Watch: This Is One Of The 10 Best Waves Ever Ridden On A Surfboard - Stab Mag

Live Now — Episode 3 Of Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

449 Views
Apparently Pyzels are made to go over foamballs. Framegrab: Joao Tudella

Watch: This Is One Of The 10 Best Waves Ever Ridden On A Surfboard

Nathan Florence courtesy of Ireland.

elsewhere // May 13, 2023
Words by August Howell
Reading Time: < 1 minute

“I do believe you can have a left of your life and a right of your life. I feel like what I got in this session was probably the right of my life. 

Avid sci-fi and fantasy reader Nathan Florence is a big fan of The Lord of the Rings. The acclaimed film trilogy was filmed in New Zealand, but Nathan has excelled in making magic and slaying monsters in another country of rolling green hills. Remember that Mullaghmore tunnel last year?

Fresh off a Teahupo’o stint that fell somewhat short of expectations, Nathan ditched the gents towing six-footers for one of Ireland’s renowned slabs. On a mint 7’, Nathan found what he claims to be the right of his life. He couldn’t have been any deeper if he were a dwarf in the mines of Moria. The combination of knifing the drop, hurdling the foam ball, and blasting into the channel was so profound that his only comparison was that Teahupo’o jaw-dropper seven years ago that arguably kickstarted his heavy water career… which is fascinating considering this is a man who could see Pipeline (and Backdoor) from his childhood living room. 

“There’s a certain feeling you get when you kick out,” Nathan said of those one-in-a-million waves. “There’s an overwhelming feeling of gratitude, appreciation and disbelief at how you got so lucky as to be living the life you’re living there at that very moment that that wave came through. And you were in the spot and everything, every little piece of timing, every microsecond, you made the right on the wave decision to be as deep as you possibly could and still make it.”

We have no qualms stating that this is (easily) one of the 10 best waves ever ridden on a surfboard.

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part Two

A few more foam craftsmen worth keeping on your radar.

Jul 14, 2025

Watch: Rip Curl Mobilises Its Teenage Army In ‘Dunno’

A 30-minute surf film by Vaughan Blakey and Nick Pollet.

Jul 14, 2025

There’s A New Number One Surfer In The World

And it feels so right.

Jul 13, 2025

Controversial Opinion: No One Needs To Yoga In Boardshorts

8 Trunks for the traditionalist.

Jul 13, 2025

Stab Edit Of The Year: Sam Piter Stars in ‘Rogue DNA’.

French blood, thick water.

Jul 13, 2025

Matty McG Skydives Into CT Heat, But Jordy’s Still The Main Event

A full day of heats at J-Bay, and only one shark warning.

Jul 12, 2025

Correction: J-Bay All Foreplay, No Climax

Slim pickings on Day 1 of the Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025.

Jul 11, 2025

What Do Hollywood, Surf Lessons, Michael Jackson And Traction Pads Have In Common?

A Stab Interview with Teva Dexter, the man behind surfing's hardest new hardware brand —…

Jul 10, 2025

Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico: Episode 3

"The tribe has spoken," Dane Reynolds pronounced, and a surfer's torch was snuffed.

Jul 10, 2025

How Josh Ku Nearly Died Trying To Cross From Ulus to G Land by Hydrofoil

“If someone finds me dead at least they can find my phone and know what…

Jul 10, 2025

Expect No Kiss, All Climax At The “World’s Most Perfect Pointbreak”

A Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025 preview.

Jul 9, 2025

SEOTY: Liam O’Brien stars in ‘Friction of Perception’

"Hopefully I don’t come across like too much of a peanut."

Jul 8, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part One

“It’s like a drug empire, man. Cut the head off the snakes, and more will…

Jul 7, 2025

Mason Ho Joins Ritual Vision, Releases Remix Of Greatest Hits

Dion Agius riffs on the eyewear brand’s U.S. expansion, Ritualistic Tendencies, and the new stars…

Jul 7, 2025

Is It Time For A New Judging Format?

We have a modest proposal — a WSL head judge disagrees.

Jul 7, 2025

Luke Thompson Turns Last Year’s Priority Disaster Into Ballito Gold

+ earns himself a wildcard into Jbay.

Jul 7, 2025

Fiji Has Its First Professional Surfer, And He’s Unbelievable

16-year-old James Kusitino’s incomprehensible tube lounging leads to a deal with Former.

Jul 6, 2025

Laird Hamilton on The Limitations of Being a Purist, Invention vs. Ownership + Why He Never Had a Sticker Deal 

Untold stories from his How Surfers Get Paid interview.

Jul 4, 2025
Advertisement