There’s a history lesson in here somewhere, I’m sure. But I don’t know how well the recorded history of skiing in the waves has been documented. Otherwise, I feel like these fellas, known as the Sickos, might have referenced it when they tried big wave water skiing recently on the Oregon Coast (it’s not identified but it was most likely Nelscott Reef). Undoubtedly, the pioneer of big wave skiing has to be multi-sport athlete Chuck Patterson. The man has ridden larger-than-usual-surf using skis at both Peahi and Maverick’s. Credit to Patterson’s athletic ability as a snow skier, kiter, SUP surfer and tow surfer. The guy can do it all.
That’s why it was sort of surprising that this group of Hood River hoods neglected to mention Patterson when they took to the surf on a pair of water skis made for jumping. While these guys are pretty talented athletes themselves, they didn’t exactly make skiing big waves look inviting. Patterson on the other hand actually makes turns on big, open faces, and uses poles to lay into his edges. And other pro skiers have made attempts in the waves, too, like Cody Townsend, a longtime staple in the freeskiing world, and now the Fifty Project. Back in 2009, Cody, who’s also a surfer who grew up in Santa Cruz, made skiing in the waves look kind of fun, along with Mike Douglas. They towed in to more fun-sized surf on Maui.
Back to the boys at Nelscott. Kudos to them for pushing it in big beachbreak surf that looks like it could tear you apart, especially being strapped into two separate boards. But with the help of local big wave guru Ollie Richardson, they survived. All in a day’s work in the vlogosphere. For reference, I included a little love for the OG of big wave skiing, below.
