Photo: Nathan Florence // YouTube
Getting pummeled at Pipeline is an experience no surfer really wants. Most wouldn’t even survive it. For those curious for a taste of pain, though, Nathan Florence has posted a POV look at what it’s like to get stuck on the inside at one of the world’s fiercest waves, along with analysis of how it all goes down.
Nate’s first encounter with heavy water happens a few minutes into what is otherwise pretty standard POV outing for the North Shore slab hunter. A heavy left rolls in, and he and another surfer both eyeball the oncoming wave, before Nathan gets his turn to go. However, Jamie O’Brien calls Nathan off, so he stops paddling. Then, at the last second, JOB tells him to go – but it’s too late. Florence has already lost momentum and proceeds to get pummeled. As he goes over the falls, a rueful chyron appears: “Thanks Jamie.”
That’s not all, though. Later on, he finds himself on the inside once again, in what he describes as an extremely dangerous part of Off The Wall, where he hit his face last year and got ten stitches. Nate being Nate, though, shrugs it off and proceeds to have the kind of session most surfers only dream of.
Check out the whole thing in the video below.
