Jamie Mitchell

There are currently more elite athletes across the globe who can legitimately claim to be "big-wave riders" than at any time in the history of the sport of surfing. Very few, however, can make this claim of having surfed all of the Earth's oceans and having experience at virtually every big-wave spot on the planet. Most big-wave riders are specialists who have found or otherwise carved out a place and name for themselves at a specific surf spot or two relatively close to home.

There are plenty of guys recognized at Waimea (on Oahu's North Shore) or Mavericks (in Northern California). Others are celebrated as chargers at Peahi-Jaws (on Maui), Puerto Escondido (Mexico), Todos Santos (Baja, Mexico), or Dungeons (South Africa). At this stage, these are all relatively "established," otherwise well-known big-wave surf spots. More heavy water spots are coming into the limelight, and along with them, new names, some being Nazare in Portugal, Shipsterns in Tasmania, Belharra in France, and the elusive Cow Bommie in Western Australia.

As far as common knowledge goes, the only person to charge all of these spots — often in the same year — is Australia's, Jamie Mitchell. Mitchell is genuinely a global big-wave rider, always a standout wherever and whenever he paddles out on 1 of his prized Pearson-Arrow guns.

Mitchell is in a premier league of big-wave chargers who closely monitor global weather and swell forecasts, ready, willing, and more than able to drop everything and go wherever necessary to catch and ride the largest, most powerful, majestic, and dangerous waves in the world. This select club includes Grant "Twiggy" Baker from South Africa; Hawaii's Shane Dorian, Kai Lenny, Koa Rothman, and Billy Kemper; and California's Long brothers, Greg and Rusty.

Although few others are included in the club, Mitchell is unique even among this rare group of athletes. His surfing career comes on the heels of an otherwise unparalleled paddle-boarding career.

Mitchell was the most dominant professional paddleboarder of an entire generation. He won the prestigious and grueling Molokai Challenge World Championship an unprecedented (and unrepeated) 10 times. The 32-mile channel crossing from the Hawaiian island of Molokai to Oahu arguably represents the most physically and mentally challenging athletic event in any of the world's oceans. After years of paddle racing between islands, riding a few big waves relatively close to shore is a walk in the proverbial park for this waterman extraordinaire.

Last year's exceptional El Nino winter surf season saw some of the largest and most consistent surf in decades, including a big day for the Quiksilver Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau at massive Waimea Bay, an event Mitchell competed in and in which world champion John Florence bested him.

This surf season (2016-2017) has been relatively mild by comparison, but there have been moments of spectacle and glory, particularly at Europe's newest and most fearsome big-wave spot: Nazare, Portugal. In December, Mitchell was crowned champion of the Nazare Challenge, besting a crew of the world's top paddle surfers in highly challenging, life-threatening conditions. The 25- to 30-foot borderline closed-out, double-up beach-break at the now infamous Praia do Norte became Mitchell's first-ever win on the WSL Big Wave Tour.

After the event, I caught up with Mitchell back in Hawaii. In the following interview, we discuss his training routine and mentally preparing for each competition.