Full interview with James

Unlike most big wave surfers, James didn’t grow up at the Ocean, but in the middle of South Africa. After catching his first wave at the mature age of 12 though, nothing could keep him away from the salty playground anymore and he’s taken full advantage of it ever since.

This even lead to James’s participation in the WSL Big Wave Tour in 2015/2016 where he was competing with the best big wave surfers on waves that a normal human being shouldn’t even think of surfing in their dreams. Not that they treated him gently – in January 2016 James had the wipeout of his life at Jaws (Hawaii), when his eardrum as well as his inflation vest burst and his leash snapped – pretty much the worst-case-scenario. Luckily he survived it, as well as many other precarious moments in the ocean, for example when he broke his back surfing a – relative to Jaws – small wave in Cape Town. His relationship with the sea doesn’t stop at surfing though – he kite-/windsurfs, SUPs, spearfishes, swims and has increasingly often been spotted on foils out in the Southern African ocean.

We seriously couldn’t think of a better first ambassador for Oceaneers than James – stoked to have you on board!

Full interview with Tammy

You do not want to drop in on Tammy Fry, or at least not intentionally and repeatedly. Karate runs through her veins. She’s won multiple South African National Championships and is also the 2017 Australian Open and Queensland karate champion. On top of that, she’s a self-defence coach and knows well how to power her body with plants. In fact, Tammy runs regular workshops in which she shares her deep knowledge around plant-based nutrition (check out her beautiful blog called Seed.)

Having grown up in Durban and now living on the Sunshine Coast down-under, Tammy has never been far from the oceans and developed a strong bond to water.

This has also had a strong impact on her 2 kids – both are avid surfers, competing up and down Australia’s East Coast and even sharing waves with their neighbour Julian Wilson every now and then.

When Tammy isn’t on the water, moving like water, or giving workshops on how to power a super active lifestyle through plants, she runs the Marketing department of Fry’s Family Foods, the iconic producer of plant-based foods, founded by her father back in 1991. Fry’s is now present in retailers across the US, UK, South Africa and Australia, and has recently launched the plant-based fish-style fillet – we haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but are very excited about this!

As if all this weren’t enough, Tammy is also the director of Meat Free Mondays Australia and South Africa and is often found as a speaker on national and international stages, true to her motto “Spread love everywhere you go.  Let no one come to you without leaving happier” (Mother Teresa).

Tammy, we’re so stoked to have you onboard, may your (seemingly endless) energy, compassion and experience inspire lots of Oceaneers in their reduction-journey!

Full interview with Terence

Terence is a passionate waterman and endurance athlete, Australia-raised and global-citizen especially attracted to the watery parts of the world. Nature and the ocean has always been a significant part of his life where he feels a deep connection, and is fortunate to live, breathe and bathe in its wonder every day.  The wild stillness of the ocean brings him back to a natural state of being.

In early 2018 he launched a passion project called The Ocean Lover where he intends to build a deeper awareness and connection with the ocean for people through sharing personal stories, creating and investing in ocean-related projects.In July 2019, Terence  circumnavigated – in the form of a staged swim – the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, covering around 100 miles (180km) and swimming up to 5 hours per day. This Solo Swim was a world-first and had the intention of increasing global awareness and action about our responsibilities as humans to the ocean.

He has partnered with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii (SCH), a grass roots, nonprofit organization doing amazing things for ocean awareness working with local communities in Hawaii. Oceaneers-founder Kaspar Paur was part of the crew supporting Terence in this endeavour. Terence also works with Seabin Project who provide a solution for plastic and waste collection in marinas and ports. He now resides in the magical Byron Bay, Australia where pristine nature is at his doorstep.

Terence, after all the adventures we've already had together it's a huge joy to know that you're part of this venture as well!

Full interview with Emi

Emi has created the reality that most of us are dreaming of: Getting paid to go surfing, through a sponsorship with Billabong. Interestingly enough, this dream came true after a profound personal transformation Emi had when witnessing poverty both across the border in Mexico, as well as in Nepal where she spent a summer in Monastery teaching local kids science and arts (the science part was a bit tricky, given the language barrier).
These two experiences made her realize that she wants to contribute to a more equitable world, and that just pursuing her surfing career won’t bring her the peace & happiness she was looking for (aren’t we all?).

So at the tender age of 19, Emi started a non-profit called Beyond The Surface International, a beautiful initiative that ‘works at the local level with remote and marginalized small-scale fishing communities for social-ecological wellbeing.’
8 years later, Beyond the Surface has partnered up and learn with & from coastal communities from Jamaica to India and everywhere in-between. By now they use surfing, mindfulness and participatory media as tools to engage local youth and their families around marine conservation, climate change adaption and social environmental justice.
Emi ended up building a home base with such a coastal community in Lobitos, Peru but could more recently also be found more long-term in Vietnam, before the C-virus gently sent her home to San Diego.

Given the wonderful work Emi is doing, it’s not surprising that we weren’t the only organization with our eyes on her: Emi was named 2018 NatGeo Adventurer and 2019-2020 Fulbright Nat-Geo Digital Storytelling Fellow – Iggy is impressed!

Emi, it is barely 2 months that we know you, but we’re so stoked to have you on our team. Your work inspires us, and we’re so excited for the joint path ahead!