You know that time when you saw a set darkening the horizon and realized that there was a very good chance that, no matter how hard you scratched, you weren’t going to make it under? Someone yelled “OUTSIDE!” and you, along with everyone else in the lineup, frantically stroked towards it. The first few make it and you wonder whether you should keep paddling or just save your breath. Of course, you keep paddling. Just as it begins to break, you poke your board through the face, give a big kick, and, with a sense of relief, see the light behind it. Then, because Mother Nature is much stronger than you, you feel her watery hands grasp your limbs and haul you back over the falls. Ben Thouard caught that moment with water photographer Krystle Wright… and it is beautiful to watch.
