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Your backstage pass to the world of surfing, hosted by MC and commentator Terry “Tappa” Teece. From pro surfers and legends of the sport to shapers, innovators and anyone with an epic story and a love for the ocean—The Green Room dives deep. Expect tales of epic wins, brutal wipeouts, and behind-the-scenes moments from life in and out of the water. Whether you’re chasing waves or just some inspiration, this podcast will leave you stoked to paddle out.
00;00;00;06 - 00;00;23;13
Tappa
Get out. Folks, welcome to the Green Room. Today's guest is an inspirational human being. And here on the Gold Coast for the World Surfing Conservation Conference at Southern Cross at university, at the Coolangatta Campus. Born in Peru, he was the first world ISF International Surfing Federation champion in 1965, who held at until raucous bash right there in Peru.
00;00;23;15 - 00;00;44;00
Tappa
One from that, young Felipe moved to Hawaii after winning a world title and carved out a reputation as a big wave rider on the North Shore through the 60s. At 82 years of age. He wants to surf until 100 years of age. Some people hope to live that long, let alone surf that long. He currently spends his time between Hawaii and Indonesia.
00;00;44;02 - 00;01;00;21
Tappa
And, and he would enjoy surfing wise. It would scare the pants off 25 year old so that a line of five man in his 80s and also surfed in a tsunami and survived an amazing life with so much more to go. Welcome to the Green Room, Philippe Bouma.
00;01;00;23 - 00;01;04;06
Felipe
Aloha, Terry, and happy to be here.
00;01;04;08 - 00;01;09;29
Tappa
Man, it's great to see you now. Mike, growing up in Peru, how was it as a young fella?
00;01;10;02 - 00;01;39;04
Felipe
Well, I was a member of his small club. It was the only surf club in Peru at that time. Most of the members were in their 30s. Yeah. I had one friend who was my age. We were probably 14 when we started. And the big deal then was big waves, because, you know, all the guys had all been surfing for a while and big waves took a little extra effort and courage.
00;01;39;07 - 00;01;49;08
Felipe
And, I had had a swimming background, so I was comfortable swimming. And, they took me straight into big waves.
00;01;49;11 - 00;01;50;19
Tappa
Really? At 14.
00;01;50;20 - 00;01;54;03
Felipe
I was 14. You know, most people get started.
00;01;54;05 - 00;01;55;18
Tappa
In a little shore break. Oh, yeah.
00;01;55;18 - 00;01;59;28
Felipe
Exactly. They learn and they work their way up. I went straight into big waves.
00;01;59;29 - 00;02;02;17
Tappa
How big would that be, you reckon?
00;02;02;19 - 00;02;12;21
Felipe
Okay. It was our big waves spot. It was called. Called Tiki. You know, it probably gets up to 8 to 12ft.
00;02;12;23 - 00;02;15;12
Tappa
14 year old learned this.
00;02;15;15 - 00;02;19;17
Felipe
Wow. Yeah, it was a lot of thrills.
00;02;19;24 - 00;02;24;12
Tappa
Do you remember your first wave that really hooked you on surfing? Do you?
00;02;24;14 - 00;02;52;23
Felipe
You know, when I speak about, surfing the tsunami. Yeah. People of I say wave change my life, and they think it was a tsunami wave, but it was really the first wave that I ever caught. That's the one that changed my life as I said. Back then, I thought if I could be surfing, had 30 years old, I'll be the happiest guy on the face of the earth.
00;02;52;25 - 00;02;58;04
Felipe
And here I am at 82, and I'm still surfing and loving it.
00;02;58;07 - 00;03;15;10
Tappa
Yeah. And that's a that's an amazing thing. Surfing. I think it's such medicine for the soul too. And it's. Well, to me it's going to nearly everything in my life. I really enjoy it. So at 14 you're out there at 12ft and and did you lose the board on that first wave?
00;03;15;12 - 00;03;42;14
Felipe
Well, the first one was not 8 to 12ft. The first one was in front of the club. And those were little ways what went what I say, I went straight into big waves, probably a couple of months after I had paddled out for the first time. My buddies, let's see, what is it called? Brother in law was Peru's big wave national champion.
00;03;42;16 - 00;03;44;22
Tappa
And what year are we talking around here?
00;03;44;24 - 00;03;49;00
Felipe
We're talking about 1957.
00;03;49;02 - 00;03;54;02
Tappa
Wow. That's like, all sort of the origins of the popular popularity of surfing, too.
00;03;54;03 - 00;03;59;13
Felipe
That's right. I started with a balsa wood board. Yeah.
00;03;59;16 - 00;04;03;16
Tappa
And, And so how big was the board you were on?
00;04;03;18 - 00;04;14;04
Felipe
It was probably. Well, I was 14, so I was lighter and younger than I am now, but it was probably A96.
00;04;14;06 - 00;04;17;22
Tappa
Wow. And out there in the 12ft waves.
00;04;17;24 - 00;04;25;03
Felipe
I probably never know. I did, I did. That's right. That was my only board.
00;04;25;06 - 00;04;38;01
Tappa
And now the older guys, did they sort of like, really encourage you to get on and get amongst it and like, you know, like hard knob sort of thing and, well, you know, they strong.
00;04;38;03 - 00;05;05;07
Felipe
There was only this guy whose name was Pancho, who was the big wave national champion. So he wanted somebody to go surfing the big waves with him because nobody else would. You know, I, I don't think we ever found anybody out there when we went. So it was only Pancho, his brother in law, who was my buddy and I.
00;05;05;07 - 00;05;09;04
Felipe
We were the only three that would go down there. And there was never anybody there.
00;05;09;05 - 00;05;11;25
Tappa
How far out to sea was that wave?
00;05;11;27 - 00;05;30;23
Felipe
That wave was probably about half a mile out to sea, but it didn't roll all the way in. You know, it would break and then it would go away, and then it would die out. And of course, because that was before leashes, you would swim and you'd find your board.
00;05;31;00 - 00;05;35;13
Tappa
And it'd be pretty hard to find the board in waves that size. That luck with the ups and downs.
00;05;35;13 - 00;05;48;09
Felipe
And except for that, where the white water ended. And, you know, I had a couple of buddies, I guess if you didn't find it, one of your friends would catch a wave and help you get to it.
00;05;48;12 - 00;05;50;00
Tappa
That's just pioneering stuff.
00;05;50;05 - 00;06;02;23
Felipe
My yeah, that was definitely pioneering because those were the only two waves that were served in Peru at that time. And do you remember John Severson?
00;06;02;25 - 00;06;05;13
Tappa
Not offhand, but I'm sure some of our listeners. And that.
00;06;05;13 - 00;06;10;05
Felipe
Would. Okay. John Sievers and started Surfer magazine.
00;06;10;07 - 00;06;11;01
Tappa
Oh, yes. Yeah.
00;06;11;02 - 00;06;38;18
Felipe
Which was the world's first surfing magazine. So he came down to Peru and he as he asked us, he said, have you explored for waves? And we said, no, you know, why should we? We got a wave right out front and we got the big wave down south. So no, but John said, well, you know, it's kind of interesting to look for ways.
00;06;38;19 - 00;06;54;07
Felipe
Yeah. We said, why? He said, well, you might find a really good wave. And so we wanted to make him happy. And so we went exploring and we found a couple of the best waves in Peru on one trip.
00;06;54;09 - 00;06;55;23
Tappa
Not check them out as well.
00;06;55;26 - 00;06;58;28
Felipe
No, that was discovered a few years later.
00;06;59;00 - 00;07;07;19
Tappa
Wow. That's that's awesome. That that that sort of that would have opened up. Yeah. The surfing to many more people as well with more waves.
00;07;07;21 - 00;07;37;01
Felipe
Well, you see Peru has it's probably the last place in the world that has a lot of good, consistent waves, and it is totally uncrowded, except for the city and a couple of towns. Other than that, we have thousands of miles of waves where there are no surfers. The great majority. Nobody has ever served them.
00;07;37;03 - 00;07;46;24
Tappa
Wow. Now saying that, now this. We're talking the late 50s does not come on a wetsuit. Say, I believe the water in Peru is pretty cold.
00;07;46;26 - 00;08;13;28
Felipe
We had no wetsuits and so what she and I, my buddy, the guy that I said was, human-ai and, Peruvian national champion. His name was Ziggy. So Ziggy and I, in the winter time, we'd run and jump around and get as sweaty as possible so that we were very hot. And then we jump in the ocean and do some surfing with no wetsuits.
00;08;14;00 - 00;08;20;05
Tappa
Wow. And what temperature was is the water there mostly in like you surfed winter too.
00;08;20;07 - 00;08;29;08
Felipe
This was winter. We were the first two to surf winter in Peru. All the older guys, when they got cold they would go do something else.
00;08;29;09 - 00;08;32;11
Tappa
So what's the water temperature around there?
00;08;32;13 - 00;08;43;03
Felipe
Okay, the only problem is your Fahrenheit. Yeah, exactly. I would say that it's in the 60s. Low 60s in Fahrenheit.
00;08;43;08 - 00;08;46;29
Tappa
That's pretty cold, I think. I don't know the conversion, but that's pretty cold.
00;08;47;01 - 00;08;53;24
Felipe
Well, when it gets cold, when the air gets cold and the water is that temperature, it feels really cold.
00;08;53;26 - 00;08;55;24
Tappa
Especially in Boardshorts.
00;08;55;26 - 00;08;57;24
Felipe
That's right.
00;08;57;26 - 00;09;01;11
Tappa
Well, when did you start competing, Philippe?
00;09;01;14 - 00;09;37;21
Felipe
Since we had a club, probably just like you guys, there was. Well, my club already had the tradition of inviting the Marchand winner to come down to Peru, to a club contest. And so by the time I got started, which was in 57, they had had a contest with the winner of the Makaha since about 54. So they started doing so-called international contests in 54.
00;09;37;21 - 00;09;44;11
Tappa
So your club would have to be one of the first board riding clubs in the world, really have to be close to it.
00;09;44;14 - 00;09;54;04
Felipe
Very likely. And if you visited today, it's probably still the nicest surf riding club in the world.
00;09;54;07 - 00;09;56;13
Tappa
Oh that's cool. That's really cool.
00;09;56;18 - 00;09;56;29
Felipe
Yeah.
00;09;57;04 - 00;10;05;18
Tappa
And so, what led you to go in the world titles? Because that that's quite a few years later. But had you been in any world titles before that?
00;10;05;20 - 00;10;32;13
Felipe
Well, the same man, John Sievers. Yeah. Brought down the first issue of the Surfer magazine, and he had pictures of Sunset Beach. And so I by then like the big waves, because that's what we valued. And I saw pictures of Sunset Beach in Hawaii, and it immediately clicked. I got to go there.
00;10;32;15 - 00;10;39;02
Tappa
Wow. And so you're in the 60s. What was Hawaii like in the 60s? Because it would have been way less surfers, I suppose.
00;10;39;02 - 00;11;12;13
Felipe
Maybe there was practically nobody on the North Shore. Like, and it sounds great, but most of the time there was like three of us surfing big waves at sunset. And Lani, after. And, you know, when there's three of you and there's no leeches and the other two guys get called inside and you're all by yourself. So there's disadvantages to having just a few people in the water.
00;11;12;13 - 00;11;26;25
Tappa
Yeah, there's less people to watch Ivy on the. I've surfed a place called the Tweed Bar off the bar there, and I was out there were 3 or 4 blocks, but this was in the diet. This. Well, I had Latias, but like now everybody got their wave and you're sitting in the middle of nowhere going, oh, okay.
00;11;26;29 - 00;11;29;29
Felipe
Yeah, let's just make the round right.
00;11;30;02 - 00;11;34;23
Tappa
It's, definitely now you were on the Duke Duke team in Hawaii.
00;11;34;25 - 00;11;38;11
Felipe
I meant to do, but I was actually never part of the team.
00;11;38;11 - 00;11;40;17
Tappa
Oh, right. Oh, and you just sent me.
00;11;40;19 - 00;11;47;08
Felipe
It was Fred Hemmings. Paul Straw. Which one? Our Zoglin and Joey Cabal.
00;11;47;11 - 00;11;53;01
Tappa
And how was that you? Because that would have been lost. It was would have been fairly old at the age you met him.
00;11;53;03 - 00;11;57;06
Felipe
He was a wonderful man, but I never got to surf with him.
00;11;57;09 - 00;11;59;02
Tappa
Right. Yeah. Because he was. Yeah, I think.
00;11;59;05 - 00;12;03;07
Felipe
I think he was probably about 75. Yeah. Yeah.
00;12;03;10 - 00;12;07;16
Tappa
Well, such a great athlete and, you know, Olympic gold swimming medalist as well. Yeah.
00;12;07;18 - 00;12;15;28
Felipe
Amazing. Amazing guy. And he totally had more aloha than anybody else, which is a very good thing.
00;12;16;02 - 00;12;28;04
Tappa
And such an amazing thing to actually meet the man. That's pretty cool. Now, so the 1965 world titles might, when you won that world title hat. Tell us a bit about that.
00;12;28;06 - 00;13;02;14
Felipe
Very good. But I'll back up a little guy. Yeah. So I left Peru in 63. Yeah. And went to Hawaii. So I got the winter of 63 all winter long surfing the North Shore with hardly anybody. I got all of 1964 surfing the North Shore with my two buddies and very few people. Yeah. And then in 65, Peru was organizing the first official international.
00;13;02;14 - 00;13;27;00
Felipe
Let's see what it was called, the International Surfing Federation. Yeah, that was actually the name of it. So it was being organized in February of 65. I was in Hawaii, but I had already won a big wave contest in Peru in 1962. Wow. So.
00;13;27;02 - 00;13;29;28
Tappa
So you met 19 years of age in 18, right?
00;13;30;02 - 00;13;33;24
Felipe
Yeah. Oh, in 65. I was already 21.
00;13;33;26 - 00;13;34;19
Tappa
Oh, right. Yeah.
00;13;34;25 - 00;14;05;24
Felipe
So Peru paid for my way to go back to Peru to be back part of the Peruvian team. And I had two winters, two full winters of experience in Hawaii. And I had always liked big waves. And the waves happened to be it was the biggest day anybody could remember at that surfing spot, which they had just started surfing like a year ago, which is called Punto Rochas.
00;14;05;27 - 00;14;08;25
Felipe
So I was very lucky.
00;14;08;27 - 00;14;10;25
Tappa
But you have to have the skill to do it as well.
00;14;10;25 - 00;14;23;11
Felipe
Might actually is a lot of surfers had more skill, but I was in better physical shape. I was I had trained harder than everybody else.
00;14;23;13 - 00;14;26;24
Tappa
So I probably a lot of people didn't train back in those days. Exactly.
00;14;26;26 - 00;14;51;11
Felipe
Most people who served were as I was surfing the North Shore with no leashes, no lifeguards, and I knew that if I was not in top shape, I might die. Yeah. And my best buddy, the person that I mentioned, he would go surfing with me. He was the first person to die surfing pipeline. Oh, wow. Yeah, she was the first person to die.
00;14;51;16 - 00;14;53;25
Tappa
And so I used to have pipeline back then as well.
00;14;54;01 - 00;15;00;29
Felipe
I did, but those I was a regular foot. She was a goofy foot.
00;15;01;01 - 00;15;04;17
Tappa
So yeah, a bit easier to take in that drop it pipe on your forehand.
00;15;04;19 - 00;15;05;08
Felipe
Exactly.
00;15;05;08 - 00;15;07;13
Tappa
Especially with the equipment you had then as well.
00;15;07;13 - 00;15;26;00
Felipe
That was my point. The equipment that we had then did not work well at pipeline. So I was surfing in sunset, and I just surfed pipeline a few times, and then sugar died. And then I didn't surf pipeline because I'd rather go right. There's lots of good rides on the North Shore.
00;15;26;00 - 00;15;30;01
Tappa
Yeah, there's plenty of them. Yeah, yeah. And Lani's is one of one of my favorites.
00;15;30;03 - 00;15;32;00
Felipe
I love lollies, yeah.
00;15;32;03 - 00;15;43;01
Tappa
It is a it's a great. Well I've, I might in so after the world title in 65 what did that open up for you. Did it open up anything else for you once you were on that world title?
00;15;43;03 - 00;16;18;16
Felipe
Well, it opened up some moneymaking opportunities which enabled me to continue to serve and actually on my way back to Hawaii, I had an opportunity. They offered me the opportunity to become an actor for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Wow. And they said, you're going to have to move to Hollywood and start taking acting lessons. And I said, well, thank you very much.
00;16;18;18 - 00;16;47;15
Felipe
I've never thought about being an actor, so I don't think I'd be a very good one. And I love to surf. So I want to go back to Hawaii and keep studying and keep surfing. Yeah. And this was the vice president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He scratched his head and he said, well, this is the first time I've been turned down, but.
00;16;47;15 - 00;16;52;03
Tappa
You know, he's against the surf. Might like to surf. And I like, you know, I that's not.
00;16;52;11 - 00;16;56;19
Felipe
You didn't realize what he was up against.
00;16;56;22 - 00;17;05;04
Tappa
But you could have been in the in the gal limousine, but then you would have been surfing little wives it like in California, there are some big waves in California, but there are.
00;17;05;04 - 00;17;08;11
Felipe
But that's really cold water. Yeah, yeah.
00;17;08;14 - 00;17;21;14
Tappa
Yeah. No, that's not it. Am I in 1970, runner up to Nat Yang at Makaha. You and Nat seem to have a bit of a duel going on because it was Nat evading, you know, an 1865 world title. His grandfather. Yes.
00;17;21;17 - 00;17;53;19
Felipe
Correct. Nat was and perhaps still is an amazing surfer. And I was extremely fit, so I was hard to beat. But actually, now that we're talking about it and Nat is the only guy that ever legitimately beat me on a what we called a six mile paddleboard race. Yeah, true. We have a six mile paddleboard race which was part of the international contest.
00;17;53;21 - 00;17;58;23
Felipe
And of course, Nat, I believe is or was six foot something.
00;17;58;23 - 00;18;00;16
Tappa
Yeah. He's still pretty tall. Yeah, yeah.
00;18;00;20 - 00;18;25;15
Felipe
She has long arms and big hands. So he's the only guy to beat me on that six mile paddleboard race. And we, like you said we were competitors in a bunch of contests actually. But the two were we both ended up on top was the Pro 65 and, contest you mentioned.
00;18;25;15 - 00;18;29;29
Tappa
In Makaha in 1970 and that's, that's memorable. Yeah.
00;18;30;02 - 00;18;32;12
Felipe
And that was big. My car.
00;18;32;14 - 00;18;39;18
Tappa
Wow. And by is out there again. But what I said this year these guys were tied in that final.
00;18;39;21 - 00;19;11;10
Felipe
Actually that's that's a good story. So back then in Hawaii we never wore wetsuits because most of the time you don't need them. Yeah. But when there's a north wind blowing it can get very cold. So we had surf probably preliminary. He'd semifinal heats and in the finals and I was freezing cold. I couldn't stop my teeth from chattering.
00;19;11;12 - 00;19;37;26
Felipe
And so night and I are on the beach, my teeth are charity. But you know, okay, we're done. And the head judge comes down and he said, okay, we've got the results. And they said, Philippe, not you guys are tied on five ways and you're tied on six ways and you're tied on seven. We've gone up to nine waves and you're tied.
00;19;37;29 - 00;20;05;03
Felipe
So we're going to send both of you back out. And my teeth are chattering. And I said, I'm not going back out and not said I'm not going either. So the head judge went back to the podium and he figured it out, and that got first place, and I got second.
00;20;05;05 - 00;20;14;13
Tappa
Right. So, well, but like, I can't imagine it because that that wind does get a little chilly. The water's nice, but the wind does, does get a bit of a chilly.
00;20;14;16 - 00;20;21;02
Felipe
Yeah. You know, and it was probably all morning in the chilly wind going out several times now.
00;20;21;04 - 00;20;30;23
Tappa
So you're in Hawaii in the 60s. Did you, did you do much traveling from in the 70s and that, did you travel around or did you mainly stay in Hawaii?
00;20;30;26 - 00;21;02;23
Felipe
I went to Puerto Rico for the 67 World Championships. I think it was 67. And then I stuck around Hawaii most of the time because I liked big waves and back then we thought that Hawaii has the biggest, best waves in the world. But at some point, actually, midget finally was one of the first people. I asked him, hey midget, where are you catching your best waves?
00;21;02;25 - 00;21;28;03
Felipe
And he said, well, I think Indonesia. So that got me thinking about Indonesia. And I went there, I don't know what year, probably in the early 70s. And you know, it wasn't huge, but it was beautiful and I was very impressed. And I've gone back every single year except for Covid.
00;21;28;06 - 00;21;30;28
Tappa
So since 1977, it's.
00;21;30;29 - 00;21;33;15
Felipe
About, you know, the beginning of the 70s.
00;21;33;20 - 00;21;34;06
Tappa
Wow.
00;21;34;09 - 00;21;37;07
Felipe
That's. Yeah. So I've been there about 55 times.
00;21;37;07 - 00;21;39;00
Tappa
So many changes.
00;21;39;02 - 00;21;43;12
Felipe
So many changes. But now I go to different islands.
00;21;43;14 - 00;21;46;00
Tappa
Yeah. Because, you get a lot to roti now, I believe.
00;21;46;02 - 00;22;08;29
Felipe
Correct. Roti has beautiful waves and they're more user friendly. Yeah, because Indonesia has amazing waves and a lot of them are very shallow. And if you're on a surf strip and you get cut, you know that's the end of your surfing for. That's true. Yeah.
00;22;09;01 - 00;22;14;27
Tappa
And also you're not not a spring chicken as such. Bouncing off the reefs. Not kind of not going to be the best for you either.
00;22;15;01 - 00;22;20;05
Felipe
Exactly. But cuts are particularly bad. Yeah. Yeah.
00;22;20;08 - 00;22;23;21
Tappa
And yes, I surfed land there I spy. So that's probably
00;22;23;24 - 00;22;54;20
Felipe
The you're right. It used to be called the umbrella. And then it got the name of Thailand. And, that's another funny story. I was going there every year. And this lady where I stayed as me, she said, why don't you lease a piece of property? And then you could have your own place? And I said, well, I like rights, you know, and this is a left.
00;22;54;23 - 00;23;14;27
Felipe
So then I went away and I came back the next year and she said, hey, you keep coming back, why don't you lease your own place? And I said, well, I like rights. So this happened for about five years. And finally, once on the fifth time she asked me, I said, well, I keep coming back. So you obviously like it?
00;23;14;27 - 00;23;35;10
Felipe
Yeah, show me the property. So I leased it and less than half an hour later a friend comes, knocks on my door and he said, hey, Philippe, why don't you come surfing with me? I said, where do you want to go? He said, oh, there's a right down hahahahahahahaha I.
00;23;35;12 - 00;23;38;02
Tappa
Just saw it and I love and, and there's.
00;23;38;05 - 00;23;48;03
Felipe
This guy had a boat. There was a right, you know, five minutes away. So he took me to the right. And then I was in love with the place.
00;23;48;03 - 00;24;05;09
Tappa
Oh, yes. Well, yeah, it is a beautiful place. Indonesian. It in the 70s. What about you went surfing? It was a Punto Hermosa, a Peruvian big wave. And there was a sauna. And you're actually in the water when tsunami hit?
00;24;05;11 - 00;24;09;14
Felipe
No. All right, it's better than that.
00;24;09;16 - 00;24;41;15
Felipe
In America, they had a TV show that was called the Super Stars. And what they would do is they would get the top guys from baseball and football and boxing, and they picked me as his surfer. And to compete against the top people of all the top sports. And there was over $100,000 in prizes for the top guy and everybody else.
00;24;41;16 - 00;24;42;26
Tappa
And this is in the 70s.
00;24;42;28 - 00;24;44;05
Felipe
This is in the 70s.
00;24;44;12 - 00;24;46;15
Tappa
Wow. That's a lot of money back then.
00;24;46;15 - 00;24;52;08
Felipe
Lot of money. Yeah. The most I ever made in a contest was, I think, 1000.
00;24;52;10 - 00;24;54;04
Tappa
That's still a lot of money back then. Yeah.
00;24;54;06 - 00;25;19;21
Felipe
That's right. But you know here was an opportunity to make a hundred thousand. Wow. So I took it very seriously. I and there's another part to it. Just like today, there's a handful of guys that are chasing the biggest wave in the world. Yeah. Back then there was a handful of guys. All of us wanted to be the guy that caught the biggest wave.
00;25;19;23 - 00;25;57;00
Felipe
Yeah. So I was training extra hard for the opportunity to make 100,000 in the, superstar competition. And we had discovered a big wave in Peru, which is called Pico Alto that I thought might get bigger than Waimea, which at that time was the biggest wave we knew in Hawaii. So I felt that I would get in better shape if I had a training partner.
00;25;57;02 - 00;26;25;27
Felipe
And I had a good friend in Peru who like to get in super shape. So him and I were training every day with the purpose of either surfing the biggest wave in the world and or competing in the finals of the superstar competition. So we were taking it very, very seriously. And of course we had to, because Pico Alto breaks about a mile out.
00;26;25;29 - 00;26;27;19
Tappa
That's a long way to get in. If you lose.
00;26;27;19 - 00;26;28;04
Felipe
Your life.
00;26;28;05 - 00;26;28;15
Tappa
When you're.
00;26;28;15 - 00;26;38;10
Felipe
Born and when it gets big, the currents there are strong. Yeah. And you know, there were no jetskis and no lifeguards and no leashes. No nothing.
00;26;38;12 - 00;26;42;01
Tappa
How big do you reckon it was when you surf Pico at a little.
00;26;42;01 - 00;27;15;26
Felipe
Pico Alto gets up to close to 30ft. That's the biggest ever. But it gets 18 to 20 plus. Pretty awesome. But this particular morning it had nothing. You know, it was a small day. We had done our training. We had our boards under our arm. We were still on the beach. And all of a sudden there was this sound that was the loudest sound I ever heard.
00;27;15;28 - 00;27;40;00
Felipe
It was like you were standing next to a jet plane or a huge train, or something, and for a few seconds there was just this sound, and then the ground started shaking. And when the ground started shaking and my buddy, whose name is Petey and I, we were ready, you know, we had finished training. We were ready to jump in the water.
00;27;40;02 - 00;27;53;18
Felipe
He ran off and I started running after him because I was with him when he was running. But when he turned his corner, I stopped and I thought, where are you running to? It's an earthquake, you know you can't run away.
00;27;53;25 - 00;27;55;16
Tappa
Hey, I ran away from an earthquake.
00;27;55;16 - 00;28;22;24
Felipe
Yeah, yeah. So I stopped and I looked around to make sure nothing was going to kill me by falling on me. And I told myself, it's just an earthquake, you know? It'll be over. Don't worry. Just make sure nothing falls on you. Yeah, and there were no high rises. But all the houses had walls around them. And the walls were going like this.
00;28;22;26 - 00;28;43;27
Felipe
And I'm telling myself, don't worry, relax. It's going to be over. And then the walls were going like this, and then the walls were landing on the ground. And every time a wall fell on the ground, a cloud of dust would go up in the air. And I keep telling myself, don't worry, you know, it's an earthquake. It'll be over.
00;28;44;04 - 00;29;17;29
Felipe
And I had my arm, my surfboard under my arm. I've seen movies where the ground opens up, so I figured I keep my board under my arm. If the ground opens up, you know I can. Bridget and it was a dead body. So then I thought, okay, if it's not just an earthquake, what could it be? And, you know, since all the walls were falling and the ground was shaking and it wasn't stopping, I thought, well, what else could it be?
00;29;17;29 - 00;29;25;12
Felipe
It could be the end of the world. And it lasted for a minute and 48 seconds.
00;29;25;15 - 00;29;28;13
Tappa
Which is a long time when you're in the in an earthquake.
00;29;28;15 - 00;30;06;14
Felipe
Five seconds is a long time. Yeah. Or 10s. Yeah. A minute and 48 seconds. I hope none of you ever go through that experience. Hey, when I was convinced it was the end of the world, it stopped. And then I walked and found my friend, and I said, where were you running to, Craig? And he said, well, when I was a young boy, I was taught that when there's an earthquake, you either get under a doorway or you run to the middle of the street.
00;30;06;16 - 00;30;29;03
Felipe
So you said I was run into the middle of the street. So I said, okay, I understand that. So now we're walking back to his house and he says, we can't go to Lima. Lima as a city. Yeah. So I say, why can't we go to Lima? And he said, because the last big earthquake, there were fires all over Lima.
00;30;29;05 - 00;30;57;09
Felipe
So I said, okay, I understand, you know, we can't go to live. So then he said, what should we do now? Remember that I was one of that small group that had been wanting to serve the biggest wave in the world. Yeah. And we had been training. We were the top shape of our life. So I said, let's go surfing.
00;30;57;11 - 00;31;11;04
Felipe
Now, you know, it just came out and I thought that my friend was going to say, you're crazy. Yeah. And I was let it go. But he said, okay.
00;31;11;06 - 00;31;16;07
Tappa
I've got a friend like that that makes this fly. Says, I wasn't gonna say exactly.
00;31;16;10 - 00;31;43;08
Felipe
And when he said, okay, I thought about it and I thought, wow, he's willing to paddle out with me. And that earthquake has got to generate some big waves and we don't have time to think about it. You know, if we're going to go out, we got to go out now. Yeah. So we paddled out and we hadn't been out there for more than a few minutes.
00;31;43;08 - 00;32;08;26
Felipe
And my friend a wave, his name is Petey. So Petey had a wave and then he paddled back out to me and he said, I want to go to shore. I said, why, you know, we just got out of here. Why would you want to go to shore? And he said, well, that little wave that I just got held me under longer than I've ever been held under.
00;32;08;29 - 00;32;31;16
Felipe
So he said, that's very strange. You know, I'm not comfortable. I want to go back to the beach. So I said, well, at least let's catch a wave in. So he said, okay, so now we're sitting there waiting for his sit and he says, Philippe, there's a current pool of you guys out to sea. So I said, well, that's not good.
00;32;31;19 - 00;32;46;21
Felipe
You know, we we better paddle in it. So now I'm paddling in and I look sideways and there's an island there so I can see that I am paddling toward shore, but I'm going backwards.
00;32;46;21 - 00;32;49;13
Tappa
Even paddling and a nine foot board too.
00;32;49;15 - 00;33;18;01
Felipe
So it's actually probably on nine six again. Yeah, yeah. So now I think, oh, you know, this is this could be big trouble. I better paddle as hard as I can. So now I'm paddling as hard as I can and I don't want to look because I'm going backwards. Now I've got a very serious problem. And as hard as I try not to look, I had to turn around and look.
00;33;18;03 - 00;33;47;10
Felipe
And I was like, in the river that was going out to sea. There was no sense in paddling anymore. So I just sat up on my board. I stopped paddling and I started doing some deep breathing in the hopes that whatever decisions I made as we got pulled out were the right decision. And we got pulled out about a mile out and a mile out at sea.
00;33;47;10 - 00;33;57;21
Felipe
There were big whirlpools coming off the bottom, which, you know, you never see in deep water. And do you guys use a word chop.
00;33;57;24 - 00;33;58;05
Tappa
Chop.
00;33;58;09 - 00;34;03;01
Felipe
Yeah, yeah. Okay. There were chop that were as big as our wall.
00;34;03;04 - 00;34;05;17
Tappa
Wow. So five six foot chops.
00;34;05;17 - 00;34;34;07
Felipe
Yes. And they had no pattern. So they were all moving in different directions at one time. So it was very frightening because it's something I've never seen before. You know a chopper, normally a foot. And they all have a pattern. These were 6 to 8ft and they had no pattern. And there were whirlpools coming off the bottom. So I had to read, oh no, I forgot to cover one thing.
00;34;34;10 - 00;35;02;11
Felipe
I, speedy, and I were walking to the water. I thought, okay, you know, that earthquake was amazing how big a wave could I generate? So in my head I thought, well you know, possibly I could generate ten feet, maybe it could generate 20ft. I thought I've served 20ft waves. Yeah. So you know here we go.
00;35;02;12 - 00;35;02;27
Tappa
Are we right.
00;35;02;28 - 00;35;26;16
Felipe
Yeah I know a mile out at sea with eight foot trough and these whirlpools are coming off the bottom. I had to reconsider that plug. Now, if I had seen a 100ft wave, I would not have been shocked because I thought, you know, any anything could come at us.
00;35;26;18 - 00;35;28;08
Tappa
And speedy was still out there with you.
00;35;28;09 - 00;35;34;13
Felipe
He was still with me. So he said, let's look for his ship.
00;35;34;15 - 00;36;03;14
Felipe
I said, I've served this spot for years. I've never seen a ship, you know? I said, no, we're not going to get saved by a ship because there are none. I said, here's the best plan will paddle across the bay and the place where I started surfing big waves. That was called Kon-Tiki. Yeah. And Kon-Tiki was roughly three quarters of a mile out or half a mile out.
00;36;03;16 - 00;36;25;04
Felipe
So I figured if we could cross the bay and get to Kon-Tiki, the Kon-Tiki wave would take us about three fourths of the way in, and then we only have a much shorter paddle that we got to do to get to shore. Yeah. So now I'm paddling towards Kon-Tiki and there were I actually got to take it back.
00;36;25;04 - 00;36;29;09
Felipe
We had leashes in. Yeah, yeah. Because it was 74.
00;36;29;14 - 00;36;30;22
Tappa
Oh yes, yes, yes.
00;36;30;25 - 00;37;00;11
Felipe
So we had leashes and I'm still thinking, you know, what do I do with the 100ft waves? Tsunami comes had me do I keep my leash on or do I take it off. And so I decided to keep it on. And now we were making headway and we were getting close to the wave at Kon-Tiki. So I stopped and I told PD, I said, PD, here is a plan.
00;37;00;14 - 00;37;26;20
Felipe
We're going to paddle into the line up. We're going to catch the first thing that comes through, whether it's broken or unbroken. We're going to write it as far as we can and I'll see you on the beach. So that was the plan. I was a little better paddler than PD, so I got into the area where waves break at Kon-Tiki and all of a sudden there was a wave there.
00;37;26;27 - 00;37;47;12
Felipe
So I paddled as hard as I could. Got it dropped in, jumped to my feet, turned and thought, what are you doing? You know, you're not supposed to be surfing. You're supposed to make a beeline for sure. Yeah, you can't.
00;37;47;12 - 00;37;48;15
Tappa
Help yourself that I can.
00;37;48;15 - 00;38;18;14
Felipe
Yeah, I had a second thought, which was you may never make it to shore. This may be the last wave you ever catch. Yeah, you might as well surf it as you know. Do whatever you can on it. It'll be your last wave. So I made a few turns. Then the wave turned into whitewater. I broadened it out, and now I'm three quarters of the way to shore.
00;38;18;17 - 00;38;47;04
Felipe
So I'm paddling as hard as I can. I can see shore now. You know, I'm starting to feel good. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a wave hurl a fishing boat so that the fishing boat, when I actually got a clear look, the wave was here. The fishing boat was flying through the air and it impacted on a cliff.
00;38;47;06 - 00;38;54;11
Felipe
And in an instant there was no more boat. There was just little pieces of wood.
00;38;54;13 - 00;39;25;04
Felipe
And I told myself, don't even think about that. Get on shore, you know, get yourself on shore and then think about it. Right now you got one job, which is to make it to shore. So I paddled, I made it to shore, and now I'm hoping that peaty makes it. I can swim, but there's no guarantee. Yeah, all there's all kinds of things happening that I've never seen before.
00;39;25;07 - 00;39;49;22
Felipe
But peaty makes it to shore. So now we're hugging each other and we're dancing with each other, hugging each other on the beach. The two happiest guys on the face of the earth at that moment. And that's. I'm dancing around, hugging him. I look at the water and I see that the ocean is receding and I say peated rum.
00;39;49;26 - 00;39;53;26
Felipe
And we grabbed our boards and ran for high ground.
00;39;53;28 - 00;39;54;26
Tappa
And escaped it.
00;39;55;03 - 00;39;56;12
Felipe
We escaped it.
00;39;56;14 - 00;40;11;23
Tappa
Wow. That's that's awesome, right? Yeah, right. You've got you're 82, right? You fit as a fiddle. What? What do you like? What's your health regime? What do you like? You do various things to, Because you're in great condition.
00;40;11;26 - 00;40;42;15
Felipe
Okay. When I was 55, okay, I lived, I had some excellent examples when I was young. And then I had some frights, some scary experiences on the North Shore, and I decided that I didn't want to give surfing hope, although there were a lot of people that were dying around me. And I figured that my best chance of surviving was to get as fit as possible.
00;40;42;17 - 00;41;11;28
Felipe
So I got even fitter, and that took me through to about age 55 with no health problems other than some cuts and some bangs. You know, that kind of stuff. And then all of a sudden, at 55, I hit the wall and had a number of serious medical problems. And the last one, the surgeon told me that I should never surf again.
00;41;12;00 - 00;41;47;05
Felipe
God. And he was a surfer and his specialist, and he had taken his special cause for shoulders in Australia. He said that the Australians were very good at everything that had to do with shoulders. Yep. So he did my second shoulder operation, told me I should never surf again, and at that point I decided that I was not going to listen to doctors and that I was going to learn as much as I could about health so that I could continue surfing and doing what I love to do.
00;41;47;08 - 00;42;13;18
Felipe
So since then, I've gotten into some very good habits, and habits are very important because they're very hard to break. And among my habits are I work, do a little workout, which includes some stretching every morning before I go surfing, and I don't eat anything before I go surfing. You know, I drink something.
00;42;13;20 - 00;42;15;17
Tappa
You know, I don't like to eat before I surf.
00;42;15;20 - 00;42;52;10
Felipe
There we go. And so then I surf when I have my first meal around 11:00. Yeah. And, I, I do some push ups or some, some kind of strength training every other day. And I, on the days that I don't serve, there's a hill close to where I live, where I do some what's it called, a high interval.
00;42;52;13 - 00;42;55;05
Felipe
No. High intensity interval training. High.
00;42;55;05 - 00;42;56;16
Tappa
Yes. Yep. Yeah.
00;42;56;18 - 00;43;26;02
Felipe
So on the days when I don't surf I do these. It's basically I run and rest and run and rest and run and rest. I do six of those and so that's basically it. And I've got myself to the point that I only eat foods that I like that are good for me. Yes. And I make it a point to get enough sleep where I tried really hard to sleep at the right time.
00;43;26;04 - 00;43;41;00
Felipe
And, so that said, you know, exercise, nutrition, sleep and handle stress as a friend rather than as a very negative thing. Yeah, yeah.
00;43;41;03 - 00;43;56;10
Tappa
Wow. And, what would you what would you say to, like, say I'm 60, you know, like, I'm still seven. I've got pretty fit at the moment. But what would you say to someone in their 50s or 60s that wants to keep surfing? Is it to do that sort of thing, that exercise or.
00;43;56;12 - 00;44;32;21
Felipe
Okay, I would the number one allow me to do it. Plus I would tell the guy to come to our surf till 100. Yep. Christina and I do is surf till 100, which takes about five days. We do them in places that have great surf like Roti and Peru, and we teach people the things that they should do and they should not do in order to have a longer life, which includes surfing longer and a better life.
00;44;32;23 - 00;44;43;13
Tappa
Yeah. Christina, we're going to have her on our podcast next after a year, because she's got so much to tell us about the more the factual things and that. Pat, when did you when did you make Chris Dynamite?
00;44;43;16 - 00;45;10;02
Felipe
I met her about six years ago, and we had this affinity for health and longevity. We share that. And so we decided that we should do it together. And it's always better to do things with a partner. Yeah. And, and I'm very happy. She is my inspiration in many ways.
00;45;10;04 - 00;45;20;25
Tappa
And you'd be a bit of an inspiration to me at what you do now. What sort of boards do you ride, mate? Like your i.t. And you're out there like riding when it's Maxine and in Hawaii. What? What do you ride now?
00;45;20;27 - 00;45;50;24
Felipe
Okay, that's another short story. A few years ago, they held a natty in 88 cow, which is, you know, they only do on the biggest possible days. And I think it was a day after the Eddy. The waves were still huge and I was surfing Hana Lee, which is a you can wave and, okay, let me get this straight.
00;45;50;26 - 00;46;16;04
Felipe
There's Hamilton was out. Yep. He was on his stand up. Yep. And in three hours I only got one wave. And one of the reasons I only got one wave is that often there was a wave there that perhaps I could have caught. But he was already moving on the stand up. So, you know, I would have had to be dropping in on him or dropping in behind him.
00;46;16;06 - 00;46;42;03
Felipe
Neither one seemed like a good idea on the 25 to 30ft Na wave. So after seeing that, because I still love big waves, I decided I want to learn how to do that. So that was probably about 6 or 7 years ago and I transferred to stand up. So now I'm doing stand up.
00;46;42;06 - 00;46;45;03
Tappa
You still do the other paddle and stand up as well?
00;46;45;03 - 00;47;11;14
Felipe
I don't, because what happened was there was a really windy day. Okay. If you transfer to stand up, you feel yourself improving. And as you feel yourself improving, you get excited and you want to keep improving. Yeah. So, you know, I knew I wasn't going to improve at the regular surfing. So all of my attention was on stand up.
00;47;11;16 - 00;47;28;28
Felipe
And so I did stand up for about five years. And then I had a day when I went out, it was very windy. It was in row ten, it was very windy. And I figured, this is no good for stand up. So I took one of my regular boards and I had a hard time pop into my feet.
00;47;28;28 - 00;47;54;28
Felipe
I did get a couple of waves, but you know, it was difficult. And so I decided, okay, if it's going to be difficult and I'm having a lot of fun by standing up, I'm going to keep standing up. So to answer my question, because I still like big waves, my stand ups are made for big waves and I have an 11 eight.
00;47;55;00 - 00;47;56;19
Tappa
Wow, that's a lot of board.
00;47;56;22 - 00;48;30;07
Felipe
That's true. But when the waves get 25ft, yeah, you need a lot of board. And my smallest board is a ten six. And also because of my shoulder problems, because the surgeon who told me I should never surf again, he said, I have my shoulder is horrible. And so I had been surfing long guns before I got into stand up anyway, so I transferred from an 11ft, let's call it lay down.
00;48;30;07 - 00;48;44;28
Felipe
Yeah, gun to an 1110 stand up, because that's what Laird was using. I went to his shaper and said, what are the measurements? A Laird is using? And I made some adjustments to it.
00;48;45;01 - 00;48;51;12
Tappa
Wow. And, and how is it dropping into a wave on a stand up at that size?
00;48;51;14 - 00;49;22;02
Felipe
You know, the stand up has advantages and disadvantages, but one of the advantages is that you can get in a little bit earlier. And for example, at the place that I surf mostly, which is called Hanalei, there's a line up called the ball. Then there's another line up called flat Rock. And deeper yet is a line up called The Impossibles.
00;49;22;04 - 00;49;49;13
Felipe
And impossibles on a surfboard, you rarely ever make any waves all the way through on his stand up. You make more because you can get in a little bit earlier. Other than that, the wave is so long that I just angle high and I'm just shooting to try to make the wave. It's like maybe like four sunsets put together.
00;49;49;16 - 00;49;52;03
Felipe
Well, yeah, it's a very long way.
00;49;52;05 - 00;50;01;08
Tappa
And, might you here for the, World Wide Conservation Conference? I think I've got it right there, but, what are you doing there as well?
00;50;01;10 - 00;50;16;23
Felipe
Christine and I are giving a talk regarding search till 100. Yep. And I'm also giving a short talk about how to survive. Izanami.
00;50;16;25 - 00;50;25;11
Tappa
Love that. Might. Well, I'll tell you what, folks, go check out, if people want to check out, you surf tomorrow. Is it a website or something like that?
00;50;25;11 - 00;50;28;05
Felipe
There is a website. It's called Surf Till a hundred.
00;50;28;07 - 00;50;38;09
Tappa
Okay. Well, it might check that at five. If you want to learn about this, the healthiest 82 year old I've ever seen. A bit of a legend. So thank you for coming on the green room, Philippe Poma.
00;50;38;16 - 00;50;40;14
Felipe
Thank you very much. Enjoyed it.
00;50;40;21 - 00;50;42;11
Tappa
Thank you sir. Awesome.