CONNECTED BY WATER
Sion Milosky’s death at Mavericks in 2011 left the big wave surfing community reeling from the loss of another talented surfer. It was a wake-up call. Big wave surfing was advancing faster than safety protocols, and something had to change. Later that year, a group of surfers led by Kohl Christensen and Danilo Couto gathered in Kohl’s barn on the North Shore of Oʻahu and held a CPR course taught by a veteran emergency room nurse. This was the first unofficial meeting of the Big Wave Risk Assessment Group (BWRAG). The following year, BWRAG held its first public summit at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore, expanding its teachings from CPR to first aid, water rescue skills and more.
A couple of years later, veteran Hawaiian lifeguard, surfer and ocean risk specialist Brian Keaulana joined BWRAG at Kohl and Danilo’s invitation, bringing with him decades of ocean safety knowledge that substantially expanded BWRAG’s training offerings. Over the next decade, BWRAG evolved into an international gold standard, holding summits all over the world that covered ocean risk management, CPR and AED training, first-aid medical intervention, spot analysis, mindful breathing and energy management, emergency action planning and water rescue, taught by some of the world’s best emergency response-trained big wave surfers and ocean technicians, including Greg Long, Patrick Chong Tim, Andrea Moller, Mark Healey, Pam Foster, Jon Hoover, Ryan Hargrave, Ian Akahi Masterson, Liam Wilmott, Ramón Navarro, Otto Flores, Gabriel Villarán, Daniel Ross and Zeb Walsh, to name a few.
We were lucky enough to run a bunch of interviews with some employees from BRWAG to collect more information about the program. Here are the questions and the answers.
When, why and how did the BWRAG come to life?
Response courtesy of Zach Diionno, Managing Director, BWRAG
In 2011, motivated by the tragic loss of fellow big-wave surfer Sion Milosky, Danilo Couto and Kohl Christensen assembled a small group of surfers in the barn at Christensen’s farm. Their goal was to address the lack of risk management that was evident in big-wave lineups around the world, and to complete a standard CPR course to bring themselves up to speed.
From this gathering, the members formally assembled as the Big Wave Risk Assessment Group (BWRAG) in 2014. The big-wave safety movement was born and since then, summits have been held annually every December in Hawaii as well as a growing number of locations worldwide. Summits have evolved into comprehensive trainings in ocean safety and surf risk management, including CPR/AED and first-aid training, case scenario analysis, mindful breathing and energy management training, safety equipment showcases, and open-ocean rescue training.
Today, BWRAG is led by Christensen, Couto, Brian Keaulana, and Pat Chong Tim, and with global ambassadors including Greg Long, Jon Hoover, Ryan Hargrave, Andrea Moller, Mark Healey, Daniel Ross, Zeb Walsh, Gabriel Villaran, and Ramon Navarro. BWRAG continues to expand the reach of its curriculum to surfers all over the world, and importantly, aims to serve not only big-wave surfers but all surfers who are pushing their own relative “big-wave” levels.
Can you give us an overview of the course?
Response courtesy of Zach Diionno, Managing Director, BWRAG
BWRAG’s Surf Responder Course is a two-day training designed for surfers of all levels and abilities. This course teaches you how to be a Surf Responder: an ocean athlete who not only knows how to mitigate their own personal risk, but who can also serve as an asset to others in an emergency situation.
Completion of BWRAG’s in-person Surf Responder Course earns a student a BWRAG Surf Responder Certification and a CPR certification. The course is also a prerequisite for purchasing a Patagonia PSI vest and the BWRAG certificate of completion must be presented to Patagonia to begin the PSI vest purchasing process.
Does the program consistently evolve?
Response courtesy of Zach Diionno, Managing Director, BWRAG
Since our first CPR training in the Kohl’s barn nearly 10 years ago, BWRAG’s programming has continued to mature and become more dynamic. The in-person summits now offer training in our proprietary ocean risk management curriculum, CPR certification, first-aid/medical interventions, mindful breathing and energy management, emergency action planning, spot analysis of surf breaks, forecasting, safety equipment review, and in-ocean water rescue (by person, surfboard, or jetski). We’ve expanded our training offerings beyond Hawaii to the mainland U.S., Australia, South America, and Europe, with plans to extend offerings in Asia and Africa in the upcoming years. We plan to evolve from a “traveling training” circuit model to institutionalize BWRAG in states on the Mainland U.S. as well as countries around the world.
With the disruption of our 2020 schedule, caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, we’ll be releasing a high-quality online version of our Surf Responder Course that will allow ocean-goers of all ages, ability, and sport backgrounds to access our curriculum. We currently have students from over 20 countries and 30 states signed up for the online course. The online course will be offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Japanese, thus furthering our reach to areas where we otherwise cannot physically be present.
BWRAG is also working with its partners to develop products and equipment that can be accessible to individuals around the world who wish to enhance their ocean safety toolboxes.
One cool thing is that a variety of people — from professional big wave riders to young children — get involved with BWRAG. Would you recommend the course to any surfer?
Response courtesy of Zach Diionno, Managing Director, BWRAG
Yes, most definitely. While the organization’s origins started in the big-wave community, it has evolved to serving the larger ocean-going community at large, whether you surf, kite- or windsurf, paddle, kayak, or just enjoy playing in the shorebreak. This course is geared towards surfers and ocean athletes of all levels and abilities. We use the motto “2 to 20,” meaning that the knowledge conveyed in our training is appropriate for any ocean-goer, whether they’re in two-foot ankleslappers or twenty-foot behemoth waves. In fact, most surf-related accidents occur in small-to-moderate-sized surf, when people’s guard is down so we strongly recommend anyone who spends time in the ocean to take this course. We’ve seen (and encouraged) a huge growth in the number of young people (9-18 years old) who have taken the course, as well as parents who wish to serve as surf responders in an emergency. How great would it be to know everyone has some level of ocean safety training to react instinctively and decisively in the event of an emergency?
© BRWAG, photography by Sarah Lee
When did you get the idea to create a digital BWRAG course?
Response courtesy of Zach Diionno, Managing Director, BWRAG
2020 was going to be a big year for BWRAG. We had an ambitious 18-summit schedule planned, including the launch of a new Photographer Summit and Wahine Summits. We didn’t plan on a global pandemic. No one did. COVID-19 forced many businesses and operations to shut down in an effort to preserve the health and safety of our communities. BWRAG was not excluded. We were forced to cancel all of our in-person summits for 2020 and are on hold through the beginning of 2021. Like everyone else, we had to pivot and design a new way to deliver the crucial life-saving training and risk management skills. Again, like everyone else, we turned to the digital space for new ways of delivering our valuable life-saving content. The answer? The BWRAG Surf Responder Online Course - an 8-module course taught by our world-renowned team of accomplished watermen and waterwomen.
What can somebody expect to learn through the digital BWRAG course?
Response courtesy of Zach Diionno, Managing Director, BWRAG
BWRAG’s Surf Responder Online Course is a training curriculum that delivers the impactful in-person summit experience in a virtual format that you can access right at home. This course is geared towards surfers and ocean athletes of all levels and all abilities. Students will learn essential lifesaving skills and tactics from some of the world’s most experienced and accomplished watermen and waterwomen.
The Surf Responder Online Course is broken down into eight modules, each of which contains multiple video chapters filled with the critical knowledge you need to be prepared to save your life or another’s. Taught by the same elite instructor team, the Surf Responder Online Course covers the same comprehensive curriculum as the in-person class. The modules are:
Ocean Risk Management
CPR/AED
First Aid: Bleeding Control, Breaks, Dislocations, and C-Spine Injuries
Mindful Breathing & Energy Management
Spot Analysis
Emergency Action Planning
Safety Equipment
Water Rescue: Swim, Surfboard, and Jetski Rescues
For those who wish to purchase a Patagonia PSI vest, students must complete the entire Surf Responder Online Course (all 8 modules). BWRAG will provide Patagonia with a list of student names to confirm their completion.
© BRWAG, photography by Seth Roulet
Big wave surfing has improved dramatically over the past ten or so years. Do you think safety has played a big role in that?
Response courtesy of Kohl Christensen, Co-Founder, BWRAG
Absolutely. Look at Peahi. Nobody is surfing out there without one of the different types of flotation suits or vests available. That was the game changer. Guys are now paddling into huge windy 50 ft waves and packing tubes. Without safety skis in the channel and flotation that wouldn't be happening.
It seems like vests have grown in popularity as safety has become a point of focus in big waves. Can you give us some background and details on the Patagonia PSI vest?
Response courtesy of Kohl Christensen, Co-Founder, BWRAG
Patagonia's PSI vest is a labor of love. A passion project fueled by Fletcher Chouinard who loves big waves himself. His goal - to create a product we can trust and maybe save a life. Patagonia embraced the project and over countless hours of research and development, and hundreds of sessions on surfers around the globe, developed an incredibly ergonomic and functional inflation vest meant to work under a full suit or springsuit. Meanwhile creating a standard of responsibility for the user by requiring the completion of a BWRAG course in order to purchase one. Always reminding us that the product may fail and that it should never be a replacement for proper training.
We love the concept of being connected by water. Can you explain that?
Response courtesy of Kohl Christensen, Co-Founder, BWRAG
The concept that “we are connected by water” is one of Brian Keaulana's mantras that we have adopted here at the BWRAG and have shared with the world. It essentially means we are all in this together and have the responsibility to be outstanding stewards of our planet. We only have one Earth and we are all connected by water, which is life.
© BRWAG, photography by Jarrah Lynch
The 2020 schedule was canceled due to COVID-19. In its place, BWRAG’s Surf Responder Online Course will be available in January 2021. Enroll here (https://www.bwrag.com/store/p/surf-responder-online-course).
I met Caleb Cutmore in 2019 on a surf trip and was so confused as to why there was no footage of him to be found anywhere. Over the period of that trip we started putting together a plan for a project in 2020. COVID hit and our first few trips were postponed but after the countries four week lock down we started lining up swells and our work load to come together and film.