i’ve been surfing since i was a kid. and throughout that time, i’ve almost drowned so many times in my life. i’m pretty serious about this and if you ask any surfer that surfs big waves, they would tell you the same thing. surfing big waves is no joke. you have to be physically and mentally prepared. i’ve been doing weight training for over 15 years but that just prepared me for the physical side. for the mental side, free diving is how i train and is what saved my life all those times. it prepares me mentally. just being able to feel comfortable under water makes me feel safe. i had two near death experiences in the last four years. one in mexico and one in hawaii. i got held down so long by a 10′ set in mexico. i didn’t have a leash and the water was so dirty that i couldn’t see underwater so i didn’t know which way was up. i was down so long that i knew the next set was coming real soon. i just waited until the undercurrent started to let up. it took a while but it eventually did. what made me get out of that bad situation was i was relaxed. even though i was out of breath, i knew i couldn’t fight the ocean. eventually, i came up. and when i did, i got another big set on the head and the same thing over and over. if i didn’t free dive and that happened to me, i would have been history. then 3 winters ago, i was surfing backdoor on a small day and ate it on the takeoff. the wave picked me up and slammed me head first onto the reef. it knocked me out cold. luckily i woke up, but i was still underwater. i couldn’t move my hands and feet because my body was in shock. i was really scared and thought that i was going to die but i knew that fighting it would be no help so i just relaxed. i opened my eyes and seen the surface but couldn’t move. then i got some feeling back in my arms so i swam back up slowly. i made it back to the beach and went straight to the hospital for a CAT scan. i didn’t want to sleep and not wake up. the test results came back negative so i was lucky. those were near death experiences that almost took my life. i saw death in the eyes more than enough. that’s why free diving has helped me so much mentally. if you train properly, you should be able to dive pretty deep and hold your breath for 2 or 3 minutes. and if you can do that, you should be fine even if a 20′ waimea set cleans you out. it just makes you feel more comfortable and confident in the ocean and that’s important. if you panic, your done. i always feel that if you fight with the ocean, you will lose. you just got to go with the flow. so jump in a pool and train. then go in the ocean and learn. learn about the waves, currents, tides, reefs, and other things. especially for people like me that spend more than half their lives in the ocean. enjoy it, respect it, and know what to do when that scary time comes because let me tell you, it will come when you least expect it…. dive safe and surf safe…
