Josh Kerr’s been around for a long time. He doesn’t know karate, but he knows Kerr-azy. He’s Kerrupt as they come. In the air, he’s up there with the best of them. In barrels, he’s one of the top guys. In big waves, he holds his own more than most. He’s retiring, too, which we found out via a sneaky webcast announcement.
After he was found himself on the losing end of the stick at last years event in Peniche, Kerr headed to Nazaré to meet a giant swell.
“I surfed Nazare for the first time last year when it was pretty big,” he said. “I just lost out on my heat at Supertubos and the swell was pretty solid, and I was like, ‘There’s got to be waves at Nazare.’ I had nothing other than a wetsuit and a 5’10”, which wasn’t going to work, so I drove up there with a buddy hoping I would see some friends there. Sure enough, I bumped into a few of the big-wave guys and I lent a board off Tommy Butler.”
Of course, since it’s Nazaré and we live in an age where safety and technology have a fine marriage, he also found a lucky break when a stranger lent him an inflation vest… although it didn’t exactly work.
“I don’t know who the guy was, but he came in from the surf and I grabbed his inflation vest,” Kerr continued. “He was just a local charger and he hooked me up. I rocked up just with my wetsuit, and I got to go for a fun surf. It was, like, perfect 15 feet, and I was riding a 10′ board. That wave is pretty scary. It’s very intimidating. It felt like it was 20-foot-plus. It was definitely a humbling experience, being out there. That place is mesmerizing and scary and everything, all in one. It will humble you real quick. I’m not interested in surfing it much bigger than what I did, to be honest.”
