Bruce Irons on the Chopes wave

You’ve seen Bruce Irons’ wave at Teahupoo during the Billabong Pro, Tahiti this year. It was bigger than Laird Hamilton’s millennium wave at the same spot. Now see it close-up, slowed-down, and hear him talk about it in detail. It’s hard to know what’s scarier: The wave itself or the indifference with which Bruce recollects it. “I didn’t really know how big it was, ’cause you’re not really looking,” he says. “All I know is, you let go and, uh, come down. It looks like you’re kinda on the shoulder or something – that’s what it feels like to me. I always feel like, am I deep enough? Then you kinda do a check and before you know it, the boats are way high in the sky and it’s dark and it’s bending towards the beach and you’re like, oh, I guess I am probably deep enough.”