The Florence brothers are extraordinarily good at surfing. The interesting part about that is that all three have vastly different styles. John, of course, can do it all, and he does it all very well. The world titles under his belt are testament to that, but Nate’s got a bit of a different focus. He isn’t all that interested in the kinds of waves that might be on offer during a contest window and has chosen instead to chase giant, terrifying surf all over the world. Ivan, the quietest of the bunch, is almost Lopez-like with his quiet confidence.
Nate and John John Florence recently decided they’d do a little brotherly trip together, and chose the Solomon Islands. Remote destinations are often the best places for a surf trip — lack of crowds and all that — but when that remote destination includes a wave so thick, so slabby, and so backless that it gives the Florence brothers pause… well, it’s a scary wave.
After stumbling on the spot described above, John John made the decision that it was a little too remote to attempt. “The team made a decision,” they wrote. “John felt it was unsafe to surf with help so distant. No medivac in an emergency and no hospital within days.”
They left the dingy for Zoard and Erik to shoot from while Nate went in for a closer look. “Huge barrels,” he exclaimed to the GoPro in between sets. “But psycho side-wedges. It’s pretty intimidating. I can’t tell which ones are the good ones.”
As the sun began to dip towards the horizon, Nate paddled himself into the lineup. While he didn’t actually paddle for one, just sitting in that maelstrom and waffling between paddling for one and not, his heart was probably pounding as much as riding the biggest barrels.
“I could not tell anything out there,” he exclaimed as he paddled back to the dingy. “The section down from me, I couldn’t tell what it was doing. All those waves are paddle-able except for the really big ones. That was so gnarly… it was too big, too unruly, and too much water moving. Maybe wave of your life for about 10 seconds, and then maybe dead on the reef.”
So while they may not have surfed this mysto wave this time, I’d wager it’ll be stuck in their brains until they attempt it again. Hopefully on a day that’s not quite so… death-defying.
