On October 14th, 2023, a solar eclipse passed through North, Central, and South America, making it visible to millions of people worldwide.
It wasn’t a full solar eclipse, in which the sun was entirely obstructed by the moon, but an annular – read: there was a “ring of fire” still permeating the moon’s blockage.
And Italo Ferreira, Brazilian surfing Gold Medalist and World Champ, took the opportunity to take a surf-themed photoshoot. But not actually surf. Rather, he stood in front of the eclipse on a sand dune with a surfboard. So, yeah, he kinda, sorta got barreled by the solar eclipse. Or, in other words, he was fully encompassed (like one would be in a barrel) by the sun’s rays. Again, he was not actually surfing, though.
Okay, admittedly, this one was a stretch.
However, the photos are pretty stunning. Like a surf-themed version of Dune.
And it turns out, this wasn’t the first time someone has surfed during a real solar eclipse – but not gotten barreled by one, because that would be absolutely impossible.
Back in 2017, when the world was going crazy for the path of totality during the full solar eclipse in August, Florida longboarder Justin Quintal not only wanted to witness the event, but he wanted to surf during it. The only question was: where?
They settled on Folly Beach in South Carolina.
And the photos from that were something.
Back then, Quintal told SURFER:
“Once it hit totality, I was basically looking at the total eclipse as much as I could while paddling like a madman, catching as many waves as I was able to and trying not to look like an idiot.”
The next total solar eclipse is April 8th, 2024; you gonna surf it?
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