- Surfer Ridge Lenny shared a story of his "heaviest wipeout" ever to TikTok in late January.
- In a series of posts, Lenny told viewers about being tossed around like a "rag doll," by "Jaws."
A 28-year-old surfer called Ridge Lenny has shared the extraordinary story of getting caught in the most dangerous wave he's ever tried to surf.
In a series of videos posted to TikTok in late January, Lenny described the experience of being pummeled by the ocean as like getting "hit by a freaking train" when trying to surf a wave known as "Jaws" that earned its nickname in 1975 after surfers described it as having the "unpredictability and ferocity of a shark attack." The wave, reported to be the "largest, heaviest, and fastest wave of the Pacific Ocean," by Surfer Today is in Lenny's native Maui, Hawaii, and its waves can reach heights of up to 80 feet.
On January 23, Lenny shared footage of himself surfing a massive wave with the on-screen caption: "It felt like the whole ocean ate me."
Viewers could see him race down the dark blue water as the wave crested and sea spray drew closer to him. After a few seconds, Lenny disappeared beneath it as the wave crashed. The video has since been watched more than 3.9 million times.
@ridgelenny I don’t even know where to begin on what it was like getting trapped in that wave #JAWS ♬ original sound - Ridge Lenny
In response to comments asking how Lenny survived, he posted a four-part storytime describing the "heaviest wipeout of my life" on January 28, sharing additional footage, which appeared to be shot from a camera placed on him, showing bubbles and swirling water.
Lenny said being engulfed by the wave was like being tortured
Lenny told viewers that on the day of the incident, he'd already surfed a couple of "sketchy" waves, almost falling off, but said he was still feeling good and wanted to push himself "even further" and get a "really big, good barrel." (In surfing, a barrel refers to when a surfer rides inside the curve of a wave as it breaks).
He waited, and when a radio call came in alerting him and his companions to a big incoming wave, Lenny got into position, he said.
As he glided across the water, he said he tried to stay calm, telling himself to "take some deep breaths, and try to focus on what you have to do to make this wave." Quickly, though, he realized how precarious his position was — telling viewers he realized the only way out of the wave was through a barrel.
As the wave began to pitch over him Lenny said he experienced a surreal moment.
"A wave that big, basically throwing over you — and you're like, sort of in this water tunnel — it's almost a view that is so hard for the brain to understand that you almost start short-circuiting and it just doesn't even feel real anymore," he explained.
@ridgelenny Replying to @pipess85 ♬ original sound - Ridge Lenny
He said he thought it was going well until the barrel collapsed "like a tunnel caving in" — his "worst fear." All of a sudden, Lenny had no means of escape. He told viewers, in his fear, time slowed down.
Lenny described being "launched into the air" as a "cavern of water" opened up, and a sense of perpetual falling. Acting out of survival, he kicked his board away before his body made an impact with the waves.
"I've fallen on big waves before," he said, "but nothing like this." He said he was "engulfed" by the wave, sucked into a swirling avalanche of crushing water. He said he inflated his vest so it would, eventually, help bring him to the surface, and resigned himself to waiting, thinking that if he used his arms it would only waste energy.
@ridgelenny Replying to @ridgelenny ♬ original sound - Ridge Lenny
"It felt like I was hit by a freaking train," he told viewers of what he estimated was about 10 seconds of "utter violence," as the water exploded around him. "All of a sudden, you're just flipping and spinning as if you're a rag doll in a dog's mouth — just getting tortured."
Staying calm because, "once you panic, you can use a lot of air," he said he waited, lungs burning, until he finally surfaced, feeling "legitimately out of it," and with black spots in his vision.
Lenny was rescued by a friend on a jet ski, he said
With great relief, Lenny said he saw his friend, Ola Curnan, approaching on a jet ski. But the rescue attempt failed; he couldn't get into place securely and he realized that, unless Curnan left immediately, they would both be swallowed by a wave, with the added threat of a jet ski smashing through the water with them.
@ridgelenny Replying to @ridgelenny ♬ original sound - Ridge Lenny
"So I just start screaming, 'go!'" Lenny said. "I just made that decision, I gotta let go."
His friend, who Lenny described as "one of the best drivers in the world," did manage to escape. The second time, Lenny said the wave "clocked me in the back of the head" — again like being hit by a train — and the "whole nightmare just started over."
This time, Lenny told viewers he made a hard impact with the bottom of the reef, which he said was about 20 feet under the surface. "I've never touched it before," he explained. "It's really rare that anybody has and, if you touch it, you know you're fricking under."
Lenny said he entered survival mode: "This is the moment I need to dig deep," he told viewers, describing going to his "happy place" as the water spun him around.
@ridgelenny Replying to @ridgelenny ♬ original sound - Ridge Lenny
Once he surfaced, he said Curnan was riding to his aid again with a rescue ring outstretched. And, this time, the execution was perfect — enabling the pair to escape before any other wave could crash down.
Lenny, who said he later discovered he had gotten a concussion, described being "out of it" and "confused," and discovered one of his feet had been injured.
Beyond the confusion, he told viewers he felt immense gratitude, hugging Curnan. "I was just so grateful for it to be over and really grateful to even just be talking to my friend," he told viewers.
Surfers have long expressed concerns about the dangers of taking risks with big waves
Over the past decade, the surfing community has engaged in ongoing discussions about safety, rescue, and preparedness. The V1, a wetsuit designed with carbon-dioxide cartridges to inflate like an emergency vest on an airplane, was first developed by Hawaiian surfer Shane Dorian and his sponsor, Billabong, after Dorian almost drowned in 2010.
For almost as long, athletes like Allbee Layer, a surfer known for his skill on Jaws, have feared that such improved life-saving tech, while important, can also lead to "reckless" surfing emboldened by a false sense of untouchability. (In 2016, Layer nearly died on the wave).
"People of all skill levels are surfing so recklessly these days and going on absolutely crazy, un-makeable waves, myself included," he previously told Patagonia for a blog post. "I've personally had my worst and dumbest wipeouts in recent years because I feel safer wearing the vest," he later added.
"It's the nature of big-wave surfers to take risks," surfer Grant Washburn told Patagonia. "They push it as far as they think they can based on the available safety. In the beginning, that wasn't much, so the risks they took were somewhat reasonable. Now, the safety has seemingly eliminated most of the consequences. You can wipeout, inflate, get picked up by the ski, and go right back to the lineup."
Lenny said that in the aftermath he was resting and "laying low."
Altogether, Lenny's videos about the story racked up almost 5 million views. Viewers responded by jokingly telling Lenny "that's a tsunami, bro, that ain't a wave," and likening his description of the water to that of being "trapped in a huge washing machine."
In the days since his original video went viral, Lenny has uploaded more surfing content to his TikTok (which has over 473,000 followers) and Instagram (44,000 followers) — both already almost entirely surfing content.