Schmidt, Richard (1960 – )
Soft-spoken and methodical big-wave rider from Santa Cruz, California; runner-up in the 1999 Maverick's contest, and founder of the Richard Schmidt Surf School. Schmidt was born (1960) in San Francisco, the son of a Lutheran minister, raised in Santa Cruz, and began surfing at age eight. He came to the attention of the surf world in 1980, after Surfing magazine published photos of him charging the thick, explosive waves of Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
Schmidt's friend and fellow Santa Cruz surf...