It’s been an insane year for Nate Florence.
He’s flown around the world, hunting the heaviest waves humanly possible to surf, and documenting it all on his self-proclaimed “Slab Tour.” From Mexico to Tahiti to Australia and beyond.
The latest stop? Tasmania. Shipstern Bluff. And although we’ve already seen footage from a few sessions at Shippies (see here and here), Nate’s calling this one the “scariest day so far on the Slab Tour.” And for a guy like him, that’s saying a lot.
In the vid above, we see a smorgasbord of mayhem, wipeouts, carnage, and glory from one of the world’s craziest, most dangerous slabs – including the wave that sent Dylan Longbottom to the hospital (scroll to the 3:33 mark for that one).
And even though it might not look like the scariest or heaviest session ever – at least, when it comes to the Slab Tour – Nate assures us that it was.
After celebrating Nate’s birthday in the wilds of Tasmania post-session, Nate wrote this:
“Truly one of the heaviest slabs we have ever surfed. Nobody expected it to be as thick and evil as it showed up to be.
“The feeling of danger and risk was extremely high the way it was funneling onto the reef!
“Dylan Longbottom’s first wave and wipeout he ended up breaking four ribs and puncturing a lung.
“He casually cracked a beer, made no complaints and stayed for another day to see his daughter get some bombs on day two. A true tough Aussie waterman! But next time we are going straight to the hospital lol! Heal up Dylan!
“And thank you Jerome [Sayhoun] for the whips and rides you legend! Thanks Zoard for nailing the shot! And of course thanks all of you for watching and enjoying!
“Thanks team for the epic birthday!!!
“Huge heavy slabs and the scariest day so far on the Slab Tour! Couldn’t have asked for a better day!
“Slab Tour continues!!!”
Where will he go next? Stay tuned.
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