Nathan Florence just barely making it on to (relatively) dry land. Photo: Nathan Florence // YouTube
It’s a terrible feeling, not being able to get back to shore. Though rough paddle-outs are daunting, you can usually just give up and ride a wave back in. But unless you opt to live amongst the sea creatures in some sort of Little Mermaid situation, when the paddle-in is gnarly, that’s not an option after sitting in a lineup for a couple of hours. You have to make it, one way or another.
It’s a dilemma Nathan Florence encounters in his latest video. In typical fashion, he found a sketchy slab somewhere near Sydney that appears to be nigh-unsurfable, but what made the experience even more memorable was that he and local bodyboarder Sam Strachan accessed it by hopping off a rock slab and into a roiling washing machine – leaving them to find another way to return to land.
“Time to try and get in,” wrote Florence in a chyron, over footage of him contemplating the paddle-in. “No getting in the same way we entered the water. It’s looking like a sketchy setup for our exit.”
Even Nathan, who literally makes his living confronting sketchy situations, sounded a bit spooked. All they could do was find a window and make a beeline for the shore. In the end they made it, but just barely.
“I can’t believe we pulled that off.” he exclaimed, upon reaching (relatively) dry land. “That was looking gnarly for a second. We got so lucky right there.”
