Big Wave Surfer Buzzy Kerbox Visits Southampton

Buzzy’s back in town.

He dropped by to see some friends, one of which was Bruce Weber, the photographer who singled out Buzzy from a surf magazine photograph to be the quintessential Polo Sport face. It was a long relationship but Buzzy and Weber hadn’t seen each other in 15 years.

Buzzy said, “We started right in as if we had seen each other just last week.”

Another friend, Shane Dyckman, who owns talked Buzzy into staying around for a few days to teach some surfing here in Southampton.

Born in 1956 in the Midwest, Buzzy’s family moved to Hawaii when he was 11 and his amazing life in the water began. He won local contests and, working his way up won the Smirnoff Pro Am in 1974. On Oahu's North Shore, Buzzy progressed through the semifinals at Sunset Beach, and moved on to the classic big wave arena, Waimea Bay, where he surfed the largest waves of any event in surfing history.

In search of ever bigger waves Buzzy and Laird Hamilton began towing each other into mountain size waves at Phantoms and Outside Backyards on the North Shore. Refining this technique opened the monster waves at Jaws on Maui to the surfing world. Tow-ins made massive wave riding a possibility and changed the definition big wave riding forever.

Buzzy has had a small surfing school on Maui for the last 15 years and he still models. He just finished a four-day photo shoot for the Bermuda Tourist Board. Buzzy also likes the other side of the camera. Photography is another life-long passion. He says he is never without his camera, and at this point of his life he wants to share his view of the water, like moments inside a barrel at Jaws, offering a perspective few people would otherwise ever see.