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 lines from early talent and success, through the grind of competing and a life-threatening neck injury, to a grounded love of surfing that’s deeper than any accolades.

Soli opens up about the quiet crisis that arrived during lockdowns: paddling out and not wanting to be there. He breaks down how stepping off the contest treadmill, and reconnecting with community brought the spark back.

Then comes the hard turn: a violent injury, neurosurgeons warning he was lucky to walk, and the decision to have surgery. Soli shares what recovery taught him about slowing down, caring for his body, and holding ambition without letting it hollow you out. 

We revisit his dream run—Cloudbreak’s drainers, Shipstern’s step-ladders, and hidden points—and why he doesn’t need “bigger, faster, farther” to feel complete. Along the way, he honors the people who steadied him: a steadfast stepmum, a patient partner, mentors, and sponsors who backed a freesurf path over results.

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Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

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What are you unwilling to ignore? 

Through her experience in pro surfing, journalism and law, Patti Paniccia is a formidable advocate for equity in the water and the workplace.  

Patti helped build the IPS tour from the ground up, organised the Hawaii Women’s Surfing Hui to create opportunity, and then carried that same tenacity into law and journalism—ultimately winning a landmark workplace discrimination case against CNN. We sit down with Patti to unpack how a young surfer inspired by chasing lost boards at Huntington Pier became the woman cold-calling promoters, writing qualifying criteria, and pushing the sport past the tired trope of “curiosities with too many male hormones.”

Patti takes us inside the inaugural 1976 world tour—its camaraderie and the mess of sponsors asking for wet t‑shirt contests and “date raffles.” She breaks down why equal pay without equal opportunity is still inequity, citing the principle that interest and ability grow from access and experience. We talk media erasure and the plaques that forgot women, and the everyday tactics it took to earn respect in the lineup.

Then the story widens. Law school at Pepperdine with dawn sessions at Malibu. Local TV, an Emmy nomination, and an on-air career shaped by a reporter’s craft: tell the human story first. Motherhood reveals the limits of “we love your reporting” as doors close and memos suggest “mommydom.” Patti’s lawsuit—gruelling and precedent-setting—shows what it costs to confront power and what changes when you win. Through it all, surfing remains the anchor: of strength, confidence, and perspective that travels from the lineup to the classroom, newsroom and courtroom.

If you care about surfing history, gender equity, media accountability, or how to hold a line under pressure, you’ll find a blueprint here. Patti Paniccia is one of professional surfing's under-celebrated architects. 

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

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Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

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Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

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, and crowded lineups. 

Hear the stories behind the sails, the garden, and the choices that have shaped us. 

Also: 

It’s time for our annual giveaway – you can enter by leaving a review of the podcast before January 15th – wherever you listen to podcasts.

A couple of years ago our dear friends took us to their favourite hidden gem in Indonesia: Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat nestled into the cliffs of Sumba. We want one lucky listener to experience it, too. 

To enter: Leave us a review wherever you listen – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc with at least two sentences.

The first sentence is about your favorite Waterpeople episode, and the second is about who you would like to bring with you to experience the spaciousness and reeling rights of Ngalung Kalla in 2026 – and why you want to take that person with you. 

Don’t forget to leave a way to get in touch with you – your name, email, - any way you prefer. 

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

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Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia

Alkaway

The Sunglass Fix

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Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

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 river, Dave got a persistent staph infection and our community tousled with a question: what's wrong with our river? And what can we do about it ?

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 ground, in our community, to create the causal pathways to shift social and environmental ideas, norms, and policy. 

The first episode heard from organisers and attendees of the 2025 Waterwomen Camp Out put on by the NGO Surfers for Climate. 

In today's episode, we head to Richmond River Fest 2025,  a month-long celebration of the rivers, cultures, and communities of the Northern Rivers put on by Richmond Riverkeeper.

We hear from marine scientist Liz Hawkins, who reveals how our resident Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins use the Richmond as a kitchen and nursery. She connects river health to coastal resilience. 

Then, lifelong commercial fisher Mark lays down hard truths about the Teven/Tuckean barrage and failed floodgates. The fix is practical and proven.

Revive The Northern Rivers founder Tom Wolff speaks of his seventh generation connection to the river and gives Dave a guiding question that fills his sails.

Dave shares the story behind one of his projects this year, The Rivers Run. It's a 50-kilometer run–paddle–swim designed to recruit surfers, divers, and sailors into tree-planting, mangrove restoration, and on-the-ground river care with OzFish and Revive the Northern Rivers. 

Along the Cape Byron Marine Park and a UNESCO-recognized Hope Spot, we remember why this coastline still inspires—and what it demands in return.

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

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Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia

Alkaway

The Sunglass Fix

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Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

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 internet adopter who found his stride not in competitive surfing, but in making good fun of an earnest surf industry and culture. 

Sterling is a pro surfer and media maker from Florida’s Gulf Coast known for blending high performance surfing with comedic skits in films like GOLD and Surf Madness. He is the host of Pinch My Salt, a mashup surf and comedy podcast “where surf culture gets roasted, worshipped, and flipped upside down.” 

Sterling was the subject of the 2024 film Are You Serious? That traces his diagnosis and recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury. 

We go deep on the invisible chaos of concussion—why scans can miss it, how symptoms creep, and what happens when COVID and old infections complicate healing.  Surfing becomes both mirror and medicine, not a performance, but a practice that quiets the noise and rebuilds trust in body and mind. Along the way, Sterling opens up about his upbringing, the relief of humor, and the early internet era when he roasted the surf industry and found sudden notoriety. 

There are stories you’ll replay: Kelly Slater’s psychological heat tactics, centaur sightings that became an icebreaker, and the hard-earned lesson that being a nobody can feel like freedom. 

We talk parenting and breaking cycles, why algorithms flatten originality, the comedic brain, crisis as creative fuel, and making surfing his own again. 

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

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Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia

Alkaway

The Sunglass Fix

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Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

Not long ago, Lady Elliot Island was basically unrecognisable. In the late 1800s, it was mined for guano used as agricultural fertiliser. The island was  stripped bare. 

This is a story about what happens when one person has a vision and refuses to let hard work, qualifications or accepted definitions of 'possible' get in the way of curiosity.

Regenerating the precious coral cay Lady Elliot Island is part of Peter Gash's legacy. He is the Custodian and Managing Director of Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort and CEO of Seair Pacific Aviation. 

Peter is a licenced Pilot and has been flying tourists to the Great Barrier Reef for over 35 years. In the mid 90's, Peter took the floats off his seasplane and began flying guests to the coral cay of Lady Elliot Island on the southern end of the reef.

In 2005, Peter and his family took over the lease of the island. 

In 2018, the island was selected as the first site for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s Reef Islands Initiative, a bold program focused on building climate resilience across key reef habitats. 

In 2020, Peter was the recipient of an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for his service to eco-tourism and aviation. 

Peter talked us through the unexpected interconnections between reef systems and terrestrial ecosystems, the importance of being a ‘doer’ not a gunna, the compromise of flying airplanes, and how he’s embraced his role as an “injection of enthusiasm” for visiting world leaders, decision-makers,  business folk and scientists alike  – from  King Charles to David Attenborough.

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

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Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia

Alkaway

The Sunglass Fix

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Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

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 Mcevilly is an environmental scientist with a Masters degree in sustainability. Ke'ili grew up surfing in California, and is now based on the island of Oahu. She is an artist and waterwoman involved in the flourishing of traditional Hawaiian cultural practice, from aloha aina based conservation work, to hula and making kapa under the tutelage of Pūkoʻa Studios. 

Artist- surfer- sailor-filmmaker Chris Miyashiro shares his story in-depth here. 

Together, they are Ethnomads, two pacific islanders learning how to wayfind.

We get into an unlikely origin story: finding the canoe on Craigslist, and calling in a mentor to teach traditional lashings. 

Then the real crossing begins: A compass left unsecured spins uselessly on day one, a phone with charts pops overboard, and the crew leans into mixed navigation: swells, stars, and disciplined watches. 

Ke'ili shares what it meant to be the only wahine aboard, from cycle logistics and zero‑waste choices to the mental endurance of being surrounded by water you can't get amongst. 

They weathered cold, wet nights under June gloom, feet stuffed into wetsuit tops, and defied a fear list that covered everything from infections to constipation - revealing the gritty side of ocean travel. Along the way, the ocean becomes a classroom—mahi on the lines, journals open, and the sky replacing the newsfeed.

Threaded through the voyage is lineage. Aʻa, the star whose name means 'to burn bright' and 'to dare,' becomes both compass and prayer. We talk kuleana and wayfinding ethics, the quiet authority of mentors, and how culture lives through practice.

The canoe A'a shapes not just their route but their relationship, teaching balance, patience, and mutual care—two hulls moving as one.

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia

Alkaway

The Sunglass Fix

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Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

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 our portal into a deeper story about attention, tradition, and becoming a different kind of person at sea with artist-sailor-filmmaker Chris Miyashiro.

Chris takes us from his grandfather’s walls—painted with visions of Hōkūleʻa —to a 2,700‑mile, unsupported crossing on a double-hulled canoe that reshaped his senses and his sense of home (more on that voyage in the Ethnomads episode, forthcoming),

 Chris shares how homeschool freedom and skate culture trained him to see the world as material for making, a mindset he has carried into surf/films that inspire a sense of playful wonderment. For Chris, film school offered rules and he's  learned how to break them well. 

We talk about “nai'a brain,” the half-sleeping state where awareness sharpens, the importance of values-grounded voyaging, and his time as a guest professor at Laguna College of Art and Design. 

If you’re craving an episode that blends voyaging wisdom, creative practice, and some encouragement to get out amongst the living world, then this one's for you. 

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

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Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia

Alkaway

The Sunglass Fix

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Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

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 amongst them. 

In 2015, we hosted John for what was a precursor to this podcast - a storytelling evening in our local community hall. He was captivating - virtually no one moved for hours, as Dave's questions and John's stories interwove with improvisational tunes from The Babe Rainbow. Sipping chai and sitting on cushions in concentric circles, it felt like a gathering from a bygone era.

In honour of John's metamorphosis, we share this snippet from that evening - an audio recording that was only re-discovered after his passing - thanks twice to Nathan Oldfield. 

We trace John Peck’s path from pioneering Pipeline to a life of service, music, and sobriety, and reflect on why elders’ stories matter to surf culture. The ocean rebirths us; our job is to carry that clarity home and be useful.

On John Peck in the Encyclopedia of Surfing: 

"Peck placed fourth in the juniors division of the 1960 Makaha International, and returned the following year to finish third, but was virtually unknown in the surf world until New Year's Day, 1963, when he and California switchfooter Butch Van Artsdalen put on a fantastic display at Pipeline, with Peck spontaneously inventing a low-crouch stance, his right hand grabbing the rail of his board, that allowed him to ride high and tight to the curl. That summer, Peck's thrilling Pipeline rides were the highlight of three surf movies—Angry Sea, Gun Ho!, and Walk on the Wet Side—and earned the 18-year-old the first-ever SURFER foldout cover.

Peck had meanwhile set out on a lengthy course of alcohol and drug abuse, including a seven-year LSD phase beginning in 1965. He was involved in the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a Laguna Beach consciousness-raising group...". 

He gave up drugs and drinking in 1984, four years later began surfing again, and in the mid-'90s was reintroduced to the no

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

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Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia

Alkaway

The Sunglass Fix

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Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

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 Tess Brouwer turns a hidden spinal injury and a hospital-bed reckoning into a mental fitness toolkit. 

Together, Layne and Tess are the co-authors of the book Awake Academy, wherein they share the life altering changes that shook their respective senses of purpose.   

Layne details the comedown from her 19-year professional surfing career, and Tess, former head of partnerships for Virgin Australia, shares the tumultuous road to recovery after injury in frozen water. 

Their stories and friendship led to the creation of the Awake Academy workshop, and the book adaptation of that popular workshop features their personal stories, positive psychology principles and practical exercises to boost energy, emotional intelligence and empathy.

They talk us through adoption, shame, midlife freedom, and why labels become lenses that shape every relationship and result. There’s no toxic positivity here, just candid stories and actionable tools for stress management, trauma recovery, and sustained success—at work, in sport, and at home. 

This episode is live from The Byron Writer’s Festival –  a celebration of the act of creation, of writing and art making, community building, and the good, hard work of progress. Courtney Miller joins as cohost - she’s chair of the Byron Writer’s Festival, relentless advocate for art and community engagement  and a veritable surf rat. 

If you’re curious about cultivating resilience, mental health, high performance, and the kind of friendship that tells the truth, this conversation will land.

Send a text

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

...

Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:

Patagonia Australia

Alkaway

The Sunglass Fix

...

Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.