- WSL
- WSL

Maverick's, California January 26, 2017

The Florence family is renowned for a number of surfing feats, and one of them is for the fact that they love a couple of bigger sets. It's not really common knowledge, or much reported on, that the brothers often paddle out at Waimea together, get out to the lineup, and then turn left, heading for the outside reefs that are thunderous, far out and notorious. How heavy are those waves? They took the lives of Hawaiian surfers Todd Chesser and Kirk Passmore.

Nathan Florence has often popped up in surf media for charging. He had a historic ride last year at Teahupo'o for one incredible wave that looked absolutely impossible to get down. Nathan's grab-rail technique was a beauty to behold, unlike this wave at Maverick's.

He is deep and totally committed, and as he starts feeling the wave push, it goes concave before he gets a chance to start his descent. The streaming wind gets under his board, he pushes the board aside, and takes the pin-drop straight into the pit of the monster. For an instant he looks like he might be lucky enough to pull off a clean entry and get some easy depth, but at the last minute things go awry, and his entry is a tangled mess of limbs and wind.

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