Surfing is not for everyone but for sure for this amazing girl.
Jay Z Christ. It’s a high-stakes game, ain’t it… Yeah, but that’s big-wave surfing when it’s 80-feet in the shorebreak, a beach break.
I remember Dorian telling me in another interview how rad the joint is, how creepy… Yeah, yeah. It’s really hectic. We had been training here a couple of weeks so we had the idea that it was going to be really, really gnarly when things got really big. But, honestly, you know, it was our first time ever here at that size. We got out there and we knew we had just a short window and we didn’t want to waste it. I was the first on the rope and I told Carlos, “Hey, just go for broke. Get me one wave and I’ll be happy with one wave”. So that was our goal, you know. One big wave each. And, unfortunately, my wave didn’t go so well but his wave was very successful and I’m still here so I’m happy.
You had another near-death thang at Teahupoo, yeah? Um, to be honest, I must put down that experience a little bit after this one. I don’t think it was that bad…
But only with the benefit of hindsight… Yeah, I think this one was way more serious. People say I was unconscious at Teahupoo, and I wasn’t at all, I told everyone I wasn’t, but a lot of people claim that I was unconscious and it was a lie. But this time… I was unconscious.
Big-wave wrangling is an extraordinary biz… You know, it’s a risk when you’re willing to surf waves like that and you don’t have two people to rescue you, you only have one. I was by myself on 70, 80-foot waves for over 10 minutes. And it’s very very hard to survive with no life jacket.
I was going to ask if this had affected your desire to stomp big waves. But y’sound so breezy it ain’t even a question is it… Nooo! I’m really bummed I have a broken foot and I’m out for two months! But it was a great experience. We had the lineup to ourselves and Garrett, who’s a hero to me, (France’s) Eric Rebiere, (Briton) Andrew Cotton, it was a really good vibe. Everyone was looking out for one another and that’s what big-wave surfing is all about. We were like kids out there. We were so stoked to get out there and see the waves that big and… you know… go out and have the opportunity to do something special
