„the story of a professional big wave surfer“
Specialized to paddle Big Waves and grown up in Berlin, Freddy Olander proves that with drive and ambition even a city boy can conquer the most difficult and biggest waves around the world…
Big Wave Surfing
The sport of surfing divides the surfing of big waves (from approximately 4m upwards) into the Paddle In and Tow In categories. This means that experienced surfer paddle into big waves with so-called “guns”. These are very long surfboards that enable surfers to build up sufficient speed for extremely large waves while paddling. These surfboards are very stable, but more difficult to manoeuvre due to their size.
From a certain size wave it‘s no longer possible to paddle in. In this case, jet skis help to tow the surfer into the wave on a so-called “tow-in” surfboard. These surfboards are considerably smaller and more manoeuvrable than the paddle-in surfboards. For tow-in, the surfer needs a team to tow them into the wave.
Freddy Olander
“For a city child like me, surfing was like liberation: I could finally escape from the confines of the concrete desert and into the vastness of nature and waves. Surfing enables me to forget everything else around me and to experience many emotions in one moment. When I ride, it is just me and the sea. You could compare it to a meditative state. That is the reason why I’ve been a passionate surfer for more than 20 years.”