfer than in Bali then for the life of me, I can’t think of one.

Perhaps it is his pioneering environmental work with England’s Surfers Against Sewage that inspires him to seek a less traveled path. James Hendy, out on the edge in Asu, showing a commitment to surfing that goes far beyond the boardroom. Photography by Rip Curl

Surf photography is not a sport. And yet it is only the results that count. Photographer Damea Dorsey knows this one inside out. As far as he is concerned, if his photographs aren’t good enough, he’s not close enough. But when he says this he not talking about being physically close, but emotionally close to the subject matter. His is a style that reflects a depth of emotion, not just a depth of field. Like most photographers, his is a world that trusts photographs far above words. And when he finds the circumstantial light that he seeks, he brings something into existence that did not exist before.

In this portfolio, Damea’s goal was to show what it feels like to observe consequential surfing from a swimmers perspective. Not a paddlers perspective, but the perspective of being up to your chin the the medium that makes the surfing possible. A committed, immersive experience. Informed with inspiration, not information. It is the difference between looking at a picture for a minute and never thinking of it again or seeing it for an instant and thinking about it the rest of your life.

Damea Dorsey’s photography seeks answers to things. And it is the man behind the lens that always gets the answers first. Because no camera made a great photo any more than a keyboard wrote a great novel. And as many photos are being taken in this modern digital age, there remains a truth in Damea’s photography that will always be present. That he is taking photographs that understand what surfing means to us.