In 1975, at 18 years of age and straight out of school, Darrick found himself on his first day on the job as a Honolulu City & County lifeguard assigned to mother of all beaches: Waimea Bay. Reporting in to the Bay's head lifeguard, Hawaiian big-wave rider Eddie Aikau, the course of Doerner's life was altered forever.

Aikau's story of big-wave riding and lifeguarding at Waimea Bay is one of legend, his life cut tragically short in 1978 when he went missing at sea. But to this day, many of his teachings, the essence of his big-wave knowledge, and his ocean-minded style live on with Doerner. Once Aikau's blonde-haired, green-eyed protege, Darrick has himself become legendary in big-wave circles and has made it his mission today to share his ocean knowledge and experience with others who desire it.

Now 49 years of age, Darrick can still be found charging the biggest swells on the North Shore, preferring the secret spots and the occasional tow-in session on the massive outer-reef waves.

Darrick, in your opinion, what does it take to ride big waves?
Surfing small waves and surfing larger waves is really the same thing, except that in larger waves your multiplying everything by a hundred. You're dealing with larger current conditions, heavier consequences. So you need to take all your experiences and all your knowledge and expand them into larger surf conditions and bigger circumstances. But you've got to remember, if you've got any little problems - with your mental preparation, with your physical preparation, with your equipment - those things will be multiplied x100, too.

So how do you prepare yourself?
Training. I like sports with speed and I like to train with fun. My sports are swimming with goggles so I can see the fish, check out my surroundings. I love to cycle - especially mountain bike riding. I love to surf without a leash (the chord that tethers a surfer to his board). Not only is it good training for me, but it enables you to catch waves while I'm gone (swimming for my board)! (laughs)

Cardio is really important and I pay a lot of attention to what I eat.

What about equipment?
You're only as good as your equipment. If you're going to go out and buy a gun, you know that gun can get you into trouble. Same with a surfboard "gun" (the name given to big-wave boards that are long, narrow, fast). You need to apply the training and the knowledge - the logistics from all the different lineups, and put it all together to take you to that next step. Larger waves means larger currents, so you need to adapt to larger boards. They allow you to paddle faster and ride better.

But it's not that simple... you've still got to have to want big waves to make it happen, right? When you're mentally and physically 100%, the right equipment will make it happen naturally. But you have to overcome elements like fear, big lineups, massive set waves. Have you ever been scared? Fear comes with having the wrong equipment, being unfamiliar with the surf spot, generally being unprepared.

For me, I have so many relationships with so many different surf spots on the North Shore. All those years of lifeguarding I learned all the spots, I built relationships with them and I understand them very well. Places like Sunset, that's my personal favorite, Waimea, Haleiwa. That's when it all comes together.

Now the Pipeline is not one I have a relationship with. It's possibly the danger factor, or maybe it's the people I've pulled out of the lineup dead (statistically, Pipeline is the deadliest surf spot on earth). My mental disposition there doesn't allow me to take it to the next step, so I leave it alone. You've got to know when to do that, too.

I like to be personal with my surf spots and then everything else comes naturally. Crowds in the water are very difficult on the North Shore. We're constantly trying to move away from crowds so that we can surf the wave instead of surfing around people. When you deal with crowds, you're in a different mindset. You're not able to surf the wave. But as soon as you go to an area where you're not dealing with people situations, you're able to surf the wave, concentrate on that wave. That's going to be your best session. That's why we went to the outer reefs, towing in. Not to be bigger or better, but to get away from the congestion. Towing in is easy. Paddling in is what's hard. But now that everyone seems to be getting into towing, maybe we can come back in and surf where we wanted to in the first place! (laughs)

Lifeguarding gave you a great foundation for becoming who you are, didn't it?
1975 to 1996, I worked all the beaches along the North Shore. That had everything to do with it. I worked it, I learned it. It enabled me. Once I understood the surf spot, I was able to rip that surf spot. My favorite spot was the inside bowl at Sunset. But Waimea fit my style better, because it was bigger, less crowded. But it went from 10 or 15 of us out there, to 50 or 60 people. That's when I pulled away went to the outer reefs. Towing in. Why paddle when you can fly, right?

What was it that brought you here in the first place?
I can thank my dad for bringing me to the North Shore. He handed me the (Honolulu) Advertiser newspaper when I was in my senior year of school on the Big Island and said "there's a lifeguard position open on Oahu". My first day of work, I landed at Waimea Bay. Blonde hair, green eyes, duck feet, my little yellow first aid box, and Eddie Aikau and Mark Dombrowski (like Darrick, Dombrowski is a long-time North Shore lifeguard whose rescues and experience are a thing of legend. He's still on the job at Waimea and around the North Shore beaches). Me and Mark had to set up in the shade of that little old wooden lifeguard tower that used to be at Waimea, because Eddie was the main man and he got the tower. He'd come to work in his VW van, 8 boards on the roof all strapped to one rack. And when he headed out into the water, he wouldn't come in for nothing! Not water. Not food! Nothing! He'd stay out there all day - 7, 8 hours! But he watched us and if we had problems he'd paddle in and help us. There were no machines in those days - no rescue sleds, no ATVs. We had to bust our butts! But that's how we learned what we learned and I'm grateful for that.

Aloha!