Watch: Big Wave Surfer Ridge Lenny Details the Wave of His Life at Jaws

Jade Eckardt
·2 min read
2

Big wave surfing runs in the Lenny family.

Kai's not the only one with a hunger for monstrous waves. His younger brother, Ridge, also holds his own in behemoth surf.

In the video below, Ridge talks about one of his "scariest moments" ever at Jaws while surviving what ended up being the "wave of his life."

Related: Watch: Surfing Great Andy Irons Speaks from the Heart in Last-Ever Interview

In the latest video released on Ridge's YouTube channel, he shares the story:

"This was one of the scariest moments I've ever experienced in big waves. I went way too high on this wave and I thought any second my head was gonna get clipped and I was gonna be cartwheeling down a 40-foot barrel.

"As I let go of the rope, I just consciously made the decision, I'm like okay, 'I'm just gonna go as deep as I can because this thing looks like it's gonna barrel.'"

But he realized it might be more than just another barrel.

"This looks like it could be the wave of my life," he says.

After it lurched up even more, Ridge realized he still wasn't deep enough and decided to "just stomp on the tail and slow down as much as possible to get into the barrel."

"If I outrun it," he thought, "I'm never going to forgive myself."

Soon, he experienced "one of the scariest moments" he's ever had in big wave surfing.

"My heart sank, everything felt like it was going bad," Ridge recalls.

But it paid off, and he calls it "the biggest, most beautiful, terrifying barrel I've ever been in."

Looking back, he wonders:

"How the hell did I get away with that? And that was the wave of my life."

What's next?

Press play to witness the whole thing.

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