If the big-wave world had its own Triple Crown, or a trifecta of surf spots showcasing the world’s biggest, gnarliest, most progressive waves, it would go something like this:
Jaws, Nazaré, Mavericks.
Currently, those are the spots pushing the limits of what’s possible in big surf. And so, in the fringe world of big-wave bodysurfing, the one-and-only Kalani Lattanzi became the first person to bodysurf all three, the holy trinity, back on February 11th of 2023.
“Mavericks is like a mix of Jaws and Nazaré,” Lattanzi says in the video above, which comes from the Mavericks Surf Awards, a two-day festival coming to Pillar Point September 30th-October 1st, celebrating the best rides of last season while welcoming the one incoming.
“All of them are crazy heavy,” Lattanzi continued. “You gotta be reardy; you gotta train all of your life. If you’re ready, it’s gonna be fun; if you’re not, you’re gonna die.
“My first experience bodysurfing Mavericks [February 11th, 2023] was amazing. I dreamt all my life of going to that wave…a dream and a nightmare at the same time. People get broken into pieces, they have big sharks over there, which I was trying not to think about. I was like a seal out there, so I was blessed nothing happened.”
As previously alluded, Lattanzi is no stranger to big-wave bodysurfing. He’s practically the only person out there doing it – like at Shipstern Bluff, Australian mysto spots, among others.
Now, he can add Mavericks to that list.
“That was my first time at Mavericks,” Lattanzi continued. “I wanna go for a second. And if it’s bigger…let’s go.”
Stay tuned for more Mavs content to come – and speaking of, check out the 2023/24 season El Niño forecast and Peter Mel’s season-opener tube from earlier this week.
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