If there’s one guy who knows a thing or two about taking his lumps in big surf, it’s Tom Butler. The guy is the definition of a grinder, constantly traveling and charging all over Europe in pursuit of earning a spot on the WSL’s Big Wave Tour.
Here, we get to see Butler’s return to the water after a nasty wipeout kept him on land for an extended period. As fans, we probably give little thought to the work a professional athlete must put in just to stay in competitive form, let alone the road they take from sidelining injury to getting back in the game. In Big Wave Tom’s case, even rolling up a yoga mat and sticking it in his wetsuit for extra padding is fair game if it helps him scrap his way through a heat or two.