If we each did all the math, added all the time we spend surfing, thinking about surfing, driving and looking for waves, traveling to them, planning our trips, moments spent in the water and even fewer moments spent on a wave…then broke it down to the amount of time we actually spent inside a barrel — really, the pinnacle, what we’re all chasing — the data might be a little disappointing.
Even if you had a camera on hand or a videographer following you around on your every wave, you probably couldn’t compile this much video proof of tube time in your entire life, let alone a single year. Brett Barley is no one-trick pony but watching this highlight reel of his past year is a clear smack in the face that the guy never goes too long without finding himself tucked under the lip of a wave, big or small. It’s like getting into a barrel and looking out the other end is somehow a superhuman sixth sense the East Coast surfer was gifted by the surf gods themselves.
So let’s take a minute to marvel at a guy who sure does spend a lot of time surfing, and that’s great. But you also might start to feel like this is a bit unfair when you comprehend how much time he spends inside barrels…and how much time you probably don’t spend inside them.
