Nathan Florence Surfs Razor-Sharp, Barnacle-Encrusted West Oz Slab
Last time we saw Nathan Florence, he was shuttling back and forth between The Box and watching his brother John John make it to the finals of the Margaret River Pro. Afterwards, he decided to stick around and see what else he could discover in West Oz. What he found was a razor-sharp, barnacle-encrusted nightmare that was a true test of skill, even for the veteran slab hunter.
“We checked this wave out last night, but it was maxing out and got too big,” said Nathan in his latest YouTube video, as he made his way to the break. “We’re back in the morning. We have Ned Hart with us, local Western Australian. We’re going to see if we can stand up on a wave.”
That turned out to be easier said than done. Though it was only about head-high, the wave was a shifting, unpredictable slab, pounding onto the aforementioned barnacle-covered reef. In fact, at one point Hart found himself pinned to those barnacles underwater, in a terrifying anecdote he shared while un-suiting afterwards. “It was like Velcro, because there were barnacles all over,” he explained. “I felt every barnacle. It was gnarly.”
On the other hand, Florence deemed the adventure a success, saying that the benefits far outweighed the danger. “When you do make a drop, it feels like you made the wave,” he said. “It’s that sick.”
The post Nathan Florence Surfs Razor-Sharp, Barnacle-Encrusted West Oz Slab first appeared on The Inertia.
