Surfing
How Does Ian Walsh Get the Best Waves Ever?
Here’s the method to Ian’s swell-searching madness broken down into three simple stages.
Ian Walsh doesn’t search. He finds. His job is to hunt down the world’s biggest and best waves, which is something that’s a lot easier read than done.
Gone are the days in which a “hunting down the world’s biggest and best waves” translated directly to “sitting in Hawaii for a season, waiting for a good swell and existing in permanent barbecue mode when it’s flat.” These days, the world is a full court. Every speck of land and every blue depth of ocean is in play. It’s a big world, but Ian’s got it in his pocket.
He knows the science — yes, it’s a science — of predicting ocean conditions like Pythagoras knew math. He’s mastered the art — yes, it’s an art — of planning trips like Johann Sebastian Bach mastered music. He’s a bona fide expert in his field, even though his field happens to be the biggest and most volatile thing on earth. Nevertheless, there’s a method to the madness and Ian broke it down in three simple steps.
Ian on planning: How much time I spend looking into what the ocean is doing can really vary. If I’m at home and there doesn’t seem to be much of a swell anywhere, it can be something like 10-30 minutes a day. But when it looks like there could be a good swell forming, it’s a full-time job.
And it’s easy to get addicted — there are so many different things to look at. You start looking back at data from past swells and comparing it to what the new one is predicted to do and calling some friends to see what they think. Then you start forming these expectations and ideas of what it could be like this time around. And once you get that idea in your head, it’s hard not to be excited.
Ian on pulling the trigger: The forecasts that you see at 10-14 days out are all long shots. Those are basically saying that a storm could form here and that this is what it would do for the waves there. You keep an eye on that and watch to see if it develops into anything, but nothing is ever concrete until about 48 hours away from initial day of the swell at your selected locale.
By that time, the storm that’ll be sending the waves has already formed and you can see real-time information on what it’s doing. That’s when it comes time to make the decision — to buy the ticket, pack the boards, get out the door and go.
Ian on actually going: You can see a swell lining up for somewhere that’s well-known, a place where people have already figured out exactly what it requires in order to be perfect. And often times, you can the best waves of your life because there’s already a system in place. Or, you can go deeper and try to find a place where nobody has ever scored before. That way, you have no preconceptions and no idea what to expect.
When you have that mindset, anything you get is a positive. Even if it sucks, you still get some good knowledge on that region and how it works wave-wise. I’d rather go to the other side of the world and get skunked than sit at home and never know.