Could a Foiler Win a Big Wave Challenge Award?

If a foil ride was ever going to be nominated for a big-wave award, this is it. Matthieu Etxebarne, a 22-year-old from the Basque Country in Spain, is one of the best foilers in the game. Last November, Matt flew into a meaty Jaws peak, staying close to the pocket and somehow staying upright while going Mach 3.

“He let go of the rope so deep we honestly thought he was a goner,” Ridge Lenny said . “There’s a limit to towing big waves on a foil, and he shattered my notion of that.”

Even so, I was a little surprised to see this ride alongside other entrants in the 2024 SURFER Big Wave Challenge . So, I asked the query above to event founder Bill Sharp. Here’s his response:

“I don't know if this ride would be contending for an award in any of the existing categories in the Big Wave Challenge, but it looked so futuristic to me that I put it in as an entry so people would talk about it,” Bill said. “When you hear the backstory of the injury Matthieu suffered a few weeks later it's pretty clear foils at Jaws can be insanely dangerous and not something we want to promote widely. But still, what he did looked pretty magical and he did pull it off...but maybe we just leave it at that.”

It ain’t all sunshine and big barrels out there. The injury Bill referred to happened a few weeks after this ride when Matthieu nearly sliced his head off when he collided with his foil at Jaws. Pushing the limits of big-wave surfing is fraught with risk, and foiling is no different.

“​​I fell into a depression and bad things happened to me in my family and personal life. I had lost all motivation and couldn’t define my goals in concrete terms,” Matthieu wrote in a post.

Fortunately, Matthieu is on the mend and foiling again. While we don’t want to see a flood of foilers taking over big-wave lineups, we had to acknowledge this audacious and miraculous ride.

Related: Watch: Flying Into The Big-Wave Future On A Foilboard At Pe'ahi