The Box is not a wave you want to have commitment issues with. Photo: Nathan Florence // YouTube
There are some techniques that you can teach for surfing, and others you just have to learn the hard way. As Ivan Florence recently found out, even when you have one of the world’s best slab hunters over your shoulder, you still have to just figure some things out on your own.
The moment came in the latest YouTube video from his brother, itinerant slab hunter Nathan Florence. In it, Nate and Ivan went out for a session at The Box, Margaret River’s angrier, slabbier sibling.
“It’s firing. Wind offshore all night. Ocean looks super groomed, so we’re gonna get some tubes, hopefully,” said an optimistic Nathan at the top of the video. “Ride my 6’2″, again, and hopefully no crazy suck-over-the-falls moments.”
He was referring, of course, to a recent experience where Ivan nearly died taking a trip over the falls in a sketchy slab.
This session went a little better, though not without some hiccups. “Ivan was having a shocker at first,” explained Nathan on their return. “I don’t know how many wipeouts. Finally he got some good ones.”
In the comments, Nathan elaborated on Ivan’s progression as a surfer, since he’s been on the slab tour full time.
“It’s been awesome to have Ivan on the road and see him trying to figure out all these new waves,” he wrote. “He starts with a lot of hesitation and rarely catches a good wave his first session, but second time he starts to push, still hesitating mid-wave sometimes (which is so dangerous at waves like this). Finally, he finds his line and entry that works for his style, but after taking a lot of wipeouts, he always ends up with a few insane rides!”
As Nathan continued later on, the whole thing hinged on simply committing to the wave. “I tell him if he just commits fully in the right spot, he has the skill and style to make the waves 90 percent of the time, even when they are heavy!” he wrote. “But it’s always the internal unknown the surfer must learn for themselves!”
