Surfing officially has its biggest badass on the planet: 66-year-old Christy Davis. Davis has been surfing Maverick’s for more than two decades now, which warrants a safe assumption that he’s had more than his fair share of close calls. The one he escaped Monday may be a first at the California wave, though.
On Monday, March 11, Davis was surfing Mavs when he felt pain in his chest and eventually, numbness in his arm. He started to get worried once the numbness set in but by that point, the lone jet ski that was in the lineup had already gone in. So that’s when he asked for somebody to help him paddle in…while he was in the middle of a serious heart attack. Other surfers joined in and helped Christy navigate through the channel, warned him when waves were coming, and occasionally pushed him until he’d made it back to land.
“I ended up paddling most of the way in, I just put my head down and kept paddling and breathing,” Davis wrote in an Instagram post. “They took me straight into surgery and put a stent in my heart, my LAD was 100 percent blocked. The doctors say it was a serious heart attack and that if I was not in such good shape, I most likely would have died.”
Davis has shared a few photos and words since the madness of Monday, from detailing having a heart attack in the middle of the Maverick’s lineup and paddling in to shore, to updates from the doctors and being cleared to go home. As you’d expect, he’s dropping mentions of getting back into the Mavs lineup as soon as possible, which he says should be next season.
“I am very happy to report that I have been given clearance to go home from the hospital, that my heart is good, the damage is minimal, and I should be able to resume surfing, including Mavericks next season,” he says. “Lots of meds and rehabilitation to come, but I am so lucky and so relieved!”
