WATCH: Big-Wave Surfers Caught Inside and Paddling for Their Lives

Dashel Pierson
·1 min read
6

If you play with fire, you’re gonna get burned.

And so it goes, if you play with water – particularly big, heavy, scary water in the form of waves – you’re gonna to get…doused? Drenched? Submerged?

The antonyms don’t correlate. Whatever. Regardless, surfing big waves is sketchy. And it’s not just from riding a wave and wiping out. Just sitting in the lineup, cleanup sets often roll through, catching surfers off-guard, and wreaking havoc. See below:

The compilation above comes from Los Angeles-based surf filmmaker, Brad Jacobson, and it shows a collection of surfers getting caught inside at big-wave spots from Blacks Beach in San Diego to Mavericks just south of San Francisco.

“Near-death experiences paddling out in HUGE waves,” Jacobson titled the video. He captioned it:

“Big wave surfers get put in life-threatening situations like these and have to be ready for anything, including being held under water for extended periods of time while remaining calm. These are just a few examples of what I've filmed during big wave swells.”

It’s not the first time Jacobson has explored this side of big-wave surfing, and the dangers that come with it. Recently, he examined a surfer getting sucked over the falls on a 30-foot wave at Mavericks. And the surfer didn’t even catch the wave. They were simply paddling, caught in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

Then, swept into oblivion.

So, if you ever needed a reminder to practice your breath hold, here you go.

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