Originally published in partnership with Oceanographic Magazine.

On 29 October 2020, Sebastian Steudtner would surf the largest wave on official record at 86 feet. Strange things happen when waves reach 86 feet.

The reality of all that water falling far and fast is just too strange, and our brain refuses to acknowledge the their true size. Instead, the biggest waves in the world can appear gentle and slow moving. There are no 86 foot waves, just 8 foot waves taking their time. It is only when a human standing on a plank glides across the face of the wave that each of the 86 feet seem to stack up before us.

Once you witness that, it is no surprise that surfers need to dedicate a lifetime to surfing these ocean conditions just to stand a chance of surviving them. That is why Sebastian Steudtner’s words a couple of years later were so unexpected: “I didn’t grow up by the ocean. I didn’t have rich parents to travel around with me as a kid, I didn’t start surfing until I was an adult.”

This quote stayed with me long after I’d stopped mind-surfing his record-breaking lump of saltwater in Nazare, Portugal. It didn’t seem possible for someone who had learnt to surf so late in life to reach such an elite level. They lack the time, and more importantly, they lack the necessary ocean instincts. To add to the mystery, multiple sources tell of Sebastian’s first time surfing French waters at the age of 9, and his subsequent trips to Hawaii at age 13. So it seems Sebastian’s claims about being an adult-learner were exaggerated.

However, what is true is that Sebastian initially grew up very far away from the ocean he would one day build a career in. In his younger years, many miles and months at a time separated Sebastian from what he loved to do the most. I think his words help to highlight this rare thing amongst surfers: a lack of an organic connection to the sea.

For many in the professional surfing world, their connection to the ocean goes beyond memory. There are idyllic memoirs of the surfers whose parents would hold them up on a foam board before they could walk, or tales of the ‘water babies’ come ‘water people’ who were reading waves before they could read books. If you were new to this world, you might be forgiven for thinking that a surfer is someone who never felt panicked in the ocean, but who simply met all of that water overhead with a comforting sense of unity.

Of course, this isn’t true. Even those born with the sea close by have had to work hard to feel at home in the water. But much of this work feels automatic and natural at a young age, and nowadays, each time these surfers paddle out, they know that they couldn’t be anywhere else.

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It isn’t just surfers who feel at home in the water. Ocean photographers, divers, conservationists, explorers, and a host of people who grew up in coastal towns all feel the same sense of belonging to the ocean.

Some of the most striking examples are found when we feel connected to others through the ocean. Many Polynesian cultures understand the ocean as animate – protecting, challenging, and encouraging those who live nearby. The waters might provide resources one day, offer safe routes to travel the next day, or threaten to submerge their islands entirely. For people with Polynesian heritage, their connection to the ocean can serve as the common thread that links them to their ancestors and allows them to feel connected to those who came before.

The ocean makes connections forwards as well as backwards. Ocean-based conservationists express a deep feeling of connection, through the ocean, to the future generations whose resources they are fighting to conserve. Proximity to the ocean makes the gravity of this responsibility much more tangible. Our waves are the inheritance of people who are yet to be born, and how we act today will determine whether we pass on a healthy and flourishing ocean ecosystem, or its carcass. For ocean activists, their connection to the water facilitates a shared reality, one where people living today can look through time and imagine eyes meeting.

There is a lot written about the surfers, divers, and conservationists for whom the sea has been a constant from their earliest years. That is why Steudtner’s words are so refreshing. Although we are all equal in our connection to the ocean, we are not equal in how we come to acquire it. Some are born with it, a few are just too stubborn to go without.

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The ability to live close to our oceans in an increasingly rare privilege. Those who are not in a position to move must settle with the commute. Many ‘inland surfers’ will travel far upon news of a big swell. Like migrating birds, they cross the country on the hope of favourable weather patterns at the other end.

Even the inland surfers are lucky compared to the billions of landlocked people who can only dream of commuting to the sea. But to think of these people as hopelessly disconnected from the 71% of our planet that is covered by oceans is a failure of imagination that ultimately harms our ecosystems. The truth is your impact undoubtedly reaches our oceans regardless of where you live.

Over 90% of global trade is carried by sea, the ocean generates 50% of the oxygen we breathe, and our world’s climates are regulated by our oceans. Whether or not we feel at home in the water, it is a part of our ecosystem, and therefore a part of our home. By changing our perspective on who can and can’t feel a connection to the ocean, we help to increase our global ocean literacy and our ability to protect the ecosystems upon which we rely so dearly.