Is there joy in everyday fear? The type of fear that you bring upon yourself? Perhaps! If nothing else, it reminds us we’re here. And, like, without the dark there can be no light. But, what about those who take the bizarre activity of surfing to its wildest limits? How do they wrestle the high-voltage fear they regularly encounter? This greatly interests us.
We like Mark Mathews because he has a penchant for swinging on big, black walls of water and putting himself in situations that most of us can’t comprehend (see also: the belly of a bomb at WA’s The Right). Since Mark has such an intimate relationship with fear in his day to day, we asked him to host a series in which he opened the passenger door of his Land Rover to other professional athletes we like, to clock some clicks and discuss the mysterious phenomenon of fear, in its many strange forms.
You watched the episode above? Within, Mark rolls with the then-recently-retired (and loving it!) Taj Burrow. Stab once whipped these two gents into the same wave at WA’s The Right, in search of the greatest surf photo ever taken – unsurprisingly, this topic is given some airtime during their day trip. Taj isn’t so well known for charging big waves, but he certainly knows a lot about fear (of failure, or injury, and of the The Right, among other things). Their banter both entertains and enlightens.
Now, let’s dive into the rest…
