Nathan Florence says this remote Kiwi slab was as scary below as it was above. Photo: Nathan Florence // YouTube
The Nathan Florence slab tour has made its way to New Zealand. He’s been in Aotearoa for a little while now, and finally ran into a situation that was a match for his capabilities.
“The team finally found some serious heavy water, here in New Zealand,” explained Florence in his latest YouTube video. “We went out and it was an epic little adventure.”
That epic little adventure took place at an unnamed Kiwi break that actually turned out to be more than Florence and company bargained for. After a long walk through the wilderness, the crew found what they initially believed was a six-foot slab. However, upon paddling out, they realized they were actually in for double-overhead surf. “We got out the back and first thing was like, for or five 12-foot sets in a row – absolutely mutant, flexing on the ledge, these huge, dark barrels,” Florence described afterwards.
To make matters even sketchier, whatever was lurking below the surface turned out to be as stressful as the waves above. “The water was all churned up and brown,” Nathan continued. “I swear the sessions in New Zealand are the spookiest sessions I’ve had, because I’m just thinking about sharks the whole time. Every time you paddle, your arm just disappears into the water and you can’t help but think about what’s underneath, because you cant see anything down there. So add the fear of sharks and the big mutant slabs, and you have a situation like we had today where it was real fun, but high stress.”
