FAQ

About The Wave:

Niceness: Could you describe the long Desert Point barrel?
Lewis: Yeah, sure. But I should point out that you’re only asking that question cause we talked about it another time. It’s not like I got some legendary barrel at Desert’s that everyone talks about. That spot is crowded and fickle and dangerous but you can get some of the longest barrels there. It’s a strange wave, cause it starts out kinda mellow, and then just gets hollower and faster and bigger as you go. They call the last section the Grower, cause it keeps growing. It’s not a perfect wave, either. It throws big mean unpredictable sections that look totally unmakeable. But if you pull into them, sometimes you can make them.

I got this one really memorable wave there, last season. It was right on dark and I had gone back out to get a good one. So I was just waiting and waiting for the right one. My friends were all sitting on the beach drinking beers; these Aussie guys I was travelling with who were really good surfers. So finally this sick one comes and I’m in the right spot and I go. I pulled in almost immediately, and got a nice long pit, dragging my arm to slow down, just standing right in the eye of it through the easy section. Then it hit the first heavy section of reef, and I had to pull in without ever making it completely out of the first tube. So I didn’t get that little burst of speed; I was too far back. It pitched this huge section and it looked like a closeout tube. I couldn’t see the exit anymore; I was way behind the bend in the barrel, nothing to see but water and lip. I could see foam ahead of me, and that’s a bad sign. But I kept with it and went high and it was big enough in there to pump a little bit and get speed. After a few seconds I could see an exit up ahead. I remember thinking, “I might make this one… how cool would that be?” But right as I got to the exit, before I could make it out, another huge section heaved. Same deal – no chance to pump into it, no exit in sight, foam up ahead. I was way behind the bend. But as the wave went down the reef it started getting bigger and hollower, and I suddenly had enough room to pump and get some speed. And I could see that exit up ahead again. I could see a little bit of the hills and sky. I remember realizing I needed to breathe, cause I had been holding my breath so long, and I took this long sucking breath. I began thinking, “Damn, if I make this it will easily be my longest pit of my trip.” But right as I get to the exit, same fucking story. This evil, evil section shuts down on me and I’m hopelessly deep in the tube. Thinking, “…! I could of made it, so close…” But I had written myself off twice already, and made the sections, so I just held on. It got tighter and tighter in there, and my fins started to drift down onto the foamball. When that happens, you’re usually done. Your fins cavitate in the foam and you spin out and get clipped. So my fins started to spin out. I lost all drive, just stopped. And like in slow-motion, right as that happened, the wave just spit the full fire hose spit. It stung my face and I couldn’t see anything in the mist. But I guess it spit so hard that it pushed me up off the foamball, right as the wave opened up wide again. My vision cleared and I was way up high, almost in the lip, but my fins bit in and I pumped low and then high again and got this huge burst of speed and suddenly I was in the sweet spot again, just flying, exit up ahead. Not thinking anything at this point, just reacting. The tube getting bigger and wider, I was standing straight up in it. Two more times, right as I was about to exit the tube and kick out and seal the deal, another section heaved. Not as sketchy as those other times, but sketchy. I just stayed with it and stayed with it and finally it let me out clean. I kicked out and just kind of sat there for a minute, tripping. So far down the reef that I couldn’t see the top of the point or any other surfers. I went in and walked up the beach as darkness fell. I got back to my friends and they didn’t say a word to me. I didn’t say anything either. What was there to say? We drove off and about an hour later, my friend Gonz turned to me and muttered real quiet, almost sadly, “…. mate. That might’ve been the best barrel I’ve ever seen.”

This guy Camel, who is a really … good tube rider, got one that night that went all the way through, even farther than mine. He swore adamantly that he was in there for over 60 seconds before coming out. That sounds totally absurd, but I timed a wave on video that my friend rode the next day, not getting shacked, just connecting the point, and it was 64 seconds or something. It’s pretty much unthinkable, you know? Honestly, 3 seconds is a really long tube, even for good surfers. 7 second tubes are crazy. 10 seconds, insane. 20 seconds, very few spots in the world can you even conceive of that. I don’t know how long mine was. But I believe Camel about his 60 second tube, and that’s absolutely inconceivable. You might need years of therapy after that.

Niceness.Org. (2007). Interview with sam lewis. Retrieved from http://www.niceness.org/surf/interviews/lewis.html