in late 1992, hamilton with two of his close friends, big wave riders darrick doerner and buzzy kerbox (also an occasional men's fashion model; hamilton and kerbox later lost their friendship over a property disagreement), started using inflatable boats to tow one another into waves which were too big to catch under paddle power alone. this innovation is chronicled in the documentary film, "riding giants". the technique would later be modified to use personal water craft and become a popular innovation. tow-in surfing, as it became known, pushed the confinements and possibilities of big wave surfing to a new level. although met with mixed reactions from the surfing community, some of whom felt that it was cheating and polluting, hamilton explained that tow-in surfing was the only way to catch the monstrous sized waves. using tow-in surfing methods, hamilton learned how to survive waves and carving arcs across walls of water.