Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton

Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton is a documentary directed by Rory Kennedy (Last Days in Vietnam). It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

TAKE EVERY WAVE: The Life of Laird Hamilton tracks the remarkable life and legendary career of big wave surfer Laird Hamilton. Much admired by the public, though often disdained or ignored by the surf industry itself, Laird is a unique sports icon—an athlete who has refused to compete professionally yet has dominated big wave surfing as no other figure in history has ever done.

“I have always been interested in the power of the individual, the notion that anybody—any man or woman with enough determination, talent, and courage—can strike out and, by his or her own doing, change things, make an impact,” explains Kennedy. “Laird Hamilton is one of the greatest big-wave surfers of all time. As an innovator, he has changed the sport more than any other figure in at least the last half century. Making a film about Laird gave me a chance to explore all these questions. To me, Take Every Wave isn’t a sports documentary. It is a universal story about human potential—about striving, about the power of the individual to overcome limits, and about the power we all have to create our own destiny.”

Take Every Wave is rated PG.