Photo: Nathan Florence // YouTube
It honestly feels kind of surprising when there turns out to be a well-known wave Nathan Florence hasn’t ridden. He’s built his brand on traveling the world, seeking out esoteric slabs, so it’s easy to forget that even the most prolific surfers have their blind spots. In the latest leg of this year’s “Slab Tour” (which previously took him to Chile to tackle “The Thing,” followed by a visit to Panama to ride Silverbacks), Florence corrected one of those blind spots with a session at Cape Solander.
Solander goes by many names. The fearsome wave was once named “Ours” by the Maroubra-based surf gang the Bra Boys. Since the gang’s dissolution, it picked up the moniker “Cape Fear” from a Red Bull-sponsored event at the break (which has now moved on to Shipstern Bluff). Whatever you call it, it’s a beast.
“I paddled out here when I was like fourteen, never got a wave,” explained Florence after the session. “I was like ‘I need redemption.’ So stoked on the call up. Kipp [Caddy] was like ‘Hey get over here, this is going to be a crazy swell for Cape.'” Though his redemption session got off to an admittedly rough start due to multiple heavy wipeouts, eventually he found his footing and tamed the monster.
Check it out in the full video below.
