Photo: Ben Gravy // YouTube
Even the worst session has a silver lining. Whether it’s the scenery, lineup camaraderie, or just one standout wave that made it all worth it – there’s always something to make it all worthwhile.
Ben Gravy, despite his usual relentlessly sunny disposition, had to look pretty hard for the silver lining on his most recent trip, though. Right out the gate, he was confronted with an all-too frequent occurrence for traveling surfers – a board destroyed by baggage handlers. “They hammered these things,” bemoaned Gravy upon receiving a pair of boards with his careful packing ripped off. Later on, during a damage report in the Honolulu airport parking structure, he explained, “I packed this bag with the bigger board on the bottom and the smaller board on top. They took my boards out, switched them, and they actually destroyed my back rail and my fin box. I’m not really sure why they would want to take this box apart. The nose is destroyed. It honestly seems like they ran it over.”
However, he didn’t let the setback derail his trip, and in the end was rewarded for his persistence. “We arrived in Hawaii to a decent swell at Waimea Bay here on the North Shore of Oahu,” explained Gravy in the caption. “Overall, I don’t think it’s the biggest waves I’ve ever paddle surfed, but this one wave, in particular, that I used for the thumbnail is definitely the biggest wave I’ve ever caught at Waimea Bay & I’m stoked about it!”
