John John Florence has surfed some of the heaviest waves on the planet.
So has his brother Nathan.
Which makes it especially telling when John describes a wave as “definitely one of the scarier waves we’ve ever seen.” See below.
The Florence brothers recently chased what might be one of surfing’s most mutant slabs: a secret, below-sea-level reef somewhere in the Pacific, where thick ocean swells suddenly disappear into a horrifying ledge before detonating over almost no water.
John had history with the place.
“I had surfed this wave once before,” he wrote. “Nathan had never been and really wanted to see it.”
They almost didn’t go.
“We were keeping an eye on a swell that popped up and debated going until the very last minute,” John explained.
Eventually, curiosity won.
What followed was a full day of travel, then an overnight boat ride during what John called “the biggest swell of the year in this area.”
Related: John John Florence Gets Obliterated at One of the World’s Heaviest Beachbreaks (Video)
And when they finally arrived, the wave looked even more absurd than expected.
Video shows enormous lumps of ocean approaching the reef before suddenly sucking below sea level. The trough practically disappears, revealing an impossibly shallow slab before the lip unloads with frightening violence.
Motoring across one particularly deformed section, John summed up the scene perfectly:
“The whole ocean was gone!”
The brothers eventually paddle out, but this isn’t exactly a normal surf session. Much of the footage involves positioning, watching, reconsidering and trying to understand whether the thing is even rideable.
That’s part of what makes the wave so fascinating. Most surfers spend their lives hunting perfection. The Florence brothers regularly hunt consequence.
Nathan has built much of his career around enormous slabs, remote reefs and places where getting caught inside can have serious consequences. John, meanwhile, has proven himself everywhere from Pipeline to massive outer reefs.
Still, neither looks particularly comfortable here. The exact location remains undisclosed—and that’s probably appropriate.
And while some waves are secret because surfers want to protect them from crowds, this one might stay secret because almost nobody would want to surf it anyway.
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