Daredevil Drone Pilot Nearly Pulls into Backdoor Tube with Pro Surfer (Video)
Drones ain’t cheap.
The good ones – not the ones countless kids unwrap on December 25th, only to lose them later that day in a tree at their local park – cost more than a couple bones.
And yet, as the tech improves, coupled with the skill levels of these unmanned aerial pilots, drone photography is providing never-before-seen angles in surfing.
But sometimes, they get a little too close; almost invasive.
Like the clip above featuring Mason Ho during a late-season session on the North Shore. It features back-to-back rides from Mason and his dad, Mike Ho. Mase tucks into a tube at Backdoor, with a drone trailing him laterally along the wave. And at one point, the drone nearly joins the world’s most entertaining free-surfer inside the barrel.
Tandem tube with a drone? Damn close. But also, maybe a little too close.
“Are drones getting out of hand?” queries Mason’s filmer, Rory Pringle.
Earlier this winter, a similar situation went down at Pipeline. A drone was trailing another North Shore surfer, Makai McNamara as he pulled into a Pipe tube. That time, the drone wasn’t so lucky – or, more likely, the pilot made a mistake.
Related: Watch: Pipeline Barrel Swallows Drone
As McNamara pulled in, the drone tried to make it over the lip, and out of harm’s way. But instead, it went straight into the face of the wave. Never to be seen again. Now residing in the surfboard and surfer flesh graveyard of Pipeline’s notorious reef.
Just like that kid on Christmas morning, a pricey toy lost for good.
Hence why drones can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they provide insane imagery, a new era in surf photography; but like Pringle questioned, in some cases, they may become a nuisance. Of course, however, that all comes down to the pilot.
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