Surfing

What’s been your biggest wipeout and hold down?

My biggest, why pod and hold down was at Mavericks, San Francisco basically took off on this wave and I was a little bit late on it and a wind past vertical, there's probably like a 35-foot wave, the nose of my board dug into the water and I fell forward and I body surfed on my back down this huge wave. And I remember looking up in the and the lip coming over me and I was inside this mess. Of barrel at broke over me and then what happens is, as the wave sucks is like a Vortex and it sucks, suck me up. And it was this long moment of Stillness sucking up and up and up. And then I went over with the lip and then it did. I hit the impact and was so violent in the wave. Pushed me really deep under the water and it Mavericks, the waters cold and dark. It's more dense. So, it pushes you deeper. I just pulled me down Into the Depths and called me under for about 25. S, i was pressed on the floor on the ground just with what felt like the weight of the entire ocean pushing me down and I pulled my vest. So my inflation based. So it filled me up with air eventually. Let me go came up and luckily there wasn't another big one after that.

I was surfing at Mavericks and a big wave broke over me and i got held down for 25 seconds. I eventually made it back up to the surface by pulling my vest which inflated with air and allowed me to float back up.

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What's our paddle Arts? Warm? A little bit confusion, what exactly are asking. But people often have a paddle out when it's a very common thing. When like, if someone has passed away, then people have a paddle out for them, especially if they were a surfer or they love the ocean, people will paddle out with flowers and stuff, beyond the backline offered at a place where that person love to Surf. They're all good. In a circle. Hold hands. Say a few words and then throw the flowers into the middle of the circle to remember that person. That's one term would have paddle out is if you're referring to, what is kind of paddling out that is, that is a whole nother thing. So, basically, if you're on the shore, and you need to get to the back line where the waves are breaking, you got to jump in the water and your paddle out, the back paddling out, can be made a lot easier if you use a current to get out to the Background because often currents are places where it's a little bit deeper and there's no waves breaking. Also one can use a channel so if you surfing a reef break, they'll often be Reef which is shallower and that attracts the wave energy and then they'll be a deep spot next to it. And the Deep spot is the place where your paddle are because there will be no waves breaking there. That's like a safe Zone and you can get to the back line sometimes even with your hair dry.

Paddle out is a term used to describe the process of paddling through the water to get to the back line where the waves are breaking. It can be made easier by using currents and channels.

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What approx timeline did tube riding start?

I'm not 100% sure about the timeline of when to brighten started but I know that the guys in Hawaii, the guys like Gerry Lopez were the first to really Master Bell writing. It was like pipeline like people would watch pipeline in Hawaii and there would think that it's unrideable too steep, it's breaking too fast, it's too dangerous. And then those those early Hawaiian guys went out there and guys like Julep is they just absolutely mastered writing for two. Tube. And then I know there was a big wave of South Africans and Australians who went to Hawaii shortly. After that, including Shawn Thompson, from South Africa. And Shawn Thompson I believe was riding at Winfred and much shorter board than what the other guys were riding. And he really mastered like weaving and doing when not Maneuvers but like getting speed in the barrel changing his lime and Really performed like high performance in the barrel. He also was one of the first guys already mastered going right out of pipelines for surfing the backdoor Pipeline and yeah, that was long before my time. But it still inspires us today to get deep in the tube.

Gerry Lopez was one of the first to master barrel riding in Hawaii, followed by South African Shawn Thompson who mastered weaving and high performance maneuvers in the barrel. He is also credited with mastering the art of going right out of the Pipeline which inspired today's surfers to get deep in the tube.

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My first memory of the ocean, when I was really young we've got a holiday house up the east coast here in South Africa and I used to sit on the rocks for hours and hours and hours watching the waves crash up the rocks and I would try sit in a place where I thought the explosion of the waves where they would kind of stop so I'd get as close as I can it's pretty gnarly but I get as close as I can to the explosions and try predict where the waves were gonna break and it was almost like you could see I was gonna be a surfer because I would sit on the rocks for hours on end by myself and I'll just watch how the waves broke and every little dynamic happening if the wave doubled up if it had a bit of backwash if it broke before the rocks and kind of rolled over the rocks or if it like stayed up and went steep and the lip of the wave landed on the rocks and exploded up and I just watched it for for ages so it was a very happy memory for me

My first memory of the ocean was when I was really young and I used to sit on the rocks for hours watching the waves crash up the rocks. I was fascinated by the dynamics of the waves and how they would break differently each time. This experience sparked my interest in surfing and has stayed with me ever since.

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How much transfer does snowboarding have to surfing?

I've actually never snowboarded in my life so I can't comment on this but snowboarding looks epic and I heard it is kind of similar to surfing. I know that skateboarding does translate a fair bit like definitely with the movements and the turning up and down the wave and doing airs. I've heard that a lot of guys who do really good airs and surfing are pretty good at skateboarding because they can mimic their technique but with snowboarding I know that's slightly different. You're strapped in and the movements are different so I'm not 100% sure on that one.

Snowboarding looks epic and I heard it is similar to surfing, but the movements are different so I'm not sure if skateboarding skills would translate.

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How did adults in the 1960s view the emerging surf culture?

I would definitely have to ask my dad about this question because he started surfing in the 60s. But I know that his dad and all the dads around they wanted their kids to be straight line. Professional lawyers, engineers accountants and my dad wanted to be a surfer his whole life but surfing was pretty frantic pain. I mean, it was okay to do it as a hobby, but never not as a career. And I was very fortunate that my dad went through. That, my dad became a lawyer, he loves serving, but he never served professionally when then when I came around, my dad opened the doors for me. He said if you want to do it you can do it but work hard. So now I try treat surfing like a job. I work out at eight hours a day and it's my passion. It's what I love to do. Some very lucky for my dad and what he went. In through for me.

My dad supported me to pursue surfing as a career, even though it wasn't a traditional career choice. He had to go through a lot to allow me to do this, and I am very thankful for him.

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Matt Bromley answers your Surfing questions. See all the advice Matt Bromley has and get answers to your own Surfing questions.

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Matt started surfing when he was 6 years old, in Cape Town, South Africa. He grew to become  one of the best big wave surfers in the world. He watches the globe for large storms, and when all the elements come together, book's a ticket and chases the energy across the world. He documents the big waves these storms create and produces high quality content which is distributed through various global media platforms.Matt's other passion is sharing his experiences to inspire and empower people to ride their "big waves".

What’s been your biggest wipeout and hold down?

Matt Bromley