Raising A Soul Surfer Read online

  Presently we meet under a yellow and green tent with a beautiful shade tree for our prayer chapel.

  When the film director Sean McNamara came over to scout out locations for certain scenes, he attended church with us under the tent. But this wasn’t where we attend church; it was at Becky’s father’s church, where he is the worship leader/assistant pastor. Raise your hand if you meet under a tent to worship God! And raise your hand if your son has married a beautiful girl who also meets for worship under another tent! We were on a time crunch and this service fit into the tight schedule. After all, what is the difference between one tent and another? (Visitors must think that here on Kauai we all meet in tents for church services!)

  The day we showed up at the beach park for shooting the church tent scene, which I thought was going to be filmed on Kauai but wasn’t, I was taken by total surprise. The scene was gloriously beautiful. A white tent was set up on the grass next to the sparkling blue water at a beach park in Kahuku. Tears filled my eyes as I looked on the scene. A large standing wooden cross was set up outside and was included in a scene. And it was so special to watch Timmy work with the camera crew. He has a very amiable personality, and the crew enjoyed working with him. Tom and I, along with some of our friends and some friends and family of other key people, were in the church scene as extras. Imagine that! We got paid to go to church!

  Tom and I sat behind Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt. Then we all sang the special theme song God had given our family right after the shark attack, “Blessed Be Your Name,” written by Matt and Beth Redman. We sang it over and over, for take after take after take, but I never got tired of it. We sang it with different angles and slight adjustments, and it was fun, fun, fun!

  The funniest part of filming the scene related to our daughter-in-law, Becky, working her job as co-producer. Because Sean McNamara is himself a talented musician, he is great at managing the music scenes. Sean put Becky in charge of keeping us, the worshipers, on track as we sang. Becky’s hand stuck out from behind a curtain and went up and down in time with the proper beat as the cameras rolled on us. All we could see was this hand leading worship. It was hilarious! Later, because we spent most of the day filming the tent church scene, the cameras focused on the worship team, which included Becky leading worship along with Carrie Underwood, a friend of Noah’s and a girl from San Diego.

  The Sunday after Bethany left the hospital after the attack, we all attended church together. For the last song, the worship team played “Blessed Be Your Name,” and God totally spoke to me through that song. Some of the words say, “He [God] gives and takes away! Blessed be His name!” We rejoiced together in the truth that no matter what happens in our lives, we are in His hands and He orchestrates our experiences for His divine purposes. This song gave me so much peace. We knew that our heavenly Father was reaching out to us to let us know that He watches over us.

  With God’s impeccable timing, this song was played in every church service we attended as we traveled during the next year—Australia, New Jersey, England, California, Haleiwa, and many other places. It was a confirmation that we were in His will. At the end of this season, during which I was going through a trial, I asked God to confirm an issue of my heart by playing “Blessed Be Your Name” at church—He did it! I was very surprised and felt very loved by Him.

  When the boys were little, I noticed that they had opposite personalities. Timmy had singular focus while Noah had a myriad antennae all tuned in to anything and everything that was going on. Noah’s ability to multitask came into play in countless ways in the making of Soul Surfer. His tenacious spirit helped him become part of the production team. Heaven provided Becky, our son Noah’s wife! She had recently graduated from California State University Fullerton with a degree in filmmaking. Noah and Becky were hired as co-producers to help fine-tune many critical details, some small and others very big. For instance, Noah was a stickler about the clothes that would or would not be worn by surfers portrayed in the movie. They both were involved and made a difference in casting, locations and music. Noah made sure the surfing scenes were kept as authentic as possible.

  Except for the few who already knew how to surf, the cast of Soul Surfer was schooled on just how difficult it is to balance on a chunk of slick-glassed foam while thousands of pounds of churning water propel you either toward rocks or reef or crashing shorebreak. I know that surfing looks easy; but trust me, compared to almost any other sport, the learning curve for advanced surfing is almost vertical.

  You can fast-track your beginner surfing experience with lessons on safety, etiquette and the main surfing skills to minimize your mistakes and possible injuries. It may sound as if no one would want to go back after a challenging day of surf lessons, but the crew of Soul Surfer really got with it. Having the right equipment, the right weather and wind conditions, along with perfect beginner waves, one can quickly learn the basics and enjoy riding the warm waves here in Hawaii.

  The most important aspect in the film was showcasing Bethany’s real surfing abilities, which Noah promoted in Tahiti. Becky was on set every day, advising Sean, our director, about every detail with dialogue, surf lingo and the accuracy of Bethany’s portrayal. Noah worked on the water unit team that spent hours filming the competitions. He helped head up and organize the Kauai unit for some of the most dramatic backdrops used in the film. Noah and Becky worked long hours assisting the art department, wardrobe, product placement and stock footage. As one of the set photographers, Noah documented the daily shoots with still photography while Becky videoed the same.

  As the filming of Soul Surfer progressed, we focused on helping to bring out the real details of the story rather than fiction. There are too many facts in the whole story that are not believable! The entire family, especially Noah and Becky, took great pains to ensure that the film realistically portrayed the surf culture, island life and, of course, our Christian faith. Noah and Becky also rounded up any and all of our Oahu friends to work and be a part of the surf contests or church crowd.

  We were especially pleased that Noah was able to get Mike Coots, his friend from surfing, who lived a few houses away from us when we were living in Kilauea, Kauai, involved in the film. Mike had lost his foot to a shark attack in 1998. This occurred while Mike was body boarding on the west side of Kauai with a group of friends who were all highly ranked competitors in the contest arena. He lost the lower part of his leg but survived by fighting the shark off with his bare hands. Like Bethany, Mike didn’t let his loss keep him from enjoying the ocean. With the help of a specially designed prosthetic leg, he has learned to stand-up surf along with continuing his passion for body boarding.

  Mike went on to get a photography degree at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California. In the film, he plays the part of a photographer shooting Loraine Nicholson, who is playing Alana in the beach photo shoot scene in Soul Surfer.

  Mike and Bethany’s stories are similar: Each was given a choice whether to be defeated or to come back stronger. These days, Mike keeps busy as a professional surf and lifestyle photographer, as well as speaking in defense of sharks from destructive fishing habits such as “finning” (cutting off the fin for food consumption and medical uses, and discarding the rest of the fish, often alive).

  Still young, adventurous and full of energy, Mike and another buddy, Miguel, towed the rotting carcass of a wild boar out into the ocean with a jet ski. Miguel waited, finger on the ignition, as Mike lowered a video camera strapped to a long paddle. It wasn’t too long before a 16-foot tiger shark appeared and snatched the pig down in one gulp!

  There is a lot of down time while scenes are being set up, but everyone seemed to make use of that time to catch up on endless cell phone calls. Sadly, this diminished the opportunity to get to know and interact with others on the set. Turning off all of those phones was critical during each scene take.

  With the strong trade winds and saltwater, the hairdressers were at their wits’ end. So you won’t see your favo
rite hairdo in Soul Surfer! When you’re surfing, you don’t care how your hair looks. Actually you may care, but there isn’t too much you can do about it while getting tossed and turned by the waves. It was an unending task keeping the actors looking like movie stars.

  Just being able to have our friends and family involved with us on this amazing project gave us a deeper sense of connection to the incredible fact that a movie was being made about us . . . about how a terrifying event on an October morning didn’t destroy us, but instead became a mighty outpouring of unprecedented blessing in our lives and in the lives of others.

  A tsunami came to the Hawaiian Islands on February 27, 2010, during the movie production. An 8.8 magnitude earthquake had struck in faraway Chile. Immediately, seismologists warned that a possible 3- to 7-foot tidal wave would race from one end of the Pacific to the other.

  Hawaii was right in its path.

  Years ago, in the 1950s, our next-door neighbors told us they had lost their oceanfront house in a tsunami but survived by immediately climbing the hill behind their house when they noticed the receding waters in the bay. I realized that tsunamis are something to take seriously. So when the air raid sirens started blaring at 6:00 A.M. on February 27, Sean disrupted our filming schedule and had everyone seek safety. The Turtle Bay Resort had rooms that were three stories high where they recommended the guests, actors and producers retreat.

  We stayed put as the phone book tsunami inundation map showed we were high enough on the hill to avoid the surge. We could look out of our window and watch as the neighbors packed up their barbecues, surfboards and jet skis.

  We had packed up a car more than once for tsunami alerts in the past. They have all hit but were too small to be of real concern. I researched and knew nothing would endanger us, so we figured this would be an opportunity to catch a few un-crowded waves!

  We loaded the car with surfboards and the camera after we saw the report that no tsunami was hitting other Pacific island locations in the path from Chile. The kids had a great surf session until the coast guard helicopter hovered and harassed them to leave the water. I have done intensive research on tsunamis and we have lived through so many false alarms that we were sure this one would have no impact. We have experienced so many really huge surf days that a three-foot surge among the regular waves is not going to keep us up on a hill.

  Later, sitting on the beach, I realized that God was showing me a metaphor not only for the film we were making, but also for what has happened in our lives. The event that could have been a tsunami of destruction and fear has turned out to be a wave of blessing. God has always had a plan for us, and He only used the perceived tragedy to advance His plan and embrace the world with a tsunami of love. It was the fulfillment of Jeremiah 29:11 in our lives.

  We were in the middle of God’s plan and we saw how He was using our lives to draw people to faith in Him. I could see that God has always kept us in His care. He was preparing Tom and me before we even knew Him personally and intimately.

  The event that rocked our family didn’t send out destruction; it sent out a wave of hope and love in the form of a story of triumph over adversity through our trust in God. The tsunami of God’s impact in our lives has not run out of energy. In the telling of our story, people are still being swept off their feet by God’s love.

  Our journey to this place began long before that shark attacked Bethany. It began far away from the lush tropical beaches of Hawaii. It began with a New Jersey boy in thick square-framed glasses, and an athletic blonde California girl in San Diego.

  Notes

  1. Laura Sheahen, “‘It’s All God’: Interview with Dennis Quaid,” Beliefnet.http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2005/11/Its-All-God-Interview-With-Dennis-Quaid.aspx.

  2. “Hilo Hawaii’s Noah Johnson Wins the Quicksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau,” HoloHolo Hawai’i, January 1, 1999.http://holoholo.org/quikeddy/q990101.html.

  CHAPTER

  2

  Jersey Boy

  The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD,

  endures forever—do not abandon the work of your hands.

  PSALM 138:8, NIV

  Tom was 13 years old when he discovered the joy of surfing.

  Does New Jersey strike you as a likely place for a thriving surf culture? News spreads fast and even faster in the surfing world. In August 1888, the cover of a magazine called the National Police Gazette, a New Jersey publication, featured a female surfer riding on a wave. This piece of East Coast history is documented by Skipper Funderburg and is part of the Surfing Heritage Foundation collection.

  Fast track to 1963, when the Beach Boys had a mega hit song with “Surfing USA.” With the help of music, it seemed as if surf fever was catching on everywhere—including the barrier island resort town of Ocean City, New Jersey.

  Tom’s dad moved the family there from central New Jersey when Tom was a toddler. Tom’s dad was a dentist, and I guess he figured he could fix teeth anywhere, so it might as well be close to the beach. So Tom, the youngest, and his two brothers, Mike and Bob, and sister Pat, found themselves in quaint and family friendly Ocean City, a small town of around 8,000 people that swelled in number every summer. When summer rolled around, Ocean City’s famous boardwalks were crowded to bursting with a great view of friendly, rideable waves.

  During that summer of 1963, the only thing that mattered to Tom and his best friend, Monk, were the waves peeling across the water off the jam-packed beach—waves that suddenly had a new meaning: Surfing!

  For most Americans, surfing was just another novelty fad like the hula-hoop or 3D movies. Surfers were daredevils riding monstrous waves in Hawaii, or hanging 10 in bikini-clad California—both faraway places from Tom and Monk’s everyday world.

  With his strong swimming background, it was a natural course of events that Tom found something to pursue outside of the pool. Of all his siblings, he was the rowdy one, the restless one, the “Trickster,” as his surf crew named him. His nickname came not because he was mischievous, although that was true as well, but because he could do some tricky things with a pool stick.

  Tom got booted out of parochial school for pelting one of the sisters with an eraser. You can imagine that his good Irish Catholic parents might have thought they had their hands full with their fourth child, especially since they only meant to have three children.

  Tom’s parents were steadfast, and like many in their generation, they made sure everyone was off to Mass each Sunday. It was more than just what they did; it was part of who they were as a classic Irish Catholic family.

  As much trouble as Tom caused the poor nuns, and for all his complaining about those boring church services, if you asked my husband about it now, Tom knew that the seeds of the gospel were planted in his heart because of the consistency and devotion his parents demonstrated in their faith.

  Church wasn’t the only activity that was important to them. The Hamiltons were an athletic family, and the ocean was a big part of their life. They were all strong swimmers, including Tom’s mother. His parents actually met in a swimming pool on an ocean liner going to Ireland. Each was in college and already engaged to another but fell in love—hook, line and sinker—on the Atlantic Ocean. Tom’s brother Mike received swim scholarships and became a teacher at Atlantic City High School. He also became the school’s swim coach, and he was a lifeguard at the beach every summer until his retirement.

  Like his brother, Tom also was a swimmer throughout high school, but it was surfing that truly grabbed his heart and soul. Right there at the end of Ocean City High School, across the crowded boardwalk, clean rideable waves came racing out of the Atlantic to curl along the sand bar next to the Music Pier. If you wanted to surf, you needed to have the right equipment to enjoy riding the waves.

  With youthful determination, Tom’s best friend, Monk, got his hands on a surfboard. The’60s era surfboards, or tankers, as they were nicknamed, were clunky, oversized boards and weighed almost as much
as your typical 13-year-old. The board was too heavy to carry alone.

  The waves kept enticing from the end of the boardwalk, but there was no way that Monk could haul the board down to the beach. It might as well have been across the country. So the two boys came up with a plan. They would share the board and carry it together to and from the beach.

  All that summer the two of them could be seen lugging around that giant board, Tom clutching the nose and Monk the tail, as they made their way across town. They learned to surf in shifts, taking turns on the one board they had between them.

  There was another serious hurdle Tom had to overcome in order to improve in his surfing. He was (and still is) very nearsighted—so much so that he wore thick black-rimmed glasses, not something you can wear in the saltwater and breaking waves. Without glasses, he was lost and disoriented in the water. Tom could not see the waves coming until they were right on top of him.

  So Tom learned to rely on the feel of the water as it shifted and to anticipate the movement of other surfers around him. He knew that when everyone else suddenly paddled off toward the horizon, a set of waves was coming in. He learned to surf in an instinctively sensitive technique.

  Years later, in Hawaii, Tom had his late takeoffs wired. He was known for surfing one particularly harrowing surf spot—a reef break where he’d drop into the waves with wild abandon, taking off at the last second. I said something about how crazy he was to take such late hairy drops, as if he lived for thrills. Usually, when surfers see a big set coming, everyone paddles hard to pick up speed to drop into a wave. If it is too late to drop in, you can have a very nasty wipeout, especially when the waves have some size. Tom confessed to me that his bravado came from his poor eyesight. He could never really see just how late his takeoff was, so he perfected his instincts and learned to drop into the biggest and gnarliest waves somewhat blindly. Amazingly, he made the drop most of the time.