Not where you want to be, but you’ve got to put yourself there to find that out. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
God, a good wipeout is great to watch. Great to experience, too, if all goes well. Terrible to experience if it doesn’t. But wipeouts are as much a part of surfing as surfing, so you might as well get used to it. There’s one common thread between every single surfer on this planet, from Kelly Slater to the person who has surfed for a week: everyone wipes out.
The scale of the wipeout is directly in line with the kinds of waves you surf. Bigger, of course, means a bigger wipeout. But sometimes, it’s the heft. The girth. The weight. Hell, I’ve been absolutely hammered by a thick slab of a wave that isn’t all that big. So when you take a wave that’s big and thick… well, say goodnight.
What you see below is a compilation. It’s surfers and bodyboarders. It’s a variety of waves. And it is a wipeout reel for the ages. Compiled by We Bodyboard, purveyors of some of the finest wave-riding footage around, it includes a ton of surfers shot by a ton of photographers.
It’s got all the best wipeout venues: Teahupoo, the Right, Cape Solander, Puerto Escondido, El Fronton, a few Cornish shorebreak zones, Mandurah Wedge, Ireland, and some crazy NSW waves.
As far as the riders go, it’s a who’s who of people who might have a screw or two loose. Shane Ackerman, Jake Stone, Valentina Diaz, Brock Launders, Josh Garner, Jack Baker, Tom Morris, Anthony Miller, Brock Launders, Myron Porter, Antonio Cardoso, Pierre Louis Costes, Amaury Lavernhe, Tom Gillespie, Josh Kaihe, Jared Visick, Will Pearce, and many more surfers and bodyboarders can be seen attempting to do what they love. But all of them know the price of entry, and they’re more than willing to pay to play.
