Bede Durbidge is back in a jersey, and we’re glad to see it. Photos: WSL/Kelly Cestari
Just about a year ago, Bede Durbidge had the worst wipeout of his life at Pipeline. It was during a strangely dangerous run of swell that nearly killed Evan Geiselman and Owen Wright. Last December was a bad one on the North Shore. But after a year of painful rehab, yesterday Bede pulled on a jersey again for the first time.
“It’s so cool to back,” he said after his heat. “I was bummed after the heat because I didn’t get through, but then I was like ‘you know what? I’m happy just to be here surfing heats with a jersey on.’ It could’ve ended my career–it was a pretty horrific wipeout. It took a lot of therapy to get back to where I am now. [It was] a lot of hard work, but I’m just stoked to be back here in Hawaii.”
For months after Durbidge’s wipeout, his career looked to be over. The injury to his pelvis was a bad one, but it could’ve been much worse. “Underwater I was freaking out,” Bede recalled. “[I thought] I was gonna be a paraplegic. When I hit, my legs went numb and just shooting pain. I wriggled my toes and I was just like, ‘Oh, thank god.’ I was just happy with that. I was still getting thrashed around and I could feel my midsection was loose and wobbly. I knew I’d broken something.”
Surgeons inserted a 17 cm rod, a metal plate, and four screws to hold him together. Photos: Facebook
After surgeons worked to get his broken body back to its proper shape, Durbidge began the long, arduous process of rehabilitation. Although he was confined to a wheelchair for weeks after his injury, he maintained a positive outlook. He wanted to return to competitive surfing–and most of all, he wanted to return to Pipeline.
“Definitely, I would love to do Pipe and get back on the horse,” he told The Gold Coast Bulletin four months after his injury. “There’s still a fair way to go, though — you have to start from scratch with surfing. I guess you don’t really realize it, but your body goes through a lot when you’re surfing. As an athlete, I’m always striving for the best but I don’t want to overcook it and be in pain for the rest of my life.”
Although Bede didn’t come out of the gates like he wanted–he placed third in his round three heat–there’s no trophy big enough for his real accomplishment. Bede’s back, and we’re glad to have him.
