Shane Dorian, 47

Father, hunter, one of the best ever in waves 2-feet to 60. Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

- JUSTIN HOUSMAN

It’s totally possible to ride a wave so big and so intense that you just walk away from the sport afterward. I don’t think I could ever do it as dramatically as Greg Noll, but it has occurred to me. Every winter I assess my mindset and wonder if this will be the year I’ll paddle out at Jaws and decide that that’s it, I don’t want anything to do with it anymore. Now that I’ve been out of it for a little bit, I look back at some of the waves I’d ridden at Jaws and Mavs and I’m not sure I’ll ever top them in terms of a personal experience. At some point, I feel like it’s kind of irresponsible and selfish of me to put myself in tons of danger when I really don’t need to anymore. I have a lot of responsibility in my life these days.

You don’t need so many surfboards. I don’t want to be wasteful and I don’t want to maximize the amount of shit I’m throwing in a landfill. Try not to do that. I might not be the most eco-conscious person in the world, but I definitely would think about waste every time I ordered a bunch of boards.