Santa Cruz surfer Richard Schmidt has been at the forefront of big-wave riding for the better part of 20 years. A multi-year invitee to the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau event and the Men Who Ride Mountains contest at Maverick’s, Schmidt’s greatest competitive achievements came in 1990, when he finished third (after scoring a perfect 10 on an impossible drop) in the Eddie Aikau event in mind-bending 20- 25-foot conditions. Although his big-wave game is still sharp, Schmidt has, over the past decade, focused most of his energy on giving others the gift of waveriding. His Richard Schmidt Surf School, founded in 1978, has taught thousands of beginners the art of waveriding.