Waterpeople Podcast
Episodes
Howie Cooke: Artivism
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When was the last time you had an epiphany? Artist/activist Howie Cooke shares the sudden realisation that steered the course of his life's work...
Soli Bailey: Maps to Now
01 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
There's no straight lines in the ocean - nor in a surfing life.We sit with professional surfer and Bundjalung waterman Soli Bailey to trace his l...
Patti Paniccia: Raising the Bar
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What are you unwilling to ignore? Through her experience in pro surfing, journalism and law, Patti Paniccia is a formidable advocate for equity in th...
Living the Questions: answering your queries
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ever felt the ocean fix what land couldn’t? This episode, we turn the mics on one another and answer your questions about grief, love, parenting, a...
The Rivers Run: Theory of Change (pt. 2)
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What's a river to you? After cyclone Alfred crossed Australia's East Coast earlier this year, tens of thousands of fish died in our local r...
Sterling Spencer: Fan of the Universe
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At age 8, Sterling Spencer was signed to surf sponsorship and then had a successful amateur career before chasing the Pro Tour. He was an early inter...
Peter Gash OAM: Custodian of Curiosity
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Not long ago, Lady Elliot Island was basically unrecognisable. In the late 1800s, it was mined for guano used as agricultural fertiliser. The island w...
Ethnomads: Ke'ili Mcevilly + Chris Miyashiro
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Grief, love, and lineage shape a rite of passage as our guests recall learnings from storms, stars, mentors, and manta rays at midnight.Ke'ilii M...
Chris Miyashiro: Homecomings
16 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A captain wakes in the night certain he’s wrecked in mangroves—only he’s on his own porch. That jarring reentry from a month under sail becomes ...
John Peck: Rebirth
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to live a life of service? Pipeline pioneer John Peck was devout to many things over this 81 years, and exploring this question was ...
Layne Beachley + Tess Brouwer: Mental Fitness
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two friends chart a path from pain to agency: Layne Beachley examines the drive behind seven world titles and finds a search for self-worth, while Tes...
Brenden 'Margo' Margieson: Renaissance Man
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Every mid-aged Aussie bloke's favourite surfer? That's Margo. Widely recognised as the first paid freesurfer - Brenden 'Margo' Ma...
Theory of Change (pt. 1): Waterwomen Camp Out
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does change happen when we, and the world, seem stuck in our ways? We’re curious about how change happens – and what people are doing on the ...
Holly Beck: Simplicity + Therapy
10 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is there a particular fear that's still holding you back? Holistic surf therapist and coach Holly Beck talks us through the way she sees terrest...
Hunter Williams: Shapes + Templates
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who's your youngest friend? We just met one of ours: 11-year-old surfer, shaper and filmmaker Hunter Williams. This year, Hunter won the grom s...
Arne Rubinstein: Rites of Passage
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rites of passage, once central to marking life’s transitions, have faded in modernity. As we navigate rising anxiety, social fragmentation, and a wo...
Bonnie Tsui: On Muscle + Movement
08 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What moves you through the world? In the most literal sense, it's the same answer for all of us: muscle. In On Muscle, Bonnie Tsui brings her si...
Dylan Graves: The Levity Effect
08 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How much has your homebreak shaped you - your life, livelihood, the person you've become? The quirkiness of Dylan Graves' Puerto Rican ho...
Sarah Gerhardt: Unstable Bonds
08 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Besides being a professor of chemistry, Dr. Sarah Gerhardt was the first woman to ride one of the world’s most feared waves, Mavericks in icy Northe...
Kiana Weltzien: More with Less
17 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When was the last time you followed a spark of curiosity all the way to some distant shoreline? Kiana Weltzien's ocean adventures began in 2016 w...
Putting Tech in its Place with Helena Norberg-Hodge + friends
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What's lost when we hand over skills or experiences to technology ? We sat down with localisation pioneer Helena Norberg-Hodge to learn more abo...
Gary McNeill: Make It Last
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do we make magic boards last longer? Gary McNeill and Dave have been experimenting with alternative, non-petrochemical materials for the last deca...
Krista Comer: Reading Power
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you better a culture? How do we better surf culture? Dr. Krista Comer is a scholar of American literature and cultural politics. She has wri...
Otto Flores: Stepping Up
21 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Many professional athletes struggle to transition from their sport-as-career. The highs are often out of reach for pedestrian life - especially for pr...
Gail Couper: With Bells On
21 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Called the "most underrated sports person in Australia" and the "greatest Bells surfer of all time” Gail Couper has been both: at t...
Lane Davey: Body Language
21 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How many kids from Tennessee end up devoting their life to the world's heaviest waves? At least one. That's Lane Davey: Pipe Disciple, PhD, ...
Danny Johnson: Don't Overthink It
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’re getting tangential. This episode is part of a three episode slip slide behind the scenes of a project that Dave’s been working on for the be...
Jamie Brisick: Breaking the Surface
07 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Who modelled kindness for you? Who showed you how to be kind and curious in the face of difference?Before he was a Fulbright Scholar, Jamie Brisick su...
Josie Prendergast: Tidal Transitions
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Longevity in any career begs for reinvention. With more than a decade at the pro surfing game, Josie Prendergast has been navigating new waters in her...
Hanneke Boon: At the Helm
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Did sailing have more to do with early human locomotion than the wheel? Hanneke Boon, head of James Wharram Designs, suggests that may be so. Born in...
Bob McTavish: Trim & Wonder
30 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over the last half century, Bob McTavish has shaped thousands of custom surfboards. Always an innovator in surfboard design and technology, Bob pione...
Ruby Southwell: Natural Action
14 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Did you feel safe in your childhood home? If not, were you able to leave, or did you have to stay? Ruby Southwell hit the road, travelling solo for y...
Brett Burcher: Deep Breaths
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What's the most challenging experience you've faced? Did it ultimately hinder or heighten your self-clarity? Brett Burcher is a heavy water ...
Levelling Breath Practice with Brett Burcher
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a follow up to our episode with heavy water specialist Brett Burcher we wanted to share a couple of breathwork practices that Brett found most prac...
Energising Breath Practice with Brett Burcher
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this bonus episode slab hunter Brett Burcher takes us through an energising breath practice that he’s found useful when you need a little extra p...
Nidala Barker: Where We Belong
06 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Whether or not you think you belong to the Earth is irrelevant, for you simply do. By virtue of breathing in you receive a gift of oxygen given by ...
Dr. Kevin Stone: How to Play Forever
23 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why are some octogenarians still surfing, while others struggle to walk up the stairs? It isn’t luck. Harvard and Stanford trained Orthopaedic surge...
Pauline Menczer: The Uncensored Underdog
09 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How to fund a pro surfing career in the 1980s? Sell stickers, Levi’s jeans, bicycles, whatever. Sleep in your board bag. Live on a diet of mushrooms...
Sung Min Cho: African Aloha
08 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When is surfing about more than just selfish wave hoggery? Mozambique’s first professional surfer, Sung Min Cho, or ‘Mini’ for short, is writin...
Torren Martyn & Aiyana Powell: Solo, Together
08 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ever want to pack up normalcy and set sail over the horizon? What’s it really like to live at sea for a year and rarely be further than 35 feet from...
Annie Ford: Adventurous Activism
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The loudest human-made sounds: Nuclear Bomb (224 dB), Rocket launch (204 dB). And clocking in at 260 underwater decibels is the seismic blast, part of...
Sally Parkin: Sell the House
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are you investing in yourself and your curiosities? At 63, Sally Parkin sold her home to spend the better part of 2023 surfing in Australia with her f...
Stu Nettle: Voice & Vertigo
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Injuries are mostly out of our control. But recovery offers many choices. Will we allow the scar tissue to stiffen or soften us? Stu Nettle is the edi...
Pacha Lina Luque Light: Learning the Language
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Raised on a diet of deep ecology and the DIY spirit of her single mom, Pacha Light earned her first surfboard busking as a tween. She then forged her ...
Tyler C. Wilde: The Missing Piece
26 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever felt like something was wrong, but you weren't quite sure how to name it? Tyler Wilde is a teacher and bodysurfer from southern Cal...
Tom Carroll: Under the Lip
18 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A little fire can keep you warm; a big fire can burn your house down. Two time ASP World Surfing Champion Tom Carroll speaks candidly about his stru...
Christian and Ka'ale Sea: Many Beginnings
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us dream of laying roots in some balmy, wave-rich location far from where we sprouted - to grow food and let the ocean dictate the day. Few of...
Flora Christin Butarbutar: Kampung Life
24 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Around 500,000 people were displaced by the 2018 earthquake that rocked the island of Lombok in Indonesia. It was estimated that 80% of all structures...
Moana Jones Wong: Awakening
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Can a single wave really change your life? For Hawaiian waterwoman Moana Jones Wong, one wave changed everything. She shares about the fated, spar...
Lewis Arnold and Chris Nelson: Neoprene is Toxic
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What do neoprene wetsuits have to do with Cancer Alley ? The global wetsuit industry is valued at around $2.8 Billion USD."The vast majority o...
Felicity Palmateer: Nature’s Course
24 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you only had 10 healthy years left of life, would you choose to know it ?Big wave surfer Felicity Palmateer is known for her paddle-ins at Peahi, c...
Elizabeth Nguyen: Ancestral Stream
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Each of us occupies a singular ecological niche in the web of life that is uniquely ours, and when we restore ourselves to health and vitality, we ...
Chris Del Moro: Lead with Deeds
21 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With gender norms up in the air, what does it mean to be a dad today? For Chris Del Moro, it means showing up for it all - good, bad, and messy - an...
Belen Alvarez Kimble: Watch Me
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When was the last time you refused to take 'no' for an answer ? Belen Alvarez Kimble shares about the life-changing instance when she pushed...
Rusty Miller: Surfing Through Life
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What's possible in the eighth decade of life? Rusty Miller will be 80 this year - and he's still rocking off at Lennox Point and taking of...
Season 5 Trailer
07 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back for the 5th Season of The Waterpeople Podcast. Listen in as Dave and Lauren turn the mic on one another and get set for 16 fresh episodes...
James Nestor: Shut Your Mouth
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is your mouth open or closed right now ? There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: we take air in, let it out, and ...
Laola Lake Aea: Maka'ala
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lore of the Waikiki Beach Boys is well known – those legendary Hawaiian watermen like Duke Kahanamoku and Rabbit Kekai who regulated the turf of one...
Rick Ridgeway: Wild Life
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How will we choose to spend this one wild and precious life? Rick Ridgeway has devoted his seven decades to adventuring Earth's widest seas and...
Peggy Oki: Artful Activism
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As a member of the Zephyr skateboard team in the 1970’s -- made famous by the documentary Dogtown and Z Boys -- Peggy Oki was at the top of the...
Jock Sutherland: Muscle Memory
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In early 1970, Jock Sutherland enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in Vietnam. At that time, he was considered amongst the most visible and versatile...
Bonus: Guided Meditation with Nathan Oldfield
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Following on from our full length episode, Nathan Oldfield shares about his decade-long relationship with practicing and teaching meditation, and ta...
Nathan Oldfield: Breathing Room
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nathan Oldfield has journeyed into the depths of grief, and back, to make surf films brimming with reverence for the extraordinary beauty of life. He ...
Andy Ridley: Crowd Power
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Most conservation organisations mirror corporations in structure, operation, and strategy. But has that been effective? Andy Ridley, founder of Earth ...
Karina Petroni: Gumption
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when you lose it all? After a successful, 14 year professional surfing career, Karina Petroni discovered that all of her earnings and ass...
Gwyn Haslock: First Lady
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gwyn Haslock has nearly 6 decades of surfing under her belt. She was born in Cornwall in 1945, and is renowned as one of the UK’s original surfers. ...
Chelsea Woody: Cultivating Kinship
26 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For many, 2020 was the worst. Chelsea Woody, a neuroscience nurse who moonlights as a Vans surf ambassador, is clear that it was “the worst year o...
Jack Johnson: Time, Dreams & The Heart
09 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Greek myth, staring at the monster Medusa would turn mortals to stone; one needed a mirror to take the edge off. Surfer, filmmaker and musician J...
Kshisya Tachanskaya: Gifting Good Days
29 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What if your homeland was suddenly the target of foreign attacks ? What would you do? Ukrainian Kshisya Tachanskaya fled with her two children, a few...
Tom Wegener: The Artisan's Way
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Unlike golf clubs and tennis racquets, surfboards are still largely made by local artisans. But, what sets the surfboard makin...
Tom Wegener: Part 2
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Part Two of our meandering conversation with master shaper Tom Wegener talking the nitty gritty of board construction, how he almost got the call to b...
Welcome to Season Four
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Waterpeople is back with a fourth season of stories about the aquatic experiences that shape us, change us, and call us into this quirky community o...
Sam Bloom: Gravity & Buoyancy
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when life calls you to face your fears? Surfer, adventurer and mother of three Sam Bloom had to face that call after a 2013 family holi...
Committed to Questions
27 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To wrap up the third season, Lauren and Dave turn the mic on one another for a meandering chat through surf adventure stories, common questions from...
Fergal Smith: Grounded
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What is enough to move you to action? For heavy water specialist Fergal Smith, nuclear meltdown became the impetus for a radical shift in life and liv...
Acknowledging Pain & A Living Legacy with Gumbayngirr / Yaegl artist Mick Laurie
08 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is lost when a language perishes? What becomes of a language on the edge of extinction ? Artist Mick Laurie is a man of story and culture, who ...
John Florence: Navigating Edges
25 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Olympian and two-time surfing World Champion John John Florence masterfully navigates the edges of flying and falling. Riding big waves and sailing ...
Regenerating Reefs with Gator Halpern of CORAL VITA
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve already lost 50% of Earth’s coral reefs. It's estimated that 90% will be gone by 2050 at the current pace of destruction. Coral Vita ...
Sachi Cunningham: Thriving On Chaos
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2011, Sachi Cunningham quit her dream job and her psychiatric medication ( for Bipolar 1 ) in search of a deeper sense of wellbeing in daily rela...
How to Change A Mind with Louie Psihoyos
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Louie Psyhoiyos is an Academy- Award winning filmmaker and Executive Director of the Oceanic Preservation Society. He makes movies that ignite and gal...
Daize & Aamion Goodwin: A Holy Pause
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The living world moves in pulses, defined equally by motion and pause. As waterpeople, we know this. Daize & Aamion Goodwin are a couple of exce...
Surfers for Climate Action Now with Belinda Baggs
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Co-founder of Surfers for Climate and iconic waterwoman Belinda Baggs shares her story of taking action on what she sees as the greatest threat to her...
Taki Gold: Scar Gazing
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
He fled from civil war on foot as a six year old, physically unscathed, but forever changed by the unthinkable violence, rhythms, and energy of Libe...
Nature as the Third Parent with psychologist Robin Grille
03 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What does the way we treat children say about who we are as individuals, and as a culture? Our guest, psychologist and father Robin Grille, believes...
Jack McCoy: Life & Breath
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Seven years ago, an episode of breathlessness after bodysurfing -- and subsequent health challenges (including a 15% chance of survival) -- shook ...
Changing the Visuals with RHONDA HARPER
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Rhonda Harper is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, and founder of the NGO Black Girls Surf, which creates access opportunities for black and brown women and...
Taylor Steele: The Observer Effect
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If the act of looking at something changes it – an effect that holds true for people, animals, even atoms -- then what further impact does documenti...
Valerie Taylor: Sixty Years with Sharks
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Do you have a memory about the movie JAWS? Australian icon Valerie Taylor was commissioned by Steven Spielberg, along with her partner Ron Taylor, to ...
Lynne Boyer: All These Secrets
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our cultural heros, and especially our sheros, seem to always glimmer with a steely façade of smiling heteronormative perfection. The soft underbelly...
Isaiah Helekunihi Walker: Claiming Kuleana
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How far are you willing to go to protect the place where you live, love and belong? Native Hawaiians have had to face this question regularly over the...
Susan Casey: Fathoming
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What do you do with sparks of curiosity? Susan Casey follows many of them into full immersion: jet skiing down the face of a Pe'ahi set wave with...
Welcome to Season Three
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Listen with Lauren L. Hill, Dave Rastovich and Waterpeople's sound engineer/ in-house musician Shannon Sol Carroll as they sit down to recalibrat...
Cyrus Sutton: Perceiving Pattern
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do we apply pattern literacy learned from ocean life to the land? What have we learned from our historically colonial approach to surf culture? Ho...
Mary Setterholm: So Then I Prayed
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One year after founding the Women's International Surfing Association in 1975, Mary Setterholm bought a bus ticket and left surfing behind -- her...
Thomas Campbell: Chasing Sensation
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Artists take us to other worlds; they reflect or refract the beauty in ours, or not. They transport us and stretch us and dream for those of us who ha...
Jaimal Yogis: Inner Ocean
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do we navigate our own inner ocean -- the fear and anxiety and unhelpful fixations ? Student of Zen Buddhism, and surfer, Jaimal Yogis shares some...
Cetacean Culture with Dr. Liz Hawkins
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Liz Hawkins is a marine ecologist who has spent more than 20 years researching cetaceans. Liz is the founder and CEO of Dolphin Research Australia...
Tory Strange: A Place to Stay
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At least once a day for 36 years, Tory Strange has provided a surf report for waterfolk in his hometown of St. Augustine, Fl. Waking most days to se...
Seaweedy Solutions with marine ecologist Dr. Pia Winberg
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Pia Winberg is marine ecologist and entrepreneur. A fascination with the scientific properties of seaweed led her to a decades long career in both...
Paige Alms: Unfurling Fate
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Two Time Big Wave World Champion Paige Alms was born in Canada. At age 7, a life-altering trip completely changed the course for her family and set Pa...