Garrett "GMAC" McNamara (born August 10, 1967) is an American professional
big wave surfer best known for setting the world record for largest wave ever surfed, as documented in the HBO series ''
100 Foot Wave''. McNamara is also known for successfully negotiating a monstrous barrel at
Jaws and being the first person to ride a wave formed from
calving glaciers.
Early life and education
McNamara was born on August 10, 1967, in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts. McNamara has
Irish ancestry. He spent much of his childhood in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
. In Berkeley, McNamara, and his younger brother Liam, were both known by friends to be rather fearless and to shrug off the pains of rough childhood play, foreshadowing his later ability to face danger while
surfing
Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...
.
During his early childhood, his mother took the family to Central America, where she was a victim of domestic abuse and occasionally abandoned him and his brother. At one point, a
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
n farmer sought to adopt him, but his mother returned and brought the family back to America.
He then returned to Berkeley, where his mother left him with his birth father; McNamara lived with him for several years until his mother returned with a new domestic partner, who moved the family to the
North Shore of
Oahu
Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...
,
Hawai’i in 1978.
[
At 11 years old, McNamara followed his younger brother's footsteps and began surfing at ]Sunset
Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...
, Waimea and the outer reefs in search of giant swells. He entered and placed in the prestigious Triple Crown of Surfing
The Triple Crown of Surfing is a specialty series of professional surfing events that have been held annually since 1983 on the North Shore of Oahu, a coastline whose winter swells can reach in height.
The Triple Crown was founded by former ...
series at age 17 and began to gain sponsors. For the next 10 years, both brothers joined the competition circuit. For several years, his brother Liam was more well-known in the surfing community.
Tow surfing caught on among the surfing community in the early 2000s, and McNamara was one of the first to join the movement. Boats and personal water craft enabled surfers to chase down and catch giant waves that were thought to be beyond the bounds of surfers paddling with their bare hands. McNamara welcomed and craved the challenge to find the biggest waves in the world, which became his dream and mission in life.
Career
After training for a year, McNamara and tow-in partner Rodrigo Resende won the $70,000 purse at the Tow Surfing World Cup in Maui at Jaws in 2002. Later that year, he posed for the cover of major surf magazines around the world after being photographed in a dramatic barrel shot off of the coast of Teahupo'o in Tahiti. In 2003 he rode one of his most well known waves. McNamara was once again at Jaws and caught a wave with a barrel where onlookers believed he had been crushed by the lip of the wave. The wave spit and, escaping death, he emerged to the surprise and amazement of everyone watching, including himself.
The boundaries of big-wave surfing were pushed once again in the summer of 2007 by McNamara and partner Keali’i Mamala, seeking tsunami formed by calving glaciers in South-Central Alaska. A feature film was made documenting their experience.
In January 2016, McNamara suffered a severe wipeout on a 50-foot wave at Mavericks in California that caused him to skip off the water three times before being swallowed by the monster-size wave. Rescuers on jet skis eventually pulled McNamara to safety, and he suffered a dislocated shoulder and a broken upper arm that required surgery. Video of McNamara's wipeout went viral, and local surfers have said it was one of the worst wipeouts caught on video.
World record
In November 2011, chasing storms and tracking swells paid off for McNamara as he entered the Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...
. He caught a wave in Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal, after being towed into the wave from a jet ski riding a 6’0 Dick Brewer Tow Board. His record beat the prior world record by over a foot, but the premature announcement (by others, not by McNamara) proved a source of controversy in the surf world. Meanwhile, McNamara continued to search for an even larger wave.
In January 2013, McNamara broke his own world record by surfing an estimated wave. He also did this off the coast of Nazaré.
Beyond surfing
McNamara became interested in Stand Up Paddle (SUP) and gave it his own twist by designing and creating SUP boards for a more extreme experience, venturing into big wave venues like Waimea, Puerto Escondido, and Mavericks. He was invited to compete in the World Stand Up Paddle Surfing Championship in June 2009 by the International Surfing Association, where only 32 elite surfers were invited to attend.
Personal life
McNamara is married to Nicole McNamara (née Macias), an environmental sciences teacher. When they first met, both were married to other people. The couple wed at Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal in November 2012. They have three children, Barrel (2015), Theia Love Nazaré Celeste Rose (2018) and Fe do Mar Strawberry Lucy (2021). He has three children from his previous marriage to Konnie Pascual McNamara: Ariana Kaimana McNamara (1995), Titus Waimea McNamara (1997) and Tiari McNamara.
Awards and honors
* Portuguese Navy Medalha Naval de Vasco da Gama[ ][ ]
*2012 Entered into Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...
for Largest Wave Ever Surfed of 78 feet - Nazaré, Portugal
*2012 Billabong XXL Awards – Biggest Wave Award
*2012 Billabong XXL Awards – Wipeout of the Year Award
*2008 2nd Place Puerto Escondido, Mexico SUP Contest
*2008 Billabong XXL Awards – Performance of the Year Award
*2008 2nd Place Free Wave Challenge Tube of the Year
*2007 Billabong XXL Awards – Performance of the Year
*2007 Billabong XXL Awards – Biggest Wave Award
*2006 1st Place Nell Scott Tow Surfing Championships
*2006 Billabong XXL Awards – Golden Donut Award
*2005 1st Place North Shore Tow Surfing Championships
*2004 Surfer Poll – Best Tube Award
*2003 1st Place Jaws World Cup Expression Session
*2002 1st Place Jaws World Cup Tow in Surfing
Filmography
The following is based on Internet Movie Database
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
data:
Television
*'' Fuel TV'' - 12 episodes
*''Travel Channel
Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...
'' - 12 episodes
*'' Anderson Cooper 360°'' Segment
*''Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience.
It init ...
'' Segment
*''The Swell Life'' OWN - 12 episodes
*'' 100 Foot Wave'' - 12 episodes
Films
*''The Glacier Project''
*''The North Canyon Show by Garrett McNamara''
*''100 Foot Wave''
See also
* Gabe Davies
* Richie Fitzgerald
* Laird Hamilton
* Dave Kalama
* Keala Kennelly
* Mark Mathews
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McNamara, Garrett
American surfers
Tow-in surfers
Big wave surfing
Sportspeople in Hawaii
1967 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Pittsfield, Massachusetts
People from Oahu
Surfers from Honolulu County, Hawaii