Holly Beck on Surfing Fear Factor

Nov 09 2006 / Los Angeles, CA
Surfing is fun usually and then there is that one time when it really isn’t and that moment haunts you forever. Holly tells LAT34 about when surfing went from fabulous to fearful in seconds in Tahiti.


LAT34:  What’s your gnarliest wave story ever?
HB: I was in Tahiti with Jodi, Rochelle and Megan and we went to get cover shots for SG and the waves were HUGE. Rochelle Ballard is the most comfortable surfer in big waves and she was scared. We were four or five days into it and we hadn’t got any waves and Jim Russi was like, “Ok you guys need to learn to tow in.” This was in 2000 and we were not doing that yet. This was before people had it all figured out. I was scared to death. We did it at this right to get the feel for it and practice. The next day there was this wave Sapinoos. In photos it looks like Teahupo. It’s a big gnarly hollow left. It was pumping.

LAT34: How big was it?
HB: I don’t know how big it was. It was huge. It’s Tahiti. There was no one out and Jim was like ok, perfect you are towing in. Rochelle went first and got totally annihilated. They wanted us to wear the life vest at first but the photog said we would look better without it. I said I am wearing it. No way I am going out without one. So I got a couple of good waves and then Jodi went and Megan went and we were flirting with the waves, going deeper and deeper. So then I got confident and didn’t wear the vest. And I told the guy I want to get barreled and the driver told me, “You have to fade a bit.” I did and it was cool. I popped up after the wave pinched me and the end and I was so jazzed. The next wave I told him that I wanted to surf out of it. I was all fired up. So we spin around the back and we are waiting and he is pulling me toward it. I could see four waves behind it. And it was bigger than any wave I had that morning. I started thinking to myself don’t fall. That’s always a mistake. As he pulled me in and I faded and the thing grew, it looked like the whole ocean was going to fold over. I got really scared. I dove into the face. This is a bad idea. In smaller waves there is a back. In Tahiti there is no back. I remember feeling for a minute I am in the water and I am going to be ok. Then the whole thing lifted me up and threw me over the falls. It was the gnarliest thing. The falling was so long…it was like falling, falling, and falling. I swam up my leash and had no life vest on so the ski couldn’t get to me…..the guy is yelling take off your leash and dive.

LAT34: Why do you think you didn’t make that wave?
HB: I would have made it if I had hunkered down and took the wave but because I didn’t have the confidence I kooked out. That wave haunted me for years. It was terrifying.
We weren’t wearing straps or anything.

READ ALL ABOUT HOLLY AND HER RISE TO THE BIG LEAGUES.

Keep an eye out for Holly Beck’s story on her trip to Africa.