Nathan Florence had an experience that would send chills down every seasoned surfer's spine. He told the story on the most recent episode of his podcast with fellow North Shore surfer Koa Rothman, and it's truly amazing he made it out alive.
The story takes place on a downwind flapping trip with his brother John John. From the beginning, the story has an ominous tone. „We get out and I soon realize that this east swell is bigger than I thought,” Nate begins. If that wasn't enough, they were even in shark-infested waters. „This area that we're in, it's a scary area,” he continues. “If you look at every shark that has been tracked in Hawaii… this area is closed [in them].”
Later, Nathan made a critical error (by his own admission) when he decided to break away from John and ride a wave far out to sea. „I failed so many times out of the air and I always thought, 'Man, it's going to be a nightmare if you lose your board,'” Nate said. Sure enough, out of nowhere, a wave came up, ripped his leash right off, and ran away with his board.
„I feel I'm three-quarters of a mile from the beach,” he continued. „I'm like, 'Oh my gosh.' I don't have anything, nothing but my springsuit. I'm not attached to any board anymore, and I feel so naked, like, 'This is not good.'
Fortunately, he managed to find his board before embarking on an arduous swim to shore through massive waves on a shallow reef. The only problem was that it was on the way to the sea. What followed was a 15-minute terror-fuelled sprint in the opposite direction of the land, eventually managing to retrieve the board.
Watch the full story in the video above starting at minute 32.
„Całkowity introwertyk. Nieprzejednany specjalista od sieci. Przyjazny fanatyk bekonu. Student ekstremalnych. Miłośnik piwa. Organizator.”