Frank Solomon and Ramon Navarro are in constant pursuit of the perfect wave. As two of the most celebrated and daring big wave surfers worldwide, Solomon and Navarro ride waves of biblical proportions; charged on a spiritual attachment to the ocean and its behemothic walls of water.

The risk and reward character of their sport sees them place their lives in the hands of nature at its most majestically unpredictable, and although these towering waves appear wild and powerful, the ocean has never been more vulnerable. Solomon and Navarro’s attachment to the ocean is symbiotic: they need it, respect it and are doing everything in their power to preserve it. Solomon founded Sentinel Ocean Alliance in 2018 to create opportunities for disadvantaged South African coastal communities through ocean preservation, while Navarro is an ocean activist devoted to safeguarding the surf environment of his native Chile, protecting its exquisite coastline. Through determination and steel, these two surfers are not only riding waves but making them.

Frank Solomon: How did you first get into big wave surfing?
Ramon Navarro: For me, it was when I came to Hawaii in ‘99. I used to surf a couple of bigger waves in Chile but I didn’t have the equipment – not many people had in those years, it was so hard to find boards.

FS: Were there people surfing Punta de Lobos [Ramon’s home break] around that time?
RN: Yeah they were surfing in front of the rough but not on the back section. After that was when the first guys started surfing really big behind the rocks. In ‘99 I stayed with [Peter] Cole [in Hawaii] and I saw everyone with their big boards and all the pros. In 2002 I started really pushing big wave and getting really into it.

FS: Were you surfing competitively in Chile? What bought you to Hawaii to stay with Cole?
RN: I was really keen to start surfing. I started at thirteen-years-old and got really into competitions. I did the National Champs [WSL Big Wave Tour] a couple of times and in ‘99 I won the contest in Lobos, which had a ticket to California. And if you’re in California you have to go to Hawaii, it’s right there. That’s why I took the trip, it was a peak in my surfing career.

FS: That’s amazing. I did some competitions growing up and then I went to university and they had the Dungeons [a surfing competition held annually in Cape Town] contest here. The contest ran for ten years, all these guys came, and you as well. I used to live up the street so I always saw the guys, all the jet skis and everything. I was like, “I want to be part of this, it’s right here.” Seeing all of you guys there, all the best guys every year, it really made me want to try and make a career out of catching big waves. I’d never thought there would be a career there, I was just a kid who liked surfing big waves. The turning point for me was actually that contest in Lobos where I got that nice wave. I can’t remember what year it was.
RN: 2009 or 2010, maybe?

“The ocean is always going to teach you in another way, we’re like little fish out there trying to play and have fun.”

FS: Maybe 2009. I told the guys at Red Bull I was invited to the contest but I wasn’t [laughs]. I knew they wouldn’t sponsor my ticket if I wasn’t an invitee so I kind of convinced the guys I had an invite and just winged the whole trip. When I got to the airport I had these skinny jeans on, I’ll never forget it, one of the guys who picked me up thought I was a photographer or something because I didn’t have a board. I was in the first heat of the morning, then I got that wave in my first heat and ended up on the cover of Zigzag back home. That was how I really got into it.
RN: Wow! I was expecting something like Dungeons or a crazy wave in South Africa, I didn’t think it was Lobos. I remember you had a yellow thing in your hood.

FS: Yeah I had a yellow stripe in my hood. I had a lot of waves at Dungeons before, but that wave was my first cover, it was the first time anyone knew who I was. That’s where things started for me, going on that trip and getting that wave made everything move forward.
RN: It was a beautiful swell. That was a beautiful contest, I remember.

FS: It was a special day, it’s such an incredible place, you’re so lucky to call it home. Do you have memories of being here in Cape Town? I think we both surfed in that last event in 2010.
RN: For me, Dungeons was the first time I went internationally to compete. I went out there and stayed for two months because Red Bull invited us, so I spent a lot of time there. We arrived for a swell, it was big, it was crazy, I’d never been on a wave like that. My experience of Dungeons that day was pretty bad. [both laugh]

FS: Did you break your board?
RN: Yeah everyone else was catching waves but I was still by myself waiting for a set – I had five minutes on my feet in a one-hour heat. I saw this huge fin swimming straight to me and I was almost shitting my pants like, “Oh, this is a shark, this is a huge shark, oh my god.” And I couldn’t run away, I had to stay there. It was a minute and a half of this fin getting closer and closer. Twiggy [Grant Baker] was closest to me and at one point he thought it was a shark too, but it was a moonfish. I completely scared myself thinking it was a shark. [both laugh] Anyway, I broke a board and didn’t catch any waves, but it was an amazing day for my career because I stayed for two months and we surfed all your waves. We surfed a lot of big waves and it was something really important for me because I understood the different kinds of waves we don’t have in Chile.

FS: I remember that contest because I was actually an alternate for the event and they phoned me the night before like, “Are you in?” It was my first ever event and I didn’t know what to do. I was so nervous the day before and then getting on the boat with you guys, all these guys I’d heard of… I knew a couple because they’d come years before. We got around the corner and the waves were huge that day, one of the biggest days we’ve seen. It hasn’t been that big and able to be paddled for ten years. I also didn’t catch a wave in my heat, I sat out there and this guy rode over me and then I got sucked over the falls. I remember [Mark] Healey airdropping into this massive wave in the semis, he had flown from Hawaii that day and competed. I just remember thinking, “Jeez what a savage to do that,” arriving on the day and competing in those conditions. Then he blew out his eardrum, I never forget at the after party he was smoking a cigarette and he was trying to blow smoke out of his eardrum – crazy times. [both laugh]
RN: I remember. Those years were amazing, bro. We didn’t have airlift vests or anything in those years.

FS: There was nothing.
RN: Nothing, just go for it! No one wore impact vests or anything.

FS: Is that a similar vibe to what it’s like at The Eddie [The Eddie Aikau big wave Invitational, a big wave surfing competition held in Hawaii] where everyone is having fun or is it a lot more competitive now?
RN: It’s kind of the same, obviously there are a few guys pushing harder than others and are competitive. I surfed three times at The Eddie and in all of them I had an amazing time, but this [last] one was more special for me because I had Ross Clarke-Jones, Michael Ho and Luke Shepardson in my heat. That crew was amazing, we had a party in the water. Shredding each other, pushing each other, laughing so much. The best heat I ever had in my life was the second heat when Luke got all the waves – they were coming straight to him all the time, we all got wicked waves and had so much fun. That is what big wave is all about, just paddle out there with your friends and have fun, whether it’s a contest or not. We do it because we love it, we can surf contests, we can get a sponsor, but at the end of the day, we do it because we want to be there and love to do that no matter what.

FS: You’re 100 percent right. Surfing is a very different sport in that, if it was football or rugby you maybe wouldn’t want to go on the one day there wasn’t an event or a match. But you know 100 percent at Waimea Bay if the waves were that big, it wouldn’t matter if there was an Eddie or not, guys would still be out there charging. We do it because we love being out there. Greg Long actually told me a funny story, I was talking to him in California before I came home and he said Ross Clarke-Jones gave him the best psyche-up speech ever before his heat, he was like, “Ah man, we’ve got to go! We’ve got to push so hard!” To know Ross is still like that at this age is classic.
RN: It’s my biggest inspiration to keep training, eating healthy, and being 100 percent ready for even more years. Those guys in their 60s and in great shape – that’s my new dream, being 60 and still charging.

FS: That’s the dream, to keep carrying on doing it, catching waves, having fun.
RN: There are so many things we can do as surfers and I think we both work in the same way. We can use our names and careers to inspire people for future generations. You’re a father now and so am I, all the time I’m asking myself what I can do best to inspire my son and give him memories and opportunities. But in even better conditions, through protecting waves and environmental projects you can be an inspiration for new generations. I think this world needs people like that to inspire in a real way, in a healthy way through the sport. I don’t know if it’s the same in South Africa, but in Chile I see people working on TV or musicians saying whatever and they become heroes. I don’t want to be a hero but if I can inspire people to do things for the future, for the environment, and to have a healthy life, then I’m going to keep doing it until I can’t anymore.

FS: I agree, that’s motivation to keep training, keep fit, keep healthy and keep your body strong. Maybe it’s just because I am one, but for whatever reason it seems like guys who surf big waves are a lot more proactive in trying to protect the environment. Do you think that’s the case or is it just because I’m a big wave surfer? [both laugh]
RN: I think it’s the case, but I always say if I can inspire one guy today that’s great and two is even better. Everyone in the world should try and inspire more people and create a legacy, no matter what they’re doing. One time I heard a beautiful speech from one of the guys in Patagonia saying, “What are you going to do? This is the only world we have. We only have one planet, what are you going to do to save it?” That stuck in my mind for years, I always try to think in that way. If I can do something better for my boy, for the new generation then I’ll always try.

“That’s the dream, to keep carrying on doing it, catching waves, having fun.”

FS: 100 percent, I couldn’t agree more. I started my NGO here in Hout Bay where Dungeons is and we teach kids from the township how to swim, how to surf and about the ocean. I feel like I’m right with you in that, I’m trying to help the people. You know what it’s like here, there are a lot of very underprivileged people, people who don’t have access to the ocean, people who don’t know how to swim. We try to do something every day.
RN: I remember when I went to see your programme, it was amazing. People who had never been in the water before are now surfers. The things you do are what we’re talking about, you’ve made a huge mental change for [people].

FS: I’m just trying to do what you guys are doing in Chile with Parley [For the Oceans, a nonprofit environmental organisation focused on protection of the oceans]. When you live in places like we do, I think it comes naturally to want to help people less fortunate than you.
RN: For sure. That’s something that really sticks in my mind, because you don’t see many people do that. Especially in the history of South Africa, because there aren’t many Black pro surfers from South Africa, that’s something I was always asking about and it’s something I learned when I was there for two months. They didn’t have access to the ocean until ‘94.

FS: Even today, with my school I speak to some of the parents and they’re like, “We weren’t allowed to go to the beach until ‘94.” They never had any kind of beach culture, they feel like it was a place they couldn’t go, and they still carry that so they never took their kids to the beach because only white people go to the beach. Trying to break that cultural thing is really difficult because it is ingrained in a lot of people and the kids who do come now, their parents are like “Why are you going to the sea? The sea is dangerous, only white people go there.” It’s a difficult challenge but I think we’re getting there, it’s been an awesome journey.
RN: It’s amazing man, congratulations. Seeing that was something that will stick in my mind forever, it was beautiful.

FS: In Chile, are a lot of the poorer communities able to go into the ocean or are they also afraid of going down to the beach and getting involved in surfing? What we’ve found is we kept telling these kids, “Hey, don’t throw your plastic on the ground, don’t pollute,” but they didn’t really know what the ocean was so they didn’t understand why we were telling them to do all these things. Once they fell in love with it and they learned to swim and surf, then they were like, “I want to protect this thing we have fun in, this thing we love and enjoy.”
RN: I think that’s the main reason why we’re trying to teach people to get into the water, because when you love something you want to protect it.

FS: Exactly.
RN: In Chile, a lot of people don’t have access to the water because the water is cold, so you need a proper wetsuit and they’re expensive. When I was growing up, surfers were people with access to more money from main cities. A few guys like me were pushing the limits and started to make it a lot more popular, which inspired a lot of people, so surfing has grown a lot in the last twenty years. But in the last five years, it’s kind of exploded. It’s a super popular sport right now, there are surf schools everywhere, the numbers are growing, and wetsuits are more accessible everywhere. Even though we have that, there are still a lot of places people don’t have access to the ocean. There are a lot of environmental projects in the south of Chile because, in the deep south, the water is freezing cold. A lot of people from indigenous communities don’t have access to the ocean, so I do things as you do, try to bring people in the water. It’s something really important because you’re giving them back the culture they used to have. It’s beautiful. Little steps in trying to help put people in the water.

FS: You’ve been a big inspiration for us, your story of The Fisherman’s Son [The Spirit of Ramon Navarro, a book by Chris Malloy documenting Navarro’s life and career] – I’ve got that book right here. The message has made it all the way to South Africa, so keep up the amazing work you guys are doing. I know you also have a lot of marine plastic pol- lution issues there, weren’t you making stuff from fishing nets?
RN: It’s crazy, I think the whole world is completely polluted. Plastic is polluting the oceans, and we have a lot of issues in the south of Chile because of the salmon farming industry.

FS: Can you tell me a bit about that?
RN: Chile is one of the biggest exporters of salmon in the whole world. They farm salmon in the south of Chile in huge numbers, it’s crazy, and they’ve been doing it for more than 40 years.

FS: I can’t imagine how much salmon they must farm because you can literally go to an airport in any country in the world, thousands of kilometres away from the ocean and get salmon. How is that sustainable? It seems crazy all of that is coming from one part of the world.
RN: It is crazy. Norway and Chile are the two main countries farming, I think Norway has more regulation but even with that it’s never going to be healthy. Besides that, with Parley we do a lot of beach clean-ups and try to help people in Chile understand how badly industrial salmon farming has polluted the beaches, we need more people to help because the tragedies in all those islands are too much. If we spent the rest of our lives doing clean-ups every single day in the south of Chile we’d never finish.

FS: You need to stop it before it gets into that cycle. It’s almost too late when it washes up on the beach, we need to try and stop it from going into the ocean in the first place.
RN: What’s your psychology behind big wave surfing? What’s your mindset when you see there is going to be a huge swell?

FS: I like to be physically prepared. I train hard so when that big day comes I’m ready, because as you know, you never know when the big days are going to come, sometimes they take years, sometimes weeks. The way I think about it is, there are only really two things in surfing you can control: your fitness and your equipment. The other things are out of your control, you can’t control the waves or how you’re going to feel or what’s going to happen with the wind. I try to make sure my equipment is ready and I’m ready physically. How about you?
RN: I think it’s the same thing. I make sure my equipment is pretty much perfect, every time I see a big swell I’m anxious, I’m nervous, I’m thinking about if I’m going to get the wave, if I’m going to go deeper, this and that. I never sleep that well, I get so nervous. Obviously, I enjoy it and I want to be there every day but every single time a big swell comes, the feeling is hard to explain.

“Everyone in the world should try and inspire more people and create a legacy, no matter what they’re doing.”

FS: I feel exactly the same. Sometimes I’m just like, “I hope it’s small.” [both laugh]
RN: I think if anything has changed in my mind, now I think, “I’m just going to go out there and have fun.” If the waves come to me that’s perfect, if they don’t come to me there is nothing I can do. For example, the first time I went to Mavericks [California] it was a huge swell, and Greg [Long] was charging but I was sitting there for eight hours and didn’t touch any waves because I never found my spot. It was so crowded and I got so frustrated about it, then I realised that’s going to happen – this is life. Some days you can do things and it’s going to work your way and other days it doesn’t, and it’s fine. When I understood that, I enjoyed every session way more than I used to.

FS: I think I still need to learn that because I get so frustrated. I blame myself and I’m like, “I should’ve got a good one, I should’ve done this.” I’m getting better but maybe we all go through that.
RN: I think it’s something we’re always going to learn with the ocean and this is why I love it so much – there is always a new thing to learn. The ocean is always going to teach you in another way, we’re like little fish out there trying to play and have fun. We’re never going to have control, we’re never going to dominate the ocean, so we just have to say, “Here I am, I hope we have fun today!” [laughs] Where is your favourite spot to go surfing?

FS: I think my favourite spot is up the West Coast here in South Africa. We can go here for two or three hours and there is no one around, surf by ourselves, perfect waves. There isn’t a big surfing population in South Africa so you can drive for two or three hours and there will be nobody out. What about you?
RN: Obviously my home Punta de Lobos and all the waves around there, but I have to say Fiji is one of my favourite spots even though I’ve only been there twice.

FS: That wave you got there was so crazy, man.
RN: You know when we talk about physical preparation and the way you always dream about everything, that happened to me twice there.

FS: That is unbelievable Ramon, I didn’t know that.
RN: The paddle wave I got in 2012 was during my first three hours in Fiji, I just landed at 3am and I was surfing at 9am. An important point I always think about is, especially when you work on environmental projects and do things for the ocean, the ocean pays you back. Around the time of the 2018 wave in Fiji, I was working so hard on The Fisherman’s Son [a cinematic adaption of Navarro’s book] movie and on environmental projects to protect Punta de Lobos’ waves. For a year and a half, I hadn’t even had time to surf properly, then I went to Fiji and got that wave. I think Hawaii, Fiji and Punta de Lobos are my three favourite places to surf.

FS: I really didn’t know that, I thought maybe you’d spent lots of time there and figured out the waves.
RN: It was crazy man, even at Lobos you need to manage the waves really well, the rocks, the cold weather and everything. The next day I show up in Fiji and I had the perfect wave, it was kind of like a dream come true for me.

FS: I remember seeing that wave and thinking, “Oh my god.” Which was better, the paddle one or the tail one?
RN: Obviously, the paddle one. [laughs] It was the craziest ride I’ve ever had. With tail waves, the view is amazing and everything but you don’t get the same adrenaline rush as when you paddle into a wave.

FS: I’ve never really seen a wave at Fiji like yours.
RN: Even the local guys said they’d never seen a wave do that. In 2012 we saw one similar and that’s why in 2018 we took a tow-bar, because we said we were just going to sit on the back and wait for that wave. And that’s what happened, we sat for three and a half hours waiting for that wave.

Interview originally published in HERO 29.