Garrett McNamara Hound of the Sea

What: The life memoir of Garrett McNamara, iconic big wave surfer.

For: Anyone interested in big wave surfing and the personalities that put their lives on the line.

4 out of 5: A candid exciting memoir

Hound of the Sea: Wild Man. Wild Waves. Wild Wisdom by Garrett McNamara, Karen Karbo

Harper Wave, ISBN: 978-0062343598

Copyright November 2016, Hardcover, 304 Pages

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“I am not what has happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”

– Carl Jung

Garrett “Gmac” McNamara was born in 1967 the summer of love. His hippie Californian parents joined a commune shortly after he was born. Garrett and his brother Liam grow up wild and free, pretty much on their own, their mother in and out of their lives. Surrounded by the drug culture of the time, Gmac is open about his drug use. Smoking weed and dropping acid was simply a part of the culture he grew up in.

You never get the feeling during his childhood or even later when Garret becomes a mediocre semi-pro surfer that he will become one of the greatest big wave riders of his generation. He opens up a surf shop in Hawaii, that for many, would signal the end of a surfing career. But Garrett is not happy being a shopkeeper. He wants to surf big waves for a living and his life begins to turn around the day he writes “The Blueprint”.  A step by step plan that will allow him to surf big waves full time. His hard work and focus pay off when, one year later, he wins the 2002 Jaws Tow-In World Cup. A big wave surfing career is launched.

We get to look behind the curtain of this dangerous pursuit as his comrades die or get seriously injured.  Garrett surfs the best big wave spots around the world, he even surfing the wake of calving glacier off the coast of Alaska. And of course, in 2011 he surfs the largest wave on record at Nazaré, Portugal.

Gmac openly talks about the fear involved in riding big waves. Fear follows him every time he tows or paddles into a giant wave. But he has learned to deal with fear.

“Fear is a choice, something we manufacture in our minds. When we think about the past or the future, we become afraid. We’re afraid because we remember when something bad happened before, and we’re scared it’s going to happen again. If we’re in the moment and enjoying the moment and making the best of the moment, there is no fear.” – Garrett Gmac McNamara

Garrett McNamara defies the odds. With a rough and tumble up-bringing both he and his brother have become successful. Garrett has not just survived riding monster waves but has carved out a career doing so. Indeed a wild man and a wild life. This is an open, candid and exciting journey of a man who despite the odds determined his own destiny.

“The barrel is what I live for. I think it’s all surfer’s favorite place to be.” – Gmac

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Big Wave Accolades

2012 Entered into Guinness World Records for Largest Wave Ever Surfed of 78 feet – Nazaré, Portugal

Billabong XXL Awards – Biggest Wave Award
Billabong XXL Awards – Wipeout of the Year Award
Billabong XXL Awards – Ride of the Year Nominee 2011

Surfed 78 foot wave in Nazaré, Portugal that will later be entered into Guinness World Records 2010

Exploration of Praia do Norte (Nazaré) – Portugal 2009

Billabong XXL Awards – Monster Tube Nominee
Billabong XXL Awards – Ride of the Year Nominee def 2008

2nd Place Puerto Escondido, Mexico SUP Contest
Billabong XXL Awards – Performance of the Year Award
Billabong XXL Awards – Golden Donut Nominee
2nd Place Free Wave Challenge Tube of the Year 2007

Billabong XXL Awards – Performance of the Year
Billabong XXL Awards – Biggest Wave Award 2006

1st Place Nell Scott Tow Surfing Championships
Billabong XXL Awards – Golden Donut Award 2005

1st Place North Shore Tow Surfing Championships 2004

Surfer Poll – Best Tube Award 2003

1st Place Jaws World Cup Expression Session 2002

1st Place Jaws World Cup Tow in Surfing