DOING THE RIGHT THING

Surfing’s an individual sport. My board, my waves, my spot—it’s not really a team thing. And when you take it on as your career, that somewhat self-centered attitude can increase tenfold. Let’s face it: It’s beautiful and fun, but add some good old healthy competition into the mix and a lot of surfing becomes about winning and self-promotion. When you’ve got that down, you’ve made it.

Take Karina Petroni, for instance—the surfing world has had some high expectations for her since grom status. From early on, her talent level preceded her; mainland America hadn’t seen too many promising upstarts for a few years and she was a definite hopeful. Finally, at 19 years old, she snapped out of the “aimless fun” stage and buckled down, battling her way through a grueling year on the Word Qualifying Series (WQS), trying to earn a place on the World Tour. And then she actually accomplished that goal—something that not many surfers can say for themselves. It’s hard work, it takes a lot of discipline and, for the most part, a competitive surfer is focused solely on herself.

For Karina, that lifestyle got a bit tiresome. “I started realizing, in competition, you’re all about you, so to speak. It’s not necessarily bad—you’re utilizing your special talent like any other sportsman. But to a certain extent, it’s really self-indulgent.” After suffering some family trauma in the past few years, Karina began to want a more selfless outlet. Her dad had just suffered from a brain aneurysm and was admitted to a nursing home, where the family ended up spending Christmas. “A lot of the people there were all by themselves and they just wanted someone to talk to,” she recalls. It was then that she realized how much she valued helping someone other than herself. “I’ve always been fond of animals, so whenever I get a chance to preserve any wildlife—especially in the ocean, since it’s my home—I take hold of it,” she says.

“I’ve always been fond of animals, so whenever I get a chance to preserve any wildlife—especially in the ocean, since it’s my home—I take hold of it.”

Karina was born in Panama, where her mom and dad had her in the water by the time she was six weeks old. Her comfort in the ocean started then, carried through to her family’s move to Florida when she was 12, and now, “I feel a little funny if I’m away from the sea for a long period of time,” she says. No wonder she spends so much time freediving—it’s about as close as a human can get to an oceanic habitat.

In fact, loving diving so much is really what sparked her special affinity for marine life. She had the opportunity to swim with some Caribbean reef sharks on a freedive last year, through an organization called Sharkwater. “We fear these animals. They have such a bad reputation but swimming with them was the complete opposite,” she says. The experience touched her. Karina then stumbled upon the Ocean Preservation Society (OPS) through some freediving instructors she and her brother were taking a course from in Kona. She was curious, the more she learned, the more she liked of what she heard about this small nonprofit organization (founded in 2005) that dedicates itself to making environmental films and raise awareness about ocean issues. They are based out of Boulder at a small film production studio and when Karina contacted them they were working on a project documenting inhumane dolphin slaughtering (really, a form of commercial whaling) that’s been going on for years in Taiji, Japan. The dolphin slaughtering became a way to talk about a larger issue: The pollution of the world’s marine resources. OPS believes that mercury levels in the ocean rise two to three percent every year due to the burning of fossil fuels and that it’s rising in apex predators like tuna, shark, swordfish, and sailfish.

“We as humans are doing what no animal in the wild will do: Foul their own nest,” says OPS director, Louie Psihoyos, who’s a former 18-year, world-renowned National Geographic photographer. “And it’s not going to get better until we change some bad habits, particularly our addiction to cheap fossil fuels like coal.” The crew at OPS is planning on putting in a 23-kilowatt solar-power system on their roof. Soon the entire staff will be driving electric cars. “We’ll literally be 100 percent powered by the sun here. Smart energy and alternative fuels are the way to reduce mercury in the oceans,” he continues. Their very first movie effort will be released in hi-def this summer. “It’s not a dry documentary or horror show. We use the slaughter footage selectively. People have described it as beautiful and horrible in the same breath,” says Charles Hambleton, assistant director of OPS. Charles had worked as assistant sail master on Pirates of the Caribbean II and III, helping to make people look like they were sailing. He is a man of the sea and Karina relates to that.

Karina finally tracked them down to let them know she wanted in. “I was pretty adamant about finding out if I could play a role,” she says. “I’m a pro surfer. My whole life is the ocean. I’m always in it. I wanted to be part of a team for once, working as a whole, trying to reach an incredible accomplishment.” So Louie invited Karina on one of their missions to Taiji, Japan, where she would first assist OPS and then later gather with some surfers and celebrities for the paddle-out, honoring the passed dolphins.

“She didn’t have any reservations whatsoever. All she said was, ‘Tell me where you need me to be and when, I’m in, no matter what.’ She was integral on the planning side of things,” says Charles, of her role making sure all the equipment worked, among other things. Once they were ready to go live with the paddle-out, they had Karina filming for them and had set her up with a helmet cam to get the surfers’ perspective. She was in constant audio contact with them via a radio, “like the FBI use,” she describes. Karina also helped with water safety, looking out for the other girls who weren’t quite as experienced as she was in the ocean.

“I wanted to be part of a team for once, working as a whole, trying to reach an incredible accomplishment.”

“Karina’s attitude is amazing,” Louie attests. “She has enormous inner strength and resolve, a huge heart, and is as courageous as any man or women I know. You get to know a lot about a person when you work 96 hours in a row with only a catnap here and there. Her leadership qualities rose up and blossomed; she was enormously resourceful and energetic.”

Through Karina and others like her, OPS hopes to reach millions within the surf community with their message. Since OPS actually has fewer than 10 full-time members on their staff, they welcome the generosity. Karina plans to visit her new friends at their studio in Colorado as soon as snowboarding season starts—for a little recreation and to assist in the next stage of movie production for the team. “I told them that I’d work for them free of charge,” she says. “I was crying when I left Japan. I was so attached to everyone there. Now I know what it feels like to be part of a group, making a difference, and wow, does it feel unbelievable.”

But Karina can rest assured that her calling hasn’t ended yet. After they complete their very first film project, OPS won’t stop at one. Next they plan on documenting some of the most pristine reefs in Indonesia with the best underwater cameras in the world. Louie’s already begun to research the area. “The day before I arrived in Indonesia, a tribe overtook the police station, shot and killed a militiaman with a bow and arrow, and the police pacified the uprising by sacrificing a pig,” he describes. “This kind of activity puts a damper on urban development, which is great for the surrounding oceans. It also gives us a window into the way things were before people and development. We want to create a stunning, artistic show while educating people on how the reefs used to look,” he says. And you can bet Karina will be there every inch of the way.

- images erik petroni, jon steele & hank fotos