Leaving good waves to go hunt for other good waves is risky business but Dylan Graves, Tosh Tudor, and Keito Matsuoko had a plan they really wanted to stick to in Japan. Admittedly, they had an opportunity to do something pretty unique so you could hardly blame them for rolling the dice: surf, surf again, and then snowboard in Japan over three days. The twist, of course, was that those surf sessions took place on opposite coasts thanks to a rare, last-minute swell that popped up in the Japan Sea.
According to Matsuoka, finding great waves on the Japan Sea side of the island is a rarity, which was part of why he was so determined to score. The team racked up some mileage too. In the 72-hour surf-snowboard bender they made nine 7-Eleven stops, one Family Mart stop, ate 44 different sushi shapes, six pancake packets, on just nine hours of sleep, with 12 hours of driving. That all added up to 16 hours of making turns in powder and getting barreled.
“Sometimes it’s just about a dream and testing yourself to see what’s possible, pushing your own limits, and really understanding what those are, ” Graves says. “Even if it’s on minimal sleep and noodly legs. Throughout that process you might get to experience some things you couldn’t have planned for.”
So, leaving good waves in hopes of finding good waves can pay off every once in a while.
