See What It's Like To Be Caught In The Impact Zone At Pipe

Story by The Inertia.

You know what's the worst? Getting caught inside on a big day. It's not so bad because you're duck diving over and over and over again and getting exactly nowhere, either. It's bad because you're generally in a perfect position to see all the great waves you're missing. It's bad because you know, deep in your heart, that if you could just paddle a little harder, you could be out there catching them. Instead, you're gasping for air in those few brief seconds before you're holding your breath again. It's the worst.

Now take that feeling and triple it. Quadruple it, maybe. That's likely the feeling that Nathan Florence has when he's stuck inside at second reef Pipe on a very, very good day, which is exactly what happened when you get to about the 9:30 mark of the video above. First, though, a whole lot of surfers got the best waves of their lives.