Video: The Irish Slab That Swallowed Nathan Florence
From Jaws, to Maverick’s, to Todos Santos, it’s been the 2023/24 big-wave season for the books so far, and with a brief pause in the action between swells, it’s worth remembering that it was just two months ago that Nathan Florence caught this monster at Mullaghmore Head in Ireland.
A lot’s happened since then, including the swell of the decade on the West Coast, but in a lot of ways it was this session on November 9, 2023, that ostensibly kicked off the big wave season. And of course Florence put himself on an absolute bomb, which is now a nominee for the 2023/24 Big Wave Challenge.
The raw power of the North Atlantic is on full display as Florence is able to negotiate a bottom turn through the turbulence and set himself up for a deep, well-positioned barrel. Hardly the paradise that is a South Pacific tube, this is gritty, blue-collar surfing. Wearing a thick wetsuit, booties and gloves, he grabs his rail and holds on for dear life. The wave stands up and gets more cavernous the deeper he gets. Hanging back on the foam ball, the wave spits and Florence is able to make a pretty casual exit given the fury that surrounds him.
Since this session, Florence has been posted up in Hawaii charging the North Shore’s outer reefs, as well as Pipeline with his two brothers. It looks like there’s another round of sizable swell setting up for the second half of January. No doubt Florence will be on it in some way, shape or form.
13 Waves, 13 Barrels, One Year With Nathan Florence
With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.