Waterpeople Podcast

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 a text
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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia
Alkaway
The Sunglass Fix
...
Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.
You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

What are you unwilling to ignore? 
Through her experience in pro surfing, journalism and law, Patti Paniccia is a formidable advocate for equity in the water and the workplace.  
Patti helped build the IPS tour from the ground up, organised the Hawaii Women’s Surfing Hui to create opportunity, and then carried that same tenacity into law and journalism—ultimately winning a landmark workplace discrimination case against CNN. We sit down with Patti to unpack how a young surfer inspired by chasing lost boards at Huntington Pier became the woman cold-calling promoters, writing qualifying criteria, and pushing the sport past the tired trope of “curiosities with too many male hormones.”

Patti takes us inside the inaugural 1976 world tour—its camaraderie and the mess of sponsors asking for wet t‑shirt contests and “date raffles.” She breaks down why equal pay without equal opportunity is still inequity, citing the principle that interest and ability grow from access and experience. We talk media erasure and the plaques that forgot women, and the everyday tactics it took to earn respect in the lineup.

Then the story widens. Law school at Pepperdine with dawn sessions at Malibu. Local TV, an Emmy nomination, and an on-air career shaped by a reporter’s craft: tell the human story first. Motherhood reveals the limits of “we love your reporting” as doors close and memos suggest “mommydom.” Patti’s lawsuit—gruelling and precedent-setting—shows what it costs to confront power and what changes when you win. Through it all, surfing remains the anchor: of strength, confidence, and perspective that travels from the lineup to the classroom, newsroom and courtroom.

If you care about surfing history, gender equity, media accountability, or how to hold a line under pressure, you’ll find a blueprint here. Patti Paniccia is one of professional surfing's under-celebrated architects. 

Send a text
...

Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia
Alkaway
The Sunglass Fix
...
Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.
You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

Ever felt the ocean fix what land couldn’t? 
This episode, we turn the mics on one another and answer your questions about grief, love, parenting, and crowded lineups. 
Hear the stories behind the sails, the garden, and the choices that have shaped us. 
Also: 
It’s time for our annual giveaway – you can enter by leaving a review of the podcast before January 15th – wherever you listen to podcasts.
A couple of years ago our dear friends took us to their favourite hidden gem in Indonesia: Ngalung Kalla Eco Retreat nestled into the cliffs of Sumba. We want one lucky listener to experience it, too. 
To enter: Leave us a review wherever you listen – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc with at least two sentences.
The first sentence is about your favorite Waterpeople episode, and the second is about who you would like to bring with you to experience the spaciousness and reeling rights of Ngalung Kalla in 2026 – and why you want to take that person with you. 
Don’t forget to leave a way to get in touch with you – your name, email, - any way you prefer. 

Send a text
...

Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia
Alkaway
The Sunglass Fix
...
Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.
You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

What's a river to you? 
After cyclone Alfred crossed Australia's East Coast earlier this year, tens of thousands of fish died in our local river, Dave got a persistent staph infection and our community tousled with a question: what's wrong with our river? And what can we do about it ?
How does change happen when we, and the world, seem stuck in our ways? 
We’re curious about how change happens – and what people are doing on the ground, in our community, to create the causal pathways to shift social and environmental ideas, norms, and policy. 
The first episode heard from organisers and attendees of the 2025 Waterwomen Camp Out put on by the NGO Surfers for Climate. 
In today's episode, we head to Richmond River Fest 2025,  a month-long celebration of the rivers, cultures, and communities of the Northern Rivers put on by Richmond Riverkeeper.
We hear from marine scientist Liz Hawkins, who reveals how our resident Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins use the Richmond as a kitchen and nursery. She connects river health to coastal resilience. 

Then, lifelong commercial fisher Mark lays down hard truths about the Teven/Tuckean barrage and failed floodgates. The fix is practical and proven.
Revive The Northern Rivers founder Tom Wolff speaks of his seventh generation connection to the river and gives Dave a guiding question that fills his sails.
Dave shares the story behind one of his projects this year, The Rivers Run. It's a 50-kilometer run–paddle–swim designed to recruit surfers, divers, and sailors into tree-planting, mangrove restoration, and on-the-ground river care with OzFish and Revive the Northern Rivers. 
Along the Cape Byron Marine Park and a UNESCO-recognized Hope Spot, we remember why this coastline still inspires—and what it demands in return.
Send a text
...

Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia
Alkaway
The Sunglass Fix
...
Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.
You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

At age 8, Sterling Spencer was signed to surf sponsorship and then had a successful amateur career before chasing the Pro Tour. 
He was an early internet adopter who found his stride not in competitive surfing, but in making good fun of an earnest surf industry and culture. 
Sterling is a pro surfer and media maker from Florida’s Gulf Coast known for blending high performance surfing with comedic skits in films like GOLD and Surf Madness. He is the host of Pinch My Salt, a mashup surf and comedy podcast “where surf culture gets roasted, worshipped, and flipped upside down.” 
Sterling was the subject of the 2024 film Are You Serious? That traces his diagnosis and recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury. 
We go deep on the invisible chaos of concussion—why scans can miss it, how symptoms creep, and what happens when COVID and old infections complicate healing.  Surfing becomes both mirror and medicine, not a performance, but a practice that quiets the noise and rebuilds trust in body and mind. Along the way, Sterling opens up about his upbringing, the relief of humor, and the early internet era when he roasted the surf industry and found sudden notoriety. 
There are stories you’ll replay: Kelly Slater’s psychological heat tactics, centaur sightings that became an icebreaker, and the hard-earned lesson that being a nobody can feel like freedom. 
We talk parenting and breaking cycles, why algorithms flatten originality, the comedic brain, crisis as creative fuel, and making surfing his own again. 

Send a text
...

Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich
Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast
...
Thanks to our generous sponsors this season:
Patagonia Australia
Alkaway
The Sunglass Fix
...
Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.
You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.