Big wave surfing legend Mark Mathews will deliver his award-winning motivational presentation during the Noosa Festival of Surfing next month.
The presentation, Life Beyond Fear, has been hailed around the world for the parallels it draws between putting your life on the line riding monster waves and understanding the fulfillment of personal growth in any walk of life. As the one-time Bra Boy says: “Riding the world’s biggest waves takes a great deal of courage and resilience. But the courage and resilience it takes to surf big waves is not reserved for a limited number of action sports athletes and adrenaline junkies. It’s available for anyone. When applied, these principles allow us to live a life without the controlling limitations of fear, a life on our own terms.”
Mark grew up at Sydney’s Maroubra Beach and freely admits that he started his surfing life frightened of the power of big waves. That all changed through his friendship with the fearless Abberton brothers and the rest of the group known as the “Bra Boys”, who soon got him into attempting Tasmania’s treacherous Shipstern Bluff, one of the surfing world’s most dangerous “slabs”.
Since those beginnings he has become one of the world’s most respected big wave riders, conquering monster waves at home and all over the world, and picking up a slew of Oakley Big Wave Awards along the way. But he hasn’t escaped unscathed. A horrific wipeout in 2016 threatened to end his career when it severed the nerves in a leg. Showing the courage and resilience he talks about in Life Beyond Fear, Mark staged a miraculous comeback and is back riding big waves.
His presentation focuses on three surfing reference points that can be applied to “real life”. The first, Out The Back, examines the courage required to commit to taking off on a big wave. As he says: “You have to want it more than you fear it”. The second, Wipeout, looks at how to survive the impact zone, in the surf as well as in life. The third, The Next Wave, examines motivation and stress management to overcome adversity, and after a three-year rehabilitation when doctors told him he’d never surf again, no one knows that journey better than Mark Mathews.
Says festival organizer Josh Allen: “This is an amazing opportunity for you and your friends or business team to be inspired by a world-renowned speaker and big-wave surfer. Having personally experienced Mark’s story in the past, I highly recommend his show to anyone, surfer or not.”
Live at The J, 8pm, 11 March. Tickets $55 at noosafestivalofsurfing.com
