It almost worked out beautifully for Trevor Carlson.
“In my brain, I thought I was going to pack the biggest barrel of my life,” Carlson recounted to filmer Curt Myers. “Peter Mel paddled out, and I just love getting away from the crowd, so I was happy to paddle out and not sit next to everybody. After a while, Peter paddled in and said ‘We’re dreaming. We’re not catching anything here.’
When the wave came, I gave it my best shot. Everybody afterward said I looked too relaxed. I was not relaxed. As I got to the bottom, I thought I was going to pack the biggest barrel of my life. Next thing you know, you’re face-planting.”
See the video below for the session breakdown from Powerlines Productions.
Carlson, age 35, has lived on the North Shore of Oahu for 17 years. Ever since he moved to the island from Hermosa Beach, California, Carlson has been devoted to two things: Scoring big waves and growing his roofing business, Voyager Roofing & Restoration. Now, he’s got two young kids to factor into the equation. As is the case with astute and experienced big-wave surfers, Carlson is trying to be more calculated. It’s not a matter of stacking waves, he said, but getting the right ones.
“In the last five years I’ve been trying to be more patient and chase special waves,” he said.
A scroll through Carlson’s Instagram reveals proper Jaws waves. He’s a regular whenever Pe’ahi breaks and was a wildcard in the first Jaws paddle contest in 2015. He has grown as a surfer while building his own business, a rare feat in today’s age.
One of those special moments Carlson had been eyeing occurred at Mavericks in March 2024, one last hurrah before springtime descended on Northern California. Carlson waited with Mel for nearly an hour at the second reef spot before Mel called it quits and paddled away. Five minutes later, the wave materialized.
“I thought to myself, if you’re going to paddle around out here and float around you kind of have to be willing to go when one actually comes to you,” Carlson recalled. “It’s not about choosing the right wave out there. If something happens to break and looks good, you have to give it a shot because it might be one of the only waves of the day that breaks out there.”
Right at the apex of the a-frame, Carlson went over that infamous ledge, which threw him off balance and face-first into the water. The first pull on his inflation vest didn’t work, but the second lit up the CO2 cartridge. Then he took another big one on the head, which he said actually worked him harder than the wipeout.
“It’s really hard to know how to prepare for that ledge because it’s so rare to get the opportunity to roll in from the second reef,” Carlson said. “So the ledge, I don’t know. You kind of have to pray and land on your feet.
“I try really hard not to do stuff like that. But occasionally shit happens.”