Watch: Nathan Florence’s Best Rides From A Two-Year Slab Tour

Over the past two years, Nathan Florence has bent his body and bank account backward chasing swells around the planet whenever the North Shore goes stagnant. As a thank-you to his subs, Nathan assembled a two-year highlight reel of his exploits, which covers a staggering amount of jaw-dropping and spine-tingling waves. 

The places he scored include Hawaii, Australia, Tasmania, Scotland, Ireland, Mexico, Tahiti and the Mentawais. Surprisingly, the clip above does not include Nate’s Namibia sessions, where he lasted 7 hours and 39 minutes and covered 32 miles (51 km) in a single day (read more about his tube-athalon, here). 

In addition to standing tall in marquee warm-water lineups like Teahupoʻo and Puerto Escondido, Nathan found not one but two of the heaviest and most technical Irish kegs in recent memory. He also went out of his way to find remote corners with few surfers in frigid temps north and south of the equator, further evidence that surfers and bodyboards can peacefully coexist.

In addition to millions of views on YouTube, 2023 paid off for Nathan with some hardware: Stab Surfer of the Year and Best YouTube channel (shoutout Zoard and Mahina), and the inaugural Big Wave Challenge Ride of the Year and Surfer of the Year. His shelf is getting crowded.

“Lifetime achievements for me,” Nathan said. “I couldn’t be more honored or appreciative. And couldn’t be happier and more hyped to do it again.”

While I understand the YouTube economics behind weekly uploads, I can’t help but think if Nathan had held his clips and created a movie with footage from the last two years, he might have fulfilled Kim Kardashian’s dream and officially broken the internet (or at the very least, won a Bitcoin).