Outside. Like, really outside. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Ben Gravy made a name for himself not by surfing big waves, but by surfing weird waves. He had a mission to surf in every state and completed it. He wants to surf in every country on Earth. But in the course of all that surfing, he found something out about himself: he likes big waves. In Ben Gravy fashion, he decided to surf more of them. So when a massive swell began making its way towards Hawaii, a place he knows and loves, he figured he should probably be there.
“It feels like every year that I book a flight to Hawaii the swell of the century pops up and I start fearing for my life,” he said. “This year was no different when the actual massive, 50-foot swell of the year showed up on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.”
It was a seriously solid swell. Lighting up Pipeline and Jaws and Oahu’s outer reefs, it was a hell of a way to kick off the big wave season. Legends were in the water across the islands, from Mark Healey and John John Florence to Albee Layer and Kai Lenny. Ben Gravy wanted to throw his hat in the ring.
It’s generally a good idea to surround yourself with like-minded individuals who will drive you to push your limits. For Gravy, that’s people like Jamie O’Brien and Kalani Chapman. So, with a borrowed Jet Ski, impact vests, and all the bells and whistles, Gravy headed out into the wild blue yonder hunting for waves that would scare him senseless. And he definitely found what he was looking for.
