Thursday, August 6, 2009

Force of Nature

This is the book Fi bought me! I am loving it as I am already a big fan of Mr. Hamilton. Liard Hamilton was born in San Fransisco and his mother moved to Hawaii when he was only an infant.

As a young, fatherless boy living on Oahu Island, Hawaii, Laird had a coincidental encounter with later-legendary 1960s surfer Bill Hamilton, a bachelor at the time, on the sands of Pupukea beach of the North Shore of Oahu. As chronicled by Laird on film in the big wave riding motion picture documentary Riding Giants, the two became immediate companions and after body surfing with his new acquaintance, the young Laird "coerced" Bill Hamilton to follow him home to "meet my mom". As Laird's telling of the story goes, Bill Hamilton is smitten by the beauty of Laird's "mom". Laird proudly earned match-maker credit for introducing the bachelor Hamilton to his then-single mother, Joann. Bill Hamilton married Joann, and became Laird's adoptive father.

The young Laird Hamilton grew from child to manhood, from the 1970s through 1980s, in a location that is known as one of the greatest surfing regions in the world, the north coast of Oahu, as a backyard playground enjoyed with a well-known surfer as his father and coach, and helped along by all of the other surfing greats of the modern surfing era who were his father's friends and customers. This unique environment molded young Laird Hamilton into the man who would become the greatest big wave surfer in history and who would conquer the largest and most tempestuous ocean waves ever ridden, as documented in film and photographs.

In this book Laird cover topics such as MIND, BODY, SOUL and SURFING. I am find this book very helpful in my quest to complete the MDS. I would definitely recommend this book.

Laird says in the book - I don't have on and off seasons training - I am training for life. I think this is so relevant to our daily lives, it is very easy to set short term goals and fall straight off the bus once a goal is reach. One other thing Laird cover in the book is going barefoot! I am a massive fan of walking barefoot. Whenever we are on holiday in SA I always try and go barefoot as much as possible. He says that he benefits from going barefoot, as the earth is charged by lightning strikes, 6000 bolts per minute, and the body and heart takes on this energy that is available in the earth. Kinda makes sense.

Read this book, you`ll love it!

Here is the intro to the book:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn`t do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

- Mark Twain

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