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 o

Send us a text

...

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.

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. 

Send us a text

...

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.

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

Send us a text

...

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.

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 us a text

...

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.

Every mid-aged Aussie bloke's favourite surfer? That's Margo. 

Widely recognised as the first paid freesurfer - Brenden 'Margo' Margieson is famed almost as much for his gentle demeanour as his explosive power surfing. 

We traced some of his undulating journey through a surfing life's highs and lows. From early days being propelled by legendary filmmaker Jack McCoy, to unexpectedly winning a major contest against World Tour pros, Brendan's career defied conventional paths. His distinctive "pendulum" surfing style - flowing with gravity rather than muscling through - contrasted dramatically with his contemporaries and continues to influence surfing aesthetics today.

Perhaps most inspiring is Brendan's midlife renaissance. After stepping away from surfing for half a decade, he's back in the water fresh enthusiasm. Now in his fifties, Margo is experiencing an unlikely career resurgence: complete with new sponsorships and a growing social media presence. Throughout it all, his parallel passion for bird watching reveals a sensitive man who finds joy in careful observation, whether it's reading a wave or identifying rare species.

Ready to hear how one of surfing's most beloved figures navigates the balance between risk, responsibility, and rediscovery? This episode offers wisdom for anyone seeking to maintain their passions through life's changing seasons.

Send us a text

...

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.

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. 

Listen in for stories from the 2025 Waterwomen Camp Out put on by the NGO Surfers for Climate. 

The Waterwomen Camp is an annual weekend of women in nature coming together to help shape the future of surf culture and protect what we love. Through a series of workshops, wellness, connection and celebration we focus on educating and empowering women to own their place in and out of the water.

We hear from a range of attendees - from twenty to seventy-somethings. From those new to environmental work, to those five or more decades into their activism. These are stories about women seeing needs in their community and rising to meet them – from climate policy, to first aid, cultural reconciliation, right to the hands-on nitty gritty of cleaning our local river water, so the waterways, and the surfspots that catch them, stay clean and healthy – so we can, too.

One thing we know for sure about cultural change: it doesn't happen alone. We need each other, and we need strong communities. 

This episode is part of a two part mini-series exploring theories of change. Later this year, Dave will take us to a local River Festival involved in revitalising waterways. 

Thanks to Caitlin Fine, Nidala Barker,  Zoe White, Lucy Ewing, Courtney Miller, Aunty Lois Cook, Emjay Freeman, Kate McMahon, Tilly Hiscock, Stella, Emily, Britney, Dianne Tucker, Aunty Leila, and everyone who shared stories at the Waterwomen Camp Out 2025. 

Send us a text

...

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.

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 terrestrial life play out in the water -  in terms of how we behave and how we engage with others and with the ocean. 

Holly spent 10 years as a professional surfer, where she pioneered new pathways for women in the industry as a competitor, savvy freesurfer and as president of International Women's Surfing, a largely forgotten union to push for equal pay and opportunity in the early 2000s. 

In the year 2000, Holly took home the Teen Choice award for Female Extreme Athlete. She was also one of surfing’s first reality TV stars: as one of seven pro surfers filmed and followed on Oahu’s North Shore during the 2002 Triple Crown of Surfing.

Holly moved to Central America at age 30, eventually building a tiny off-grid home that pulled focus on her values. 

Holly has a degree in psychology, an MBA, and a master’s in counselling. She is the founder Surf With Amigas – an all-inclusive surf and yoga retreat for adventurous women – which she’s run for the last 15 years from her homebase in Central America. 

Today she is part of innovating the space of therapeutic surf coaching – a modality that combines experiential and talk therapy with surf coaching to elucidate clients mental wellbeing, while also improving their surfing.

Send us a text

...

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.

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 shorts category at the Noosa International Surf Film Festival with his movie Heirloom. 

Informing an impressive depth of knowledge about surfboard building and design, is Hunter’s spectral surfing skill – he talks us through peak moments of tube time and critical hang tens. 

We meander with Hunter through the way he gathers inspiration from the living world, his startling phone call with George Greenough, and what it meant to meet Jack Mccoy at the last film screening of Jack's life. 

When was the last time you had your mind blown by a young person's refreshing take on life? 

Hunter’s infectious wonder and curiosity are a potent reminder of the importance of intergenerational relationships in all of our lives, for all of our lives. 

...

This episode is made possible by our generous partners:

Patagonia is in business to save our home planet. 

...

Primal Water, by Alkaway, is an at-home water filter that mimics nature and is boosted with molecular hydrogen. 

Head to Alkaway.com and use the code waterpeople for $50 off your first purchase. 

 

Send us a text

...

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.

Rites of passage, once central to marking life’s transitions, have faded in modernity. As we navigate rising anxiety, social fragmentation, and a world where technology permeates nearly all aspects of our shared human experience, what role could a revival of rites of passage play in reclaiming our resilience and our capacity for social cohesion?

Dr Arne Rubinstein is the CEO and Founder of the Rites of Passage Institute. His goal is to make Rites of Passage mainstream once again. He has over 30 years experience as a medical doctor, counsellor, mentor, speaker and workshop facilitator. 

He has developed programs, seminars and camps attended by more than 350,000 people globally and has effectively implemented rites of passage frameworks into some of the largest schools in Australia.

His work emphasises the importance of recognising and reflecting on key moments in our lives and pausing to understand them deeply before moving forward.

...

This episode is made possible by our generous partners:

Patagonia is in business to save our home planet. 

Its unique ownership structure reflects that Earth is its only shareholder: Profits not reinvested back into the business are paid as dividends to protect the planet.

...

Primal Water, by Alkaway, is an at-home water filter that mimics nature and is boosted with molecular hydrogen. It's a game-changer.

Head to Primal-water.com and use the code waterpeople for $100 off your purchase until June 30th, 2025.

Send us a text

...

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.

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 signature blend of science, culture, immersive reporting, and personal narrative to examine not just what muscles are - but what they mean to us. 

Bonnie attended Harvard University, where she rowed crew, snowboarded, and studied American literature. She came to surfing in her late 20s after relocating to California. 

Today, Bonnie lives, swims, and surfs in the Bay Area and contributes regularly to the New York Times.  

She is the author of four books: American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods, Why We Swim,  Sarah and the Big Wave, and her latest, On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters

Bonnie talks us through the purpose of the brain (!), learning to surf as an adult, the gendered cultural narratives around strength, the name of a whale's powerful butt muscle, and the inevitability of age related muscle loss (and what we can do about it). 

More about Bonnie here & here

...

This episode is made possible by our generous partners:

Patagonia is in business to save our home planet. 

Its unique ownership structure reflects that Earth is its only shareholder: Profits not reinvested back into the business are paid as dividends to protect the planet.

...

Primal Water, by Alkaway, is an at-home water filter that mimics nature and is boosted with molecular hydrogen. It's a game-changer.

Head to Primal-water.com and use the code waterpeople for $100 off your purchase until June 30th, 2025.

Send us a text

...

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.