Riding Giants
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:51:00
You have to believe.
:51:01
I know when I'm gonna
make a wave or I'm not...

:51:04
...before I even paddle for it.
:51:06
I have to overcome that safety
mechanism that wants to rise up...

:51:10
...and to keep me from doing
something that could kill me.

:51:13
So this fear of the unknown becomes,
like, something you have to confront.

:51:18
Because there is no way
to turn back your decision.

:51:22
Because there is no way
to turn back your decision.

:51:29
I've just wiped out.
:51:32
I'm getting just worked.
:51:34
Fluttering down the face,
getting sucked back over the face.

:51:39
Then you basically become the lip.
:51:46
Back flips, front flips, McTwists,
every which way underwater...

:51:50
...real fast over, like,
a football field.

:51:54
You don't know which direction
is up or down or right or left.

:51:58
It's black. It's dark.
I can feel the pressure in my ears.

:52:01
You're sure you're near
the surface...

:52:03
...then what you have perceived
to be up is actually the bottom.

:52:06
And the leash is pulling hard on you,
the board is tombstoning up there.

:52:10
And I realize that if there
was another wave that was coming...

:52:14
...I'm finished.
:52:16
At one point, it started to stop,
and I thought, "Okay...

:52:19
...I'm gonna live," you know.
:52:20
- I started to swim up...
- And the next wave hit.

:52:23
Then it started all over again,
every bit as bad as the first part of it.

:52:31
I remember feeling underwater,
like going over a waterfall underwater.

:52:35
Literally getting sucked into a hole.
:52:37
Here I am 30 feet down, and now
it takes me another 15, 20 feet down.

:52:41
And I slam into the bottom down there.
And you think:

:52:44
"Oh, my God. I'm deeper
than anyone's ever been."

:52:49
You get to a point
when you're down there, like:

:52:52
"Okay, this is not
happening anymore."

:52:54
You know, you gotta
get to the surface to get air.

:52:57
Finally, when I come up to the surface,
I remember it being so bright.


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