At any given time, there are a lot of million-dollar luxury charter boats cruising around the Mentawai Islands finding the most incredible waves. And yet the people on shore are suffering. The whole scene is wrong. As a surf community, we have to do something.

We dream of the perfect wave, the perfect job, the perfect house. When we get there, we dream of something else.

At any given time, there are a lot of million-dollar luxury charter boats cruising around the Mentawai Islands finding the most incredible waves. And yet the people on shore are suffering. The whole scene is wrong. As a surf community, we have to do something.

The surfing - the waves in Indonesia are amazing.

To catch a wave, to stand up - it was just life-changing. There was nothing that even came close. I quit playing all other sports - by the time I was eleven, they were toast.

I've always been a big supporter of the Surfrider Foundation. I started my own foundation, Rob Machado Foundation, which focuses on environmental education for the little people of the world.