Greg Long on his near-death experience at Cortes Bank
Greg Long is one of the best big wave surfers in the world, but two years ago he suffered a "non-fatal drowning" while surfing Cortes Bank. The archival footage of Long's rescue team bringing him back to life is harrowing enough on its own, but beating death wasn't Long's last battle. With recovery and personal struggles behind him, Long reflects on his near-death experience and the process of returning to surf big waves again.
Comments
Amazing story. Was that his wipeout in that clip when he got mowed down? Interestingly IMO that didn't look "as heavy" as alot of the other situations these guys find themselves in, yet that was the one that almost took his life. Just goes to show how heavy all those wipeouts must be and potentially how close they come to death quite alot (in varying degrees). Cheers.
Yep, that was it. Looks fairly harmless, eh? Not that heavy at all considering what we see at other times.
But fuck, that footage of him being cut out of his wetty with blood-flecked bandages around his mouth...that's haunting shit.
For sure!! Shows the very serious side of the big wave scene that we don't often get to see......
This article tells the story of the wipeout.
http://www.surfingmagazine.com/magazine/greg-long-illumination/
Also, there's not much surf literature I enjoy but one book I thoroughly recommend is 'Ghost Wave' by Chris Dixon which is all about the history, discovery, and early missions to Cortes. The bank has a surprisingly rich and eccentric history (a group of secetionists once sunk a submarine there and planned to dump rubble around it and create their own nation called Abalonia!). Worth hunting down if you're looking for good surf writing.
Was one of them called the Roller??
Roller should move to Abalonia. He could set up his own stock exchange and free market nation without all those pesky 99%ers who get in the way of even more profits. He may find the whole thing sinks without them, though *boom tish*
The name of the Roller's legal tender would be 'the Baloney'.
Yes I second that Stu it was a ripper book. Towing out the old hulk was a hoot totally ridiculous.
Cheers for that link to the story Carpetman. A great insight to it all.
I wish I could make a living surfing big waves around the world like Greg Long ,
looks easy , nice waves ...big boards .....
First thing in the morning I'm off to the big balls shop and get me some !!!
Wow. A lot of similarities with Kevin Pearce and his journey.
( Although his injuries were more severe )
www.thecrashreel.com
A great documentary.
Faded by Garrett McNamarra