America’s east coast isn’t exactly known for producing big wave surfers.
Sure, there are notable exceptions, but they’re few and far between. It’s not like the east coast has many (errr, any) big wave surf spots, so it takes a commitment to traveling to unfamiliar places and pushing your boundaries in terrifying lineups around the world.
Trial by fire, if you will. Which is exactly what 19-year-old Robbie Goodwin is doing.
In “The Lore”, Goodwin brings us with him to Ireland. Raw, cold, and unforgiving, it’s not like it’s an easy place to test your meddle. The fact that Goodwin showed up to maxing Mullaghmore, saw Nate Florence and Tom Lowe in the lineup, and decided to jump in and join them, is all you need to know about Goodwin’s mindset.
“This wasn’t a good wave by any means, but it’s a special one for me,” says Goodwin about the wave at the 1:12 mark in his edit above, from that day. “This was kind of a weird session. I saw @tomloweyoand @nathan_florence out by themselves at Mully, it looked pretty ragged and disorganized but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to surf with those guys, both of them being absolute heroes to me.
“I suited up and made the long and arduous paddle out, but by the time I made it out to the line-up, the wind had switched to straight sideshore and Nate told me they were going to get a wave in. That was frustrating, but I was going to stay out as long as they did and try and get a wave because there were still a few throaty ones coming through, and despite not being at all comfortable in waves that size yet, I was hungry to ride one.
“After letting quite a few go by, a meaty looking double up came straight to me and the boys called me into it, so obviously I had no choice but to go. I’ve Never been so scared on a wave before, thing totally tried to kill me with a step in the face. Despite being a relatively small wave for this spot, and for big wave surfers like Lowey and Nate, it felt like I was on top of a building when I got to my feet. Falling was simply not an option in my mind, too scary. If my ankles had a chance to argue my decision to commit to the airdrop, they certainly would have. The wave didn’t grab the reef right and just sort of mushed out, but I’ll certainly never forgot that drop, and being called into that wave by the two guys I look up to the most didn’t even feel real, like a dream. I can’t wait to lock into a real one out there, hopefully one with an easier entry!”
Click play to watch Goodwin tackle Mullaghmore and a few other terrifying Irish slabs.
This kid sure has a bright future in big wave surfing, and he’s already making the east coast proud.
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