I'm Gary O'Reilly. And this is playing with science. Today we head for the beach and we are so amped. Yes we are. We may shoot the curl, we might have to bail. We will probably get mulled and if you understand any of that, you then are no baloney.

Dude, that's the only surfer term I know. You know, helping us to stay away from the gnarly stuff and steer us to the serious science of the big ways is William Patser oceanographer at NASA and super cool surfer dude himself from California. Then we go all pro with professional surfer and big wave champion page arms who is based in Maui. Yeah, I don't like her already. Cool. Right. There are a few sites in sport that are

as awesome as seeing a surfer take on the big waves make that huge descent and then emerge through the barrel. It is breathtaking and possibly the most fun you can have with physics. And when I say awesome, I don't mean it in that cliched way. I actually really mean it is awesome. Yeah, it is. It's a beautiful thing to be hold to watch somebody drop in and ride away then shoot the curl and come out that the end of that barrel and stand up.

It really looks like a human being triumphant over the entire ocean. Take that mother nature. Or be it temporarily because we don't like to upset her. That's for sure. She does have a temper. So introduce a new best friend. Our new best friend is Mr. Bill Patser, who is a NASA oceanographer and a former surfer. Oh, I don't know. Should I say former Bill? Welcome to the show and do you still surf my friend? Okay. Hello, dude.

Hello, I could have been I should have been a contender, but I spent too much time in the classroom. Got my PhD, but I've been surfing now for over 50 years.

Way to surf. Take a balsa. That's fabulous. That is amazing. So that's a lifelong surfing career, really. You you seem to have an unique approach on the sport of surfing, being an oceanographer.

So has it been an advantage to have this I'll call it inside knowledge of the oceans as regards to getting the best out of your surfing?

Well, you know, the answer that of course is yes and no, you know, it's one thing to know the physics, but it's another thing to be a great surfer.

Yeah, all world class athletes, either you have it or you don't. And I definitely did not have it. All right.

All right. Mother's, we appreciate some mother's date. Yeah.

Well, what would be the biggest way of you actually claim to have surfed?

Well, you know, back in the 60s and early 70s, I lived in Hawaii. I was at graduate school at the University of Hawaii.

And the schedule was you get off before dawn. If the surf was up head for the North Shore, you know, either sunset beach or Makaha. That's right.

The, you know, I can remember paddling out and all of a sudden finding myself looking down the face of a 25 foot wave and thinking, what the hell am I doing here?

All right. And so I definitely met almost met my maker, but you know, it was, I think it was accelerating. And I actually dropped in and wiped out. And that was it.

Was that the extent of your big wave surfing career right there?

Yeah.

Something, something you said about you going out to sunset beach pre dawn made me think because we're going to get on to where we find the biggest waves in the world.

But you said all of a sudden, instantly a 25 foot wave pops up. Now there's got to be a reason why all of a sudden a wave that wasn't there is there in an instant.

Well, you know, the great waves and the, in the world are really a question of where the great storms develop, which build these great waves as they travel across the world's oceans.

And you know, in California, where it comes to mind is the great Mavericks, well, North of San Francisco were waves reach 50 feet.

Wow. Yeah.

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