“My Vertebrae Exploded — It Was The Most Intense Pain I’ve Ever Felt. It Was Like Torture”
Pipeline’s body count: one week, two shattered spines, and Mason Ho’s crimson skull.
Pipeline. The world’s meanest, moodiest wave. Chewing up bodies since the first fool paddled over the ledge. Some claim to have tamed her. A rare few have even convinced themselves she’s a friend. But this week, she turned on her closest disciples. Two broken spines. One busted head. Three surfers left counting their working limbs. Has she ever had a bloodier week?
First up: Lukas Godfrey, an underground North Shore hammer you might remember from his past two SEOTY entries: Repthrillians and Fear The Machine.
A week has passed since he was carried up the beach, folded like a lawn chair after a Backdoor clincher got a little too possessive — gripping tight, slamming him into the reef, and leaving him with an acute L1 compression burst fracture, plus a chipped T12 for good measure. In simpler terms: Pipe turned his spine into a bag of crushed apples. Lucas picks up the story:
“I had my eyes on this wave, and I started sneaking inside, loading up. I knew I was deep, but I thought I still had a good chance. But I ended up too deep, couldn’t keep up, couldn’t find the exit. Once I realised that, I jumped off my board into the barrel, right where the lip lands. I got taken straight over the falls. It felt like I fell out of a tree and landed in a seated position. I felt my vertebrae pop, and I knew something inside me had gone wrong.
“I fought my way to the surface, but the pain was surreal — easily the worst I’ve ever felt. I waved at the crowd, yelled for help. I couldn’t function. Then another wave came. I had to let go of my board and dive under. I got washed around — every tiny movement made it worse. It was like torture.”
Lucas aimed his board for shore and clung to it like it was the last thing keeping him alive. A couple of nearby surfers rushed over, hauled him in, and by some miracle, the WSL’s ambulance was there waiting for him.
“They couldn’t give me any pain medication. They were too worried about my spine — whether I’d need surgery or not. So it was a long, painful, bumpy ride through Honolulu traffic to hospital. No matter what I did, the pain never let up. It followed me relentlessly until they gave me fentanyl and morphine, and even then, it felt like it got worse. At first, I had adrenaline keeping me in survival mode — hurting but too wired to focus on it. But in the back of the ambulance, when it was just me and the EMT, nothing to distract me, that’s when it really set in. I had to face it. So I just surrendered, let it wash over me. I thought about my loved ones, the people before me who had endured pain like this, and I told myself: just survive.”
“At the ER, they didn’t know how bad it was. I went through the trauma protocol — IV, painkillers, CT scan. My vitals and organs were good. The verdict: a burst L1 vertebra. Not life-threatening, no neurological damage. I could move my feet, which was the first relief. But my L1 had basically exploded under the pressure — 30 to 40% of the top gone, bone fragments floating dangerously close to my spinal cord. The surgeon gave me a choice: surgery to fuse it back or let it heal naturally. Surgery would mean a stronger, more intact vertebra, but healing on my own gave me a shot at full mobility. I chose the latter, knowing I’d always have a slight spinal deformity.”
Despite the prognosis and the haunting memory of the worst pain he’s ever felt, Skywalka keeps his head up, in shockingly good spirits.
“Right now, it’s all about taking things day by day. Life is beautiful, and even these slow moments — lying in bed, doing nothing — feel like something to appreciate. I know good times are coming, I’m beyond grateful to be surrounded by so much love and support. This whole experience has been eye-opening, mentally and spiritually. Honestly, I just feel overwhelmed with gratitude for everything around me. I love surfing and feel incredibly lucky to have experienced so many epic moments through it — an epic life, really. The best thing I can do is stay positive, embrace it all, and hopefully find myself back in the barrel one day.”
In a nauseating echo effect, Pipeline claimed another human spine in the span of a single week.
Three days ago, in a feat of brutal symmetry, Eimeo Czermak broke his back at Pipeline for the second time in the space of a year. They say history repeats, or maybe rhymes, but lightning’s not supposed to strike twice.
Last year, Eimeo shared the aftermath of his first injury — brain fog, depression, a body that didn’t feel like his own. For context: On the final day of the Vans Pipe Masters, the 20-year-old French Polynesian became one with a Pipe curtain, just 40 seconds left in his heat against the Florence brothers.
“I fell on the left side of my face, hit the water, and blacked out. I don’t really remember what happened next, but I think I got tossed onto the bottom, like a scorpion.”
He walked up the beach on his own, but his face was a story no one had to read.
“I didn’t tell the water patrol I was hurt. It wasn’t until we got to the tent and they put the neck brace on that the adrenaline wore off — and the pain set in. I had no idea what was going on.”
An ambulance ride, an overnight stay at Queen’s, an MRI, and a battery of tests later, he was staring at a $55,000 USD hospital bill.
“I had insurance through Nomad Insurance Safety Wing, but their policy doesn’t cover injuries sustained in competition.” Had he wiped out 40 seconds later, outside the heat window, he’d have been covered.
Overwhelmed, and crushed by a mountain of debt, Eimeo turned to GoFundMe. His last resort. The funding came through. He had surgery. And by the next Hawaiian winter, he was back in the water.
Today, Eimeo took to Instagram for the first time since his second spinal injury, sharing a haunting video. In it, he floats lifelessly on a board in the channel, helped in by Noah Beschen, struggling to land on the sand before being carried up the beach into an ambulance.
“I don’t really know what to say right now,” wrote Eimeo, clearly shaken by the cruel repeat of history. “I have so many hard emotions. I have a compression fracture of my T12 vertebrae. Luckily, I don’t have to get surgery this time. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
A vicious repeat for the young Polynesian heavyweight. Fortunately for him, he has a hyper-optimistic Hawaiian by his side to walk with him through the recovery process.
“It’s like when two women give birth at the same time, you know?” Lucas said, marvelling at the strange synchronicity of two bruisers in the water facing nearly identical spinal injuries at the exact same wave, at the same moment. “You’ve got someone to go through it with, someone who actually understands. It kind of gives you a little boost, you know? Like, okay, now it’s game on. We can rehab together, push each other through.”
During the same session Eimeo’s spine took a hit, another Pipeline regular — bound to the wave like family — staggered in, blood running down his face after a brutal headbutt with the reef.
“If you look close enough, you’ll see the bottom has taken a chunk out of Mason’s face,” wrote North Shore photographer Brian Bielmann. “He got hammered, and it looked like sandpaper had been dragged across his skin.”
It’s no secret that Pipe’s a rather harrowing place to go for a paddle — we even wrote about it, pointing out that there are probably kinder locations to kick off the CT season, given how many competitors end up on a stretcher before they can lace up for a heat. But this season feels like it has an especially bloody taste to it. Any truth to that?
“I don’t know, man. When it rains, it pours,” says Lucas. “It’s peak season, there’s a crowd, everyone’s pushing it, and the waves have been firing for days. People are tired. That’s when this stuff happens. Honestly, I’ve been in so many sketchy situations out there, I can’t even count how many times, so it’s weird that the wave I fell on decided to break my back, and not any of the other waves I’ve had.”
“But that’s the thing, right? That’s what makes it special. Nothing really compares to it. It’s shallow, crowded, with so much going on. It makes the good waves feel even better.”
The mind of a maniac. If you’ve got the means and want to help with the hefty medical bills, consider donating to Lucas Godfrey’s GoFundMe.
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