"I just remember feeling weightless and it taking a really long time to come down."
The Californian surf photographer Ryan Moss is recovering at the Queens Trauma Center in Honolulu after snapping his spine during one of the most filmed, and commented, moments in recent surf history.
Moss was shooting the thirty-foot swell on the back of a ski piloted by pro surfer Cam Richards from South Carolina when they, along with a flotilla of other water bikes, watched the horizon turn black.
Hit the vid below, drag slider to two minutes.
Note: The white ski ain’t Moss and Richards.
In an excellent interview with Magic Seaweed, Moss describes being caught inside and the aftermath of the impact.
“I just remember feeling weightless and it taking a really long time to come down. I didn’t know or realise how fast Cam sent us over the lip of that thing.
“There was no handle on the ski, so I couldn’t stand up and hold on and hoped my legs would have absorbed some of the impact. So I was just sitting on the back with a death grip on the leather seat. Next thing I know I heard a loud thud and it felt like the ski buckled in half.
“Along with that my back sent a shooting pain and tingling feeling from my waist down to my feet. I remember saying “fuck, fuck, fuck”, I’m paralysed. I legitimately thought I was.
Cam Richards, meanwhile, got sucked over the falls with another ski.
“Cam if you’re reading this, I hope you’re all good and in good health,” Moss said from his hospital bed.
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reminds me of this gem…
just full hyper speed send in to oblivion.
https://youtu.be/tpUMSarCSQw
Scenes like this are gonna happen more often with more casualties. Set coming, safety people n video teams having a tongue wag n then oooohhh shit, gotta go. Doesn’t seem like half the ego’s out there actually have the credentials to be out there based on the aftermath.
I think I understood. They were probably on the ski that gets airborned seconds before the white ski htftts. Then he gets sucked over the falls in the next wave.
Chillies or no chillies?
Forgot to add the photo.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Pretty lucky they didn’t land on someone.
I literally did this exact thing, maybe got a couple less feet of air. Also broke my back. Scary as hell, those skis come down like a ton of bricks
It’s confusing. They lunched themselves over the lip and at the same time went over the falls? Sounds like it. Anyways… what’s your favourite grilled cheese recipe?
Doesn’t sound like he was driving but not sure.
I think that’s a pretty weird place to have lunch.
Are they trying to escape COVID restrictions?
What did they eat? Sounds like it might’ve resulted in food poisoning if he felt all weightless and broke his back.
Did they lose any cutlery when the wave wobbled their tables?
Who catered for it? Or was it a potluck?
White ski life’s matter!
Fly and be free brothers
Eat your heart out Darren Handley
Needs a turpel voiceover – “Just have to get back on the ski and reset!!”
A break out hip
This is the best thing I’ve ever seen on Beach Grit. I mean they even did the album cover…
Goddammit I love mashups.
Yep mashups are cool.
Did you know:
1. Huey Lewis and the News got sued by Ray Parker Junior because Wanna New Drug was a ripoff of Ghost Busters? Huey Lewis lost, or maybe it was the other way around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKWW5-jr5Y0
2. You can sing the lyrics to Hotel California over Escape (The Pina Colada Song) and they fit, or vice versa.
On a dark desert highway/I was tired of my lady
Cool wind in my hair/We’d been together too long.
Warm smell of colitas/Like a worn out recording.
Rising up through the air/Of a favorite song
3. Streisand’s I Am a Woman in Love and Britney Spears Ooops I Did It Again are the same song. And they have the same initials!! Different tempo though.
4. You could do a cool mashup of The Jam/Beatles/Beck Start! Taxing the New Pollution as they all have the same bassline, taken from Taxman.
Start! https://www.youtube.com/wat…
The New Pollution: https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Taxman: https://www.youtube.com/wat…
5. I wrote a plea for a new bike today, using Wanna New Drug. Haven’t had the nerve to send it yet.
I WANNA NEW BIKE
(To the tune of I Want a New Drug)
I wanna new bike, one designed by S____.
A bike I can ride on Colony Beach
When the Santa Ana winds are warm
I wanna new bike, one that runs on E
A bike that’s fast and tough
But I don’t want it for free.
An __ in Torch or Graphite
Or whatever you have in stock
I’d be glad to put $500 down that would really rock
And I promise to use a lock
I wanna new bike, one for riding on hard sand
For which I will pay full price
Just under two grand
I wanna E bike, one that attracts lots of chicks.
A bike that everyone digs.
From hipsters to hicks.
I’ve got all my money in Tesla
Money I don’t want to move
If I could pay in full in two months, that would be a groove
That would be a groove baby
I wanna new bike, with 750 watts of power
And a cool LCD screen
That shows 30 miles per hour
I wanna _____ _ _ , one with suspension
One that I can ride fast and furious
Without apprehension
I love riding the O____
But it’s getting old and busted
The LCD screen is glitchy
And the shocks are getting rusted
It’s been a good bike – true and trusted
Mashups are rad, brother dad.
who was the guy on the white ski? that looked like a dirt bike jump. that was nuts. i just pictured the ski exploding into pieces on the other side of the wave. holy crap.
Yeah, that white ski fk’n soared! That was wild.
Was a Uber eats delivery
Cam pulls ahead of Reef Macintosh at Teahupoo and DH at Kirra for ski driver of the millennium with this impressive and very committed entry.
Who wants to take a ride with Cam?
I’ve had non surfing friends sending me this clip all day today, and yesterday. Shit like this cuts through more that a 7.6 by some off brand dude or a historic women’s pipe comp.
The wozz really needs to up its game. They could have been covering all of these swells and the pipe sessions that have been going down. ELO likes to think he’s a media guy, pfft.. missed dozens of opportunities to have eyeballs on the wsl through this Hawaiian and Mavericks bonanza. Stick and move, stick snd move!!!
It really calls into question his success at OWN. Beginning to imagine there was someone or someones below Erik that deserve the credit. I mean, let’s be serious, ELo first tasted success on SiriusXM so I’m not sure how that translates to visual media.
Ssshhhh!!!
Remember, he’s not marketing to surfers
But who doesn’t like to rubberneck at waves like this??
Kinda weird to see what gets the most views on You Tube. Things like mother zebra fights lion to save baby gets ten million views, WSL gets two thousand. Can see why chas does the shark stuff.
Seems like the Vans digital 3Crown’s the way to go… More appealing than sitting through 3 days worth of whathisname explaining overlapping heats and the inside corner.
Leaving work on Friday, driving towards a long weekend be like
So was he on the ski that launched into outer space? This article is confusing as hell. More questions then answers.
From the MSW interview (which is pretty harrowing!):
Update: MSW’s now been in contact with Cam, here’s what he said: “Just to let it be known, we weren’t on that white ski, but one of the black ones. Just really happy to hear Ryan is going to be okay! I did the best I could do to keep us safe during the chaos and things just went wrong. I feel terrible for Ryan but I know he is in good spirits and will be back stronger and better.”
no, he wasnt on the white ski. but whoever was on the white ski . . . holy shit.
The description though? “Launched over the lip” “feeling weightless” “taking a long time to come down” “hoped my legs would absord the impact”. That’s clear the description of flying through the air then landing and getting hurt.
Apparently was Mike Latronic, still charging
Still a mystery. Mike Latronic was on a black ski also.
I prayed to Jesus that all reef killing skis and ski riders be shot into outer space. This was obviously a practice run by my lord god.
I learnt two things reading that ‘article’.
1. South Carolina has a ‘pro surfer’.
2. He needs lessons on wave knowledge, and how to drive a ski in big surf.
(when in doubt, don’t head out…)
If you have seen any of his performances at Pipe the last few winters I don’t think you would question his wave knowledge skills.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Pipe very different to outside reefs where there are 25’+ waves…all comes down to knowledge and experience…..he should have turned around!
Cam has had some of the best Pipe tubes the past few seasons.
I’m pretty sure that was a lesson.