You watched the Jaws Challenge, didn’t you? Oh, if you didn’t, you missed out. It was everything a big wave event should be. The waves, as they should be, were very big. They were so big that only a handful of people on this earth would even think about venturing out and attempting to surf them. The wipeouts, as is to be expected, were as big as the waves themselves. There were lots of wipeouts, but Jamie Mitchell’s might very well have been the worst of them all. He called it his “worst wipeout ever, hands down,” which is saying a lot. Jamie Mitchell is one of the most experienced big wave surfers in the world, so he’s had his fair share of horrible wipeouts.
The risks we take in pursuit of the perfect wave. from r/surfing
It’s hard for an average surfer to comprehend what happens on a wipeout like his. Unless your local spot is Jaws, it would be an entirely different thing than falling at your local spot, even on the biggest of days. But Jamie posted about the wipeout and what exactly happens when you go headfirst down a 50-foot wave. Since we can’t comprehend it, we’ll let him take it from here, via his Instagram post:
“This photo is not how I envisioned my day going. I was 100 percent ready and really thought today was going to be special for me. But Mother Nature had other ideas. I will say it was my worst wipeout ever, hands down, today. I hit so hard when I fell I’m not sure if I blacked out or not but I remember getting sucked over, then was instantly on the bottom and pinned to the rocks on my back. There was so much intensity down there I don’t even know how to explain it, but thank God it finally let me up and I hit the surface with a second to spare before the next one mowed me down.
I was seeing stars and not really with it after that. I tried to go back out and get back into the heat but was really just a passenger as you saw when I fell on my second wave which I should have made. But I couldn’t see straight and my balance was off. So not the day I wanted, but shit happens.”
