Finding Mastery: Conversations With Michael Gervais

Nic Lamb surfs very large waves. He’s a professional surfer on the Big Wave Tour, and was ranked number 4 in the world last year. A native to the Santa Cruz area in California, Nic is no stranger to a wave called Mavericks. It’s legendary for how heavy the conditions are. At 14 years old, Nic Lamb became one of the youngest surfers to ever charge Mavericks and was one of the youngest competitors in the event in 2014. He won the Mavericks contest in 2016 — you need to take a look at this wave (see below). I wanted to interview Nic to better understand the concept of thinking clearly in rugged environments. We all have real or perceived threats — we can learn from those who excel, on the world stage, in conditions that are very dangerous. More importantly I hope people take away a new way of thinking about risk — maybe a new– way to re-design risk-taking; it’s not about physical risk (which could be a mistake for those who didn’t tune in because they’re not sure how to learn from surfing) — the real risk