MANU BOUVET
Early morning, looking at Jaws from the cliff, the ocean was messy because of a northerly trade wind angle (side on-shore). The swell had definitely arrived and supposed to peak mid-afternoon. At 1 PM I drove one more time through the pineapple field to check the conditions and saw a massive size set breaking. The wind had picked up a lot, so together with my partner Rudy Castorina we decided to give it a go. Launching the ski at Maliko Gulch was hectic due to the swell direction being dead north. The whole bay was closing out and the sets were washing over the ramp. We finally made it out there, rigged up on the jet-ski whilst trying to not be sea sick and joined Kai Lenny, Jason Polakow and Robby Swift who were already out. I rode a couple of medium ones then a bigger one with Jason.
Unlike most days out there where the gusty easterly trade winds make going up wind complicated, the side-shore angle and the solid 20 knots helped me make it quite upwind when a bigger set arrived. By the time I was ready for the drop I knew that I was deep and I was expecting the usual side off-shore wind to propel me down the line pretty quick. That did not happen and I found myself mid-face trying to gain some momentum to make it past the section but there was not enough wind in front of the wave. All I could do to escape the tricky situation was to make it as far as possible onto the flats. From the noise of the lip falling behind me I know the avalanche was very close to me! I hung on to my rig as hard as I could but I didn’t even feel it getting ripped off my hands. I knew I was in for an intense hold down so I focussed on relaxing to keep my energy for later. If panic takes over you’re pretty much done because it can burn all your oxygen. It felt like I was flying in the air for a few seconds before getting swallowed up by the white water. There was a few intense seconds where I was torn apart; my lycra was pulled over my face so I had to take it off before starting to use my arm to swim up.
The life jacket that I was wearing came in very handy in that particular moment! I saw some light above me and I popped up just in time to take a good breath before the next white water ran over me. I was pretty exhausted by that moment and was glad Matias, in charge of my rescue, was right next to me on the jet-ski when I popped up. That was it for my day, the man and the equipment needed a rest. I am glad I managed that situation pretty well not only by staying calm but by being well prepared with trusted water safety and several free diving classes over the last couple of years that taught me a lot. I can’t wait for the next session out there!