Nathan Florence Grabs Rail, Buckles Board Under Outer Reef Ledge

“I just came from Mullaghmore, so I was warmed up on the backside,” Nathan Florence recalled from this session at an outer reef on Oahu. “But this was a bigger board and a different wave. So I was super stoked just to get a barrel vision. Had the best GoPro clip ever, probably. The board broke on the second wave. It buckled on that one.”

The buoys spiked quickly when a late fall swell arrived in Hawaii in late November. With Jaws rendered tow-only with howling trades, Nathan and company opted to stay put on the North Shore in the hopes that a certain left would look like what John John Florence scored in 2021 .

It turned out to be solid, but not quite all-time. Though there was a lot of northwest swell hitting the island, it was slim pickings for the crew that day. The wave above is yet another one of Nathan’s entries into the 2024 SURFER Big Wave Challenge and was one of only two waves he got into in the session.

The waves weren't kind on equipment either. Eli Olson air dropped and snapped his gun on his first wave of the day. Nathan’s GoPro perished in a plume of whitewater, but not before he steered his gun underneath a heaving chamber. The guts it takes to grab rail on your backhand and hold your line on a wave that heavy is certainly award-worthy. And it’s the kind of thumbnail you can’t help but click on.

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