Waterpeople

What's the most challenging experience you've faced? Did it ultimately hinder or heighten your self-clarity?

Brett Burcher is a heavy water specialist - a slab hunter who chases the thickest waves to some of the most far flung locations. He was given an irrevocable invitation to learn to lay down, be still and breathe when he hit the reef and suffered a spinal cord injury in remote South Australia.

We wanted to talk story with Brett not only for his crazy stories of stretching the edges of his genre of wave riding, but also because he’s transformed the intense things that have happened to him into meaningful action to help others.

Brett is a former professional surfer, turned primary school teacher, who now shares his experientially honed breathwork skills through retreats and workshops. 
Brett also works as a disability support worker. He was recently in town to support surfer Cliffo Gralton — who competed at the Adaptive Surfing World Tour event held in Byron in March 2024.

We caught up with Brett between heats to talk about facing insomnia, training  the "Sunset  special" and getting into flow. 

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In this episode we also hear briefly from 5x ISA Para Surfing World Champion Victoria Feige who is campaigning for the inclusion of Para Surfing at the 2028 Olympics. She's looking to gather 25,000 signatures - Sign on to support her efforts here.

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Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 

Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet

Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 

The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life

Sodii: hydration for salty humans

...

Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read. 

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 practical in his own life - whether he’s dealing with insomnia, or about to drop into a bomb set wave.

This is a levelling breath practice— not an upper or downer -- just a way to reconnect with a gentle balanced breath state. 

Send us Fan Mail

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Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 

Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet

Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 

The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life

Sodii: hydration for salty humans

...

Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read. 

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 pep in your step.  

This is your reminder: breathe like you mean it. 

Send us Fan Mail

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Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 

Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet

Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 

The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life

Sodii: hydration for salty humans

...

Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read. 

“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 the tree and soil, by virtue of breathing out you gift carbon dioxide to the kelp so the fish may have their home. To accept our shared responsibility to the Earth, IS to remember our belonging.” – Nidala Barker

Nidala is a surfer, musician and custodianship educator. She traces part of her ancestral roots to the Djugun and Jabirr-Jabirr people of the Kimberley in Australia’s  North West, where she was initiated in lore and story. 

Nidala holds a Masters Degree in Sustainability, in addition to degrees in Public Policy and Social Justice Law. In 2021, she released a carbon neutral EP named ‘Colours of my People.’ and sits on the board of Green Music Australia and The Returning Indigenous Corporation. 

Through her music and custodianship workshops, Nidala blends Indigenous wisdom with innovative scientific perspectives to remind us of our belonging to this world. Her work invites us to step bravely into our shared responsibility to protect country. 

Nidala talks us through the near drowning that saved her, how to acknowledge country meaningfully - and why, building a tiny home from waste, and what it means to step into custodianship. 

Send us Fan Mail

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Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 

Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet

Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 

The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life

Sodii: hydration for salty humans

...

Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read. 

Why are some octogenarians still surfing, while others struggle to walk up the stairs? It isn’t luck.

Harvard and Stanford trained Orthopaedic surgeon Kevin R. Stone, MD, believes that injuries present as opportunities to better our athletic potential - they can make us fitter, faster, and stronger than before.   He is the author of Play Forever: How to Recover From Injury and Thrive.

Dr. Kevin Stone is a waterman and a world-renowned expert in biologic joint replacement. He founded The Stone Clinic and is Chairman of the Stone Research Foundation.

Dr. Stone has served the US Ski Team, the US Pro Ski Tour, the Marin Ballet, the Smuin Ballet, the Modern Pentathlon at the US Olympic Festival, and the US Olympic Training Center. His innovative work in the orthopaedic arena has led to multiple awards, publications, and grants and has resulted in approximately fifty issued US patents.

Dr. Stone talks us through a recent injury, the vulnerabilities of a surfing body, new paradigms of ageing, the remarkable regenerative capacity of our bodies, and why play should be part of every day.  

Send us Fan Mail

...

Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 

Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet

Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 

The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life

Sodii: hydration for salty humans

...

Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read. 

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 and bread.  World Champion Pauline Menczer got resourceful and hustled however it took to get her to the next stop of the tour. 

“In the 80s and 90s, surf culture was toxic, especially towards women. Pauline was a dirt-poor, chronically ill teen from Bondi, who defied insults and intimidation to make a name for herself in the surfing world. 

When Pauline's determination propelled her onto the pro tour, her battle for acceptance and equality didn't end there. The endemic sexism of the industry meant prize money for women was a pittance, while sponsors ignored her because she was gay and didn't have the stereotypical surfer girl look that male marketing managers were after. Despite these challenges, Pauline became the 1993 World Champion and played a key role in bringing greater equality to the sport. 

Pauline recently penned a memoir called Surf Like a Woman. Through it we see clearly the unfairness of a sexist surf industry, and the rise of a modern surf shero who won the world title — and has made a life of sharing the gifts of a surfing despite physical, emotional and financial adversities. 

Send us Fan Mail

...

Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 

Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet

Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 

The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life

Sodii: hydration for salty humans

...

Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read. 

When is surfing about more than just selfish wave hoggery? 

Mozambique’s first professional surfer, Sung Min Cho, or ‘Mini’ for short, is writing a new story for surfing – he’s part of a burgeoning surf culture rising from the wake of three decades of armed conflict in the region.

 In 2018, Mini  co-counded Tofo surf club, Mozambique’s outpost of Surfers Not Street Children, which empowers street kids through surf coaching and mentorship. The effort has been funded in part by Pope Francis.  

Mini is on a mission to earn representation for his country in the Olympics — and spoke to us passionately about his love of surfing – not just for himself, but as a tool to lift up others, especially kids -- and as a lens for Mozambiqucans to write and tell their own stories in their own words. Stories about a nation brimming with natural beauty, resilient people and very good surf.

photo credit: Alan Van Gysen

Send us Fan Mail

...

Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 

Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet

Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 

The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life

Sodii: hydration for salty humans

...

Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read. 

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 your new significant other?

Torren Martyn and Aiyana Powell talk us through the peaks and troughs of life aboard Calypte, a borrowed 35-foot sailing boat that they spent 12 months sailing 9,000-kilometres - from Pattaya in the Gulf of Thailand to Lombok, an Indonesian island east of Bali -  a journey chronicled in their new independent film Calypte. 

With little practical sailing experience, Torren and Aiyana learned as they went – how to be fisherfolk, navigators, meteorologists, and mechanics to take care of running repairs — and still found plenty of surf along the way. 

Torren and Aiyana talk us through the happenstance of meeting, their time aboard Calypte – the trials of trust and communication at sea— and their newest adventure – starting a family together.

Photo credit: Ishka Folkwell

Send us Fan Mail

...

Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 

Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet

Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 

The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life

Sodii: hydration for salty humans

...

Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read. 

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 a process for exploring for oil and gas in the ocean. Unlike bombs and rockets, however, seismic blasts "fire approximately every 10 seconds around the clock for months at a time."

For eight years, Marine Biologist Annie Ford worked onboard seismic blasting vessels, and felt the relentless explosions and reverberations from her bed at night. She has since peddled away from the fossil fuel industry and  become one of its most creative whistleblowers.

Annie is a mountain biking  world record holder and has spent time surfing and sailing around the world, including multiple expeditions to Antarctica.

Today, Annie is the National Campaign Manager for the Surfrider Foundation Australia, where she is currently working to halt the largest marine seismic blasting project ever proposed. It is slated to take place off the coast of her home island of Lutruwita (Tasmania) – and will emit some of the loudest human made noises ever created – to the detriment of an entire ecosystem.

We caught up with Annie as she completed a 4,000 km bike ride (that about 2,500 miles) to talk about endurance, optimism, changing careers, and her entwined commitment to kindness, climate action and adventure.

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To get a download of the seismic blasting audio file to share at your community event, school, or tense family gathering, please send us an email: [email protected]

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Dave & Ben

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Photo Credit: Rod Drury 

Send us Fan Mail

...

Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 

Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet

Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 

The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life

Sodii: hydration for salty humans

...

Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read. 

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 family.

Sally is known for "single handedly"  reviving  the 100 year old tradition of English surfing on wooden bodyboards. She first surfed one at age 5, and decades later, when her family's quiver started to break, she realised there was only one local maker of traditional boards remaining.

She founded The Original Surfboard Company to both produce timber boards and to recover the lost art of English prone surfing. 

Joined by surf historian and shaper extraordinaire Tom Wegener, we met up with Sally on her tour of Australia, and she talked us through the logistics of reviving a nearly-lost art, researching the great novelist Agatha Christie's surfing adventures, and the joys of adaptive bottom contours. 

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Dave & Ben

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...


Photo Credit: Celia Galpin

Send us Fan Mail

...

Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 

Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet

Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 

The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life

Sodii: hydration for salty humans

...

Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.