19 September 2013

Surfer catches wave - and vice versa

"I dropped Sean at the top of the reef, and the ocean went flat, like someone had turned off the tap. It takes a big set to light this slab up, and as Sean sat patiently I saw a big lump coming. I started yelling, but he had no reference as to where he was on the reef so he waited and paddled for this first wave of the set. He just missed it, and when I looked back, this deep blue lump just started draining out, almost sucking him under the wave. He took one big duckdive and got under the breaking lip. On a normal wave this is fine but this thing didn't have a back -- the reef drops to 200m out the back of this place so when it breaks it really folds. The wave had just too much power and sucked him back over the falls, it's pretty much a surfer's worst nightmare position, so many people claim this is photoshopped, but it certainly is not!" 
From The Atlantic.  The image was a winning entry in the Red Bull Illume Image Quest photography competition.

3 comments:

  1. I wish I understood what the drama and or danger is in this photo. The photographer doesn't explain it very well for non-surfers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The wave is getting ready to break and where he is on the wave is getting ready to drop very quickly and pretty much straight down and on top of the reef.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Any idea of what happened to him?

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...