Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25037
can't padd out an In, you ve no being out there.' Looking back, I question our<:p·IVf'<:--1 we're so accustomed to the machines. I don't know i we could have survived swimming in," Bradshaw. Fortunately, that was something and tow-in surfers, besides most of us being an older, more mature [lot1. is that we're not opposed to the Rounding. Tow-in surfing is a whole lot more than people thin . It is ttie first time ttiat surfing tias oeen considered a team sport. It's you and your driver and you need to work and train together all the time. When you're not in tune with each other, the i�consist�ncies add up to inefficiency, which can be detnmental m surf this huge." On Big Wednesday, a handful of tow-in surfers were in the water, jockeying for position for what became a historic surf session. Bradshaw and his partner, Dan Moore, were there: "We'd been train ing for this-to cross the 40-foot wave barrier-for years. It's all been a natural progression. We have large surf every winter, so [Big Wednesday] wasn't that shocking for us. But clearly, without a doubt, it was the largest day we've been in." For the surfers (Ross Clark Jones, Bradshaw, Moore, Noah Johnson and Aaron Lambert), getting , out was a juggling act. The best way to get past the breakers was to take the deep-water channel called Phantoms, but even this was nearly a close-out on Big Wednesday. Still, perfect timing allowed teams to break through between sets. Once past Phantoms, it was another mile to the rideable area just outside Log Cabins, also known as Ke Iki. "I used to think about being dropped by a heli to get out there, but then I've always said, 'If you and Moore didn't have to face that day. "Everyone was a bit apprehensive," continues Bradshaw. "Can riding a 40-foot wave really be done? We picked a swell and Moore towed me after it. I was like, 'This is it !' I let go of the [tow] rope and the thing kept jacking up. There were no second thoughts in my mind, I had chosen a relatively conservative line, not too deep, because I wasn't sure if such a wave could be ridden, if my board could make it. When I dropped down the face, the whole wave went hollow and I started making an arcing turn back up-that's when I was like, 'This is a huge wave.' The face was giant [the size of an eight-sto building] and the barrel spit out a cloud of wh like a rocket. You can't appreciate the magnitude such a playing field. You're so focused and you're at the peak of it all that fear isn't an issue at that point. It's a two-minute ride but it looks like you're moving in motion. It's so massive that you're traveling 500 yards in less than 15 seconds. "I made one more turn down the face and moved onto the shoulder where Dan motioned for me to pick up the rope. He was screaming when we got 0 of it, saying, 'This was the biggest thing you've ever ridden!' It was ridiculous, it was off the spec trum, it was beyond cartoon!' It was a rogue wave, b it had all been well choreographed." For others, the water ballet wasn't quite so smooth. Moore and Noah Johnson both wiped out b emerged unscathed. What this proves, though, is . such waves are survivable. "We once thought gOing beyond the 40-foot wave barrier was inconceivable," muses Bradshaw. "The envelope's been pushed-we can survive it. If we can do 40, let's do 50-it's real just one more step." II