i’ve been in japan for a long time and have been watching women surfers come and go. sei nagai has been there from the beginning and is still here now. i met her in shikoku 15 years ago and it blew my mind how good she surfed. sei-san would always be out on the good days looking for barrels. i surfed with her on some big days in shikoku, hawaii, and samoa. i remember about 6 years ago when i saw a photo of her in the sickest big blue backdoor barrel. it ended up being a spread in the surfing world magazine and if she were a guy, it would have been a cover shot for sure. the kind of photo that men dream of getting…..
i went on a surf trip to samoa with sei-san a while ago. she was the only girl there and she was keeping up with the boys. the waves were 6-8′ + everyday and she was out on every session with us. i was on the boat sitting next to photographer kinsan watching the waves when i seen this huge freak set out the back. everybody started stroking to the outside and sei-san just turned around and charged. i remember yelling from the boat as she bottom turned and pulled into this huge barrel. that wave was 8′ solid and it was crazy. i was so happy to witness something that i probably never witness ever again. a girl taking off, setting her rail off the bottom, timing the wave, and pulling into the barrel trying to stall. look at her right arm dragging. oh my gosh, i almost shit in my pants. here is the best photo of that trip!!! i have it in my head like a permanent video clip. something i will never forget. yeah sei-san…..
i was in shikoku a few weeks ago when sei-san stopped by the tssc factory. got this photo of sei-san and kinsan and was looking at it thinking to myself “wow, here i am with two people i’ve known for 15 years, doing the same thing we’ve been doing all our lives, surfing”. that’s freakin awesome….
