Nathan Florence has had quite the time over the last few weeks. He surfed a hell session at Pipeline that blew up the internet, foiled with brother John from Turtle Bay to Haleiwa, and did shared an enormous Jaws tube with Kai Lenny.
“Nathan Florence and Kai Lenny planned to go on the same wave, but they didn’t plan on getting the first double barrel ever at Pe’ahi,” said photographer Aaron Lynton, one of Jaws’ lensman regulars when the wave turns on.
As it turned out, they did indeed get the first double barrel at Jaws, and as is the case with nearly everything these days, it was caught on camera. “Jaws is a giant backdoor wave and taking off behind barrel wizard Nathan, I should have known he’d fade and stall for the tube,” Kai Lenny told us. “There was so much space inside we easily could have fit another person. I took the low line for fear of getting sucked up the face and dropping onto his head. For me, by far the most fun wave I rode that day. We came out so stoked to have shared a moment like that. [It’s] rare and pretty much never do you get to share an experience like that with someone else. So that in itself made it special.”
There’s a lot that goes into a wave that special, though, and the first 17 minutes of Nathan’s vlog above shows it all. It was Nathan’s first time towing at Jaws, so he turned to Jaws-towing veteran Kai Lenny for some much-needed advice. And as you can see, Florence is a quick learner. If you’re interested in everything that went into the historic barrel, click ahead to the 17:30 mark.
