This is about as epic as it gets for Weird Waves Of The World. They call it Glacier Surfing. What is it you ask? Surfing the wave formed by a falling iceberg… Who is cray enough to attempt this ridiculous feat? None other than Garrett McNamara, the same legend that took on the world’s biggest wave in Nazare at 24 metres back in 2011.
Garrett and side kick Kealii Mamala set out a few years back to achieve what most thought was unachievable, to be the first in history to glacier surf. It wasn’t an easy task for McNamara and Mamala, with the elements against them the duo spent a whole week waiting around in freezing cold minus temperatures, 20 hours a day beneath a 90 metre iceberg, waiting for it to collapse and hopefully form a ridable wave not certain of the outcome, that’s dedication!
Their pateince paid off, on day 7 when McNamara and Mamala were ready to call it quits, the iceberg eventually fell and they were there to surf it. The iceberg created a nice ridable left hander with some serious size on it.
‘It was the closest I’ve ever come to death’ said the man who has surfed nine-story waves off the most rugged coastlines in the world.
‘I was up to my neck in water, looking up at this 90-meter tall glacier, waiting for the ice to break off and hoping that it’ll fall straight into the water — because if it falls flat you’ll be squashed under it.’
‘I wanted to go home after the first day’ McNamara admitted to CNN.
‘But it’s fun to be the first to do something. It’s a totally new experience – no one can tell you what it feels like, what to expect.’ said McNamara
