Surfing Legend, Who Famously Conquered 100ft Wave Recently Detailed How “Bounty” Dirtied the Craft

Surfing legend Laird Hamilton is considered to be one of the best surfers of all time. The tales of his illustrious and iconic career include incredible feats like riding a 100 feet wave. Recently, Hamilton shared in an interview how he never liked the concept of bounties in surfing. His views on how the bounty system dirtied the sport and negatively impacted surfers are really insightful and call for introspection.

Laird Hamilton is one of the most well-known big wave surfers of all time. He started surfing at a very early age. In fact, Hamilton became an accomplished surfer at the age of 17! He has showcased some of the most amazing surfing tricks over the years. Hamilton has attempted many unbelievable surfing ticks throughout his career.

Laird Hamilton expresses his dislike for the bounty system

While talking about the changes in the surfing scene over the years in a recent interview, Laird Hamilton shared his views about the bounties in the surfing world. He admitted, “I never liked the bounty concept.” He felt that this bounty system was counterproductive for the surfing scene.

Hamilton expressed his concerns about the system harming the surfing scene in the long term. Talking about how it all started, he said, “They started this bounty for the biggest wave, double XL award.” 

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Moving further, he elaborated on the dangers of the bounty system. Hamilton thought that it was as if amateur gunfighters were trying to capture professionals. It made the entire sport unfair and difficult for those who had been performing flawlessly for years.

The 58-year-old also emphasized the recklessness the system triggered among surfers. The iconic surfer didn’t mince his words while making his stance on the system clear.

Hamilton has prospered in other avenues as well

Along with being a renowned surfer, Hamilton is a model and an actor. He left college at an extremely young age to pursue a career in modelling. Over the years, he continued doing men’s action sportswear print modeling. He has had a long career as a professional sports model and has established himself as an actor as well.

It was really interesting to get an insight into Hamilton thoughts about the developments in the sport of surfing. He shared his disagreement for the bounty system by sharing how it changed the sport altogether. During the conversation, Hamilton also revealed that the tallest wave he has ever encountered was around a 100 feet.

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