Waterpeople

Has something astronomical ever made you reassess your life's trajectory?
Jon Swift is an astrophysicist and lifelong surfer with a PhD from UC Berkeley. He runs a research observatory at The Thatcher School in Ojai, California, teaches math and science, and his music has featured in cult surf films from the 2000s, like Shelter and The Drifter.
Jon shares his story of living alone in Mexico after finishing a physics degree, and the cosmic event under a desert sky that lit his path forward. 
In this conversation, Jon takes us from the ocean to the outer edges of the galaxy. He speaks to the golden age of modern astronomy, and explains how a small, autonomous research observatory still does meaningful work by moving fast on transient events like exploding stars and tidal disruption events near supermassive black holes. 
We talk about the disjoint between flashy space exploration narratives and the realities of basic research funding, plus what higher education is worth when running the student debt math.  
Jon pinpoints the origin of Earth's water, speaks to how surfing trains pattern recognition, and explains why so much of the universe, including waves, moves in spirals.
It's rare to hear someone move effortlessly between a black hole and a backyard, without either one losing its significance. With deep curiosity, Jon shares stories that get at the timeless mystery of why phenomena like waves and stars can still rearrange what we care about.
Listen to Jon's music from the episode here and here.  
Learn about his forthcoming children's book here. 

Send us Fan Mail
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Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.

How good are you at convincing people you're fine?
On a burnout-inspired whim, Bryanna Bradley booked a one-way ticket from inland Canada to Hawaii. She quit her job and started putting in hours in the water at Waikiki. Surfing first, but her goal? To become a surf photographer.
Bryanna has become one of the surfing world's leading cold water photographers, building a community and career based in Tofino, British Columbia.
In 2022, off Sayulita, Mexico, Bryanna found herself shooting photos in the wrong place at the wrong time: a longboard trimmed right into her head, centimeters from her eye. She was stitched up and cracked jokes through it, convincingly enough that the doctor never ordered a scan. She went back to her Airbnb alone.  Four days later, declining fast and unable to walk straight, she took a taxi by herself to the nearest hospital and learned she had a brain bleed.
We trace Bryanna's story from landlocked Canada to Florida beach trips with her grandmother, then into the deep end of photojournalism at 19, when her job was to run toward car crashes, homicides, and trauma with a camera. She shares the eating disorder that gripped her amid grief, and the 3,000-mile solo thru-hike she undertook in the middle of her recovery.
Bryanna ultimately walked the Continental Divide Trail from Mexico to Canada. In the episode, she explains why long-distance hiking called to her after injury, what pain and monotony taught her, how micro goals beat overwhelm, and what ultimately helped her relax from "bracing for impact" in the ocean. 
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The forthcoming film Let Me Chase This Dream traces Bryanna's accident, through-hike and recovery. 
Send us Fan Mail
...

Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.

What does it take for you to slow down?
Ziggy Alberts started playing live at 17, admittedly underprepared, but fizzing. By 21, he was staring at a studio ceiling noticing the lights had gone dim, but no one had touched the switch. It led him to break down to a friend. After years of “hell-for-leather” world-touring, he'd finally stayed still long enough to feel what he'd been outrunning.
Ziggy is a songwriter, surfer, and founder of Common Folk Records, the independent label he built with his family and has run for nearly nine years. He grew up homeschooled on the Sunshine Coast, home-birthed and beach-shacked, surfing ratting before music making. 
In 2025, Ziggy, now in his 30s, toured 165 days and played The Royal Albert Hall to a packed house of fans who crossed Europe to be there.  
This year? Only 3 or 4 shows. In this episode, he explains why.
Our conversation moves through burnout and self-belief, busking the streets of Byron, the physiological crash that follows a long tour, what it takes for men to talk to each other, and the art of dissolving — in music and in surfing, both.
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Ziggy’s song ‘Runaway’ is featured in this episode. 
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Notable links + recommendations from this episode: 
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Michael Hutchence / INXS documentary
New Jack Johnson film
Steph Strings, Aussie musician
Spotify daily upload rate — conversations cites 60,000 songs per day, that stat seems to be older, probably more like 100,000+ in 2026. 
Send us Fan Mail
...

Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.

When was the last time you had an epiphany? 
Artist/activist Howie Cooke shares the sudden realisation that steered the course of his life's work - a handful of decades on the front lines of marine protection via NGOs, art, music and direct action. 
Howie has spent 50 years boogie boarding, playing guitar and painting. He has shown in hundreds of art exhibitions around the world – in addition to his large-scale murals, mostly of cetaceans. 
Twenty years ago, Howie co-founded the NGO Surfers for Cetaceans to activate surf media on the issue of whaling. S4C then grew into one of surfing’s most scrappily impactful direct action organisations – through campaigns like Transparentsea, films like Academy Award winning documentary The Cove, and collaborating with groups like Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd.
Along the way we dig into what keeps conviction alive as you age: ideals without absolutism, humor as a tool, and the role of the artist in a world flooded with distraction. 
If you care about the power of art, cetacean conservation, ocean pollution, or creative environmental activism, this conversation offers both practical lessons and deep emotional re-centering. 
We talk through the campaigns, contradictions, and  mindset that have kept Howie moving forward without slipping (too far) into perfectionism or despair.
Send us Fan Mail
...

Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.

There's no straight lines in the ocean - nor in a surfing life.
We sit with professional surfer and Bundjalung waterman Soli Bailey to trace his lines from early talent and success, through the grind of competing and a life-threatening neck injury, to a grounded love of surfing that’s deeper than any accolades.

Soli opens up about the quiet crisis that arrived during lockdowns: paddling out and not wanting to be there. He breaks down how stepping off the contest treadmill, and reconnecting with community brought the spark back.
Then comes the hard turn: a violent injury, neurosurgeons warning he was lucky to walk, and the decision to have surgery. Soli shares what recovery taught him about slowing down, caring for his body, and holding ambition without letting it hollow you out. 
We revisit his dream run—Cloudbreak’s drainers, Shipstern’s step-ladders, and hidden points—and why he doesn’t need “bigger, faster, farther” to feel complete. Along the way, he honors the people who steadied him: a steadfast stepmum, a patient partner, mentors, and sponsors who backed a freesurf path over results.

Send us Fan Mail
...

Co-Hosts + Production: Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray   + Ben J Alexander 
Closing track: 'Sunseekers' by Andysixstring

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast 
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia: in business to save our home planet
Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat: surf adventure paradise 
The Sunglass Fix: give your favourite sunglasses new life
Sodii: hydration for salty humans
...
Subscribe to our newsletter for BTS stories from making the podcast, and the books, films and music we’re currently into. Written by us + free to read.