Watch: Von Froth // Getting barrelled for one minute in Namibia

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
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A minute long barrel?

Mr Von Froth sets the stopwatch but I don't think the results would pass the ToonaPies Bakery test.

More a lengthy head dip, really.

Comments

scrotina's picture
scrotina's picture
scrotina Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 3:23pm

this guy does my head in. good surfer, but also an egotistical wanker

Dan87's picture
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Dan87 Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 4:21pm

Agreed! Seems so arrogant.
I hated his burn on Fred as well as what he said afterwards.

mibs-oner's picture
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mibs-oner Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 4:41pm

I’ll show him how to get piped on a left. :P

Rabbits68's picture
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Rabbits68 Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 4:56pm

Looks epic when its glassy and the sun is shining.

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 5:17pm

How did all those guys get to Namibia now? Or has he been sitting on this footage since last winter?

mikehunt207's picture
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mikehunt207 Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 6:11pm

Not sure if that barrel counts as a minute? Bit of time off trying to stall it up out in front . He does come across a bit of a wanker. Everybody trying to film themselves film themselves with the go pros. Must be old footage as Billy Kemper has been out of the water for months.

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 6:13pm

IB check the foil of that board at 1 sec

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 7:30pm

Yep, packing in the volume - in a weird Stretch way.

SI's picture
SI's picture
SI Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 6:56pm

Haha, yeah definitely not barrelled for one minute, should be “trying to get barrelled for one minute”... still looks awesome fun , wish I was there!! I’ll bet those seals have got some good tubes. I’ve seen seals do some of the best surfing I’ve ever seen. Late drops with silky smooth flow into deep pits, fly out with the spit and full cutbacks , they are definitely awesome and seem to do it with ease... they swim up and check you out like your some sort of creature learning their ways and I guess surfers sort of are learning their ways. When I do a really long session of around 6-8 hours I sometimes think I’m like a seal. The south Australian Aboringines have a story about how seals are wombats and wombats are seals. It’s an awesome story about the land creatures and sea creatures swapping and sharing their parts with each other - really a story of deep respect for nature. I love those seals, one of my favourite parts of the video.

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 7:33pm

Seals have a knack of scaring the living daylights out of me. Surf some very lonely spots with seal colonies and a sharky vibe, and the seals always sneak up on you and exhale loudly.

Good surfers, though!

Ardi100's picture
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Ardi100 Friday, 17 Jul 2020 at 10:09am

And when they lie on their side and stick a flipper up in the air . . .

wax-on-danielson's picture
wax-on-danielson's picture
wax-on-danielson Friday, 17 Jul 2020 at 9:01am

False advertising, watched the 10 mins and not even close to a one minute barrel.

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 7:57pm

Nic seems alright. Young, good surfer, stoked, living the life. Wish I was young and lean again.

Doesn't come across as that much of a big-head to me.

carpetman's picture
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carpetman Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 10:42pm

“No food in the desert, got to bring your own”

He packed his own lunch. What an intrepid explorer.

ringmaster's picture
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ringmaster Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 11:51pm

Same

II reckon the perceived arrogance is genuine stoke for what he's able to do.

Yendor's picture
Yendor's picture
Yendor Friday, 17 Jul 2020 at 7:16am

I don't mind him either. I reckon it's a bit of a Euro/antipodes culture clash thing.

He's a big talker but also seems cheeky and genuinely stoked. I've got no question about his energy and commitment, looks like he puts in the work for the scores to me.

As for burning Fred. Who hasn't dropped in on a mate they thought was too deep. He might have been a bit smug about it but I doubt it's the stuff of a blood feud. It would have been so easy to pull it in the edit and make himself look better.

Spuddups's picture
Spuddups's picture
Spuddups Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 8:01pm

Yeah, those pesky seals can scare the b’Jesus out of ya aye. Mind you they’re not as bad as those fuckin’ Sea Lions in Dunedin. The males weigh up to 500kg and will chase you up the beach all the way to the carpark sometimes. The females are smaller but like to bump into you when you’re sitting on your board and also will nip at your legs from time to time. No one’s ever been seriously injured by one of those guys but they do more than enough to put the wind up ya aye. Of course it’s absolutely hilarious when it’s all happening to someone else.

SI's picture
SI's picture
SI Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 8:11pm

Went for a snorkel once with some seals with one of my small kids years ago, and the big lion came up nice and REAL close to us kind of opening it’s great mouth and showing us it’s great teeth. I remember squeezing the little hand of my kid , haha , not sure if I was trying to protect him or looking for protection from him! But seriously, it was a totally awesome seal and ended up being pretty friendly really. I was stoked to get so close and see it’s majestic nature, in a way it was super cool because it chose how close it wanted to come like dolphins do, or sharks - but don’t get me onto sharks, lots of shark stories too, amazing creatures , they have my respect, even if they’ve given me a few scares!!

Spuddups's picture
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Spuddups Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 8:16pm

That’s one great part of being a surfer that doesn’t get talked about that often. That is encounters with sea life I mean. Had a massive orca breach without warning about 20mtrs from me last year. Was farken’ terrifying but at the same time really cool. You never forget shit like that aye. The bugger could have swallowed me whole if he’d wanted to, but for some reason they never do. Who knows why?

SI's picture
SI's picture
SI Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 9:24pm

Awesome Spuddups!! You lucky man...I’ve had so many encounters with whales etc, but not an Orca ... I’ve seen a pod, but wasn’t in the water. To be in the water with one of those for sure would be amazing ... they are above Whites as a predator, but they are more like us and there is something incredible and of pure grace that the wild Orca seems to know man...it’s a mystery and I reckon there is a deep magic with Orcas, you are a lucky man!’

zenagain's picture
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zenagain Thursday, 16 Jul 2020 at 10:14pm

I was snorkelling way out on the GBR and got buzzed by a Minke whale once.

lomah's picture
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lomah Friday, 17 Jul 2020 at 10:33am

zenagain there are crew who do minke research off the outer GBR and to help fund it you can do a live aboard for a week and part of it you long line off the back of the boat floating around with the minke's. i know crew who have done it and they rate it as one of the best nature experience of their lives. apparently the minke come back to same region year after year. there are some docos or tv segments on it floating around.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Friday, 17 Jul 2020 at 11:03am

An orca! Not a known killer of humans, but fuck knows they've got the capacity to do what they want.

A few years back I was surfing a beach a little north of here, cloudless day, sun overhead, clear water, and I was semi-concious of a large shadow looming on the sandy bottom. Didn't think much of it, sun's gone behind a cloud, till it suddenly dawned on me there were no clouds and I had to make sense of the situation.

'Twas the shadow of a huge whale swimming only a few metres away. The sneaky bastard crept up on me! Was tempted to go closer till I got a handle on the size, including it's great whacking tail. Better to stay clear of that thing.

Wild little encounter.

zenagain's picture
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zenagain Friday, 17 Jul 2020 at 11:55am

Surfing Main beach North Straddie once, kicked out and had a lovely encounter with a huge Manta ray, that was pretty cool.

My bro is an amateur helicopter pilot and he once took my wife and I flying over Moreton bay and down to Tangalooma- got some great pics from the air of mama Humpbacks and their calves in the most crystal of clear blue water.

How good is nature!

dawnperiscope's picture
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dawnperiscope Monday, 20 Jul 2020 at 8:42am

Swallow ya hole.. he'd definitely spit that out!

goofyfoot's picture
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goofyfoot Friday, 17 Jul 2020 at 4:28pm

Orcas, why is it they don’t generally prey on humans? They eat seals like it’s going out of fashion so why not us?
Smarter than great whites? Do the orca know the difference between us and a seal?
I remember seeing pics of some at Uluwatu a couple of years ago. Amazing creatures

Mishad's picture
Mishad's picture
Mishad Friday, 17 Jul 2020 at 6:21pm

He should learn from Brian Conley on how to film in the barrel footage. Don't touch the wave face and use your skill to position yourself in the barrel. No selfie angles either, the only person who should see that blow job face is his roomy chum Aritz.

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Friday, 17 Jul 2020 at 7:40pm

When I first saw my eyes won't dry I'd had a couple of hotties and I was farking blown away.

To this day, I reckon it's the benchmark for shooting from inside the barrel.

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Friday, 17 Jul 2020 at 7:43pm

What happened to B Conley? Those big Pascuales barrels were incredible.

Mishad's picture
Mishad's picture
Mishad Saturday, 18 Jul 2020 at 5:13pm

Yeah last i saw via his instagram hes hold up in his palace on the beach near pascuales (or maybe there) getting barrelled, watching his boys becoming the next generation of tuberiders or if not that going out on his boat with his family hauling in oversized dorado. Looks like a dream life...on Instagram.

But yeah i agree his My eyes wont dry vids are clearly the benchmark on how to shoot in the barrel footage. It helps when you have good style too. I miss those wide open glassy barrels of pascules...

liplauncher's picture
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liplauncher Saturday, 18 Jul 2020 at 8:23am

was surfing a semi remote reef break in SW WA back in '88, big clean autumn day, no one else around as it often was back then, when a couple of orcas, a male and a female, just showed up and started surfing the big bombs, just like a couple of dolphins. we hung in there for a short while, but it was feeling really unpredictable and dangerous with them jumping out on the face of the waves, and kicking out the back so we retreated to the cliff top to watch in safety.
The pair hung about and played for quite a while, and we were treated to a very special sea life encounter. never forget it.

The MIDdleman.'s picture
The MIDdleman.'s picture
The MIDdleman. Sunday, 19 Jul 2020 at 11:58am

Trusting your gut is probably a good call though I reckon they would've missed you,)

They're in total control out there and would've known exactly what they were doing.

bluediamond's picture
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bluediamond Saturday, 18 Jul 2020 at 5:53pm

Haven't surfed it but going on footage, and what Nick says in the clip, this has got to be the best wave in the world. I'd struggle to mount an argument to say it's not, just based on visuals. (maybe size and consistency??). Bizarrely, it's still kinda obscure and only pops up on the radar occasionally.

tango's picture
tango's picture
tango Saturday, 18 Jul 2020 at 9:33pm

10 points for the surfing and -10 points for the hype. No way was that a one-minute barrel, though. Only 20-30sec, thats just pissweak.....

No orcas, but I did kick a decent-sized shark at a particular reef a couple of years ago which got caught in my leggie, the full Mick at JBay. Always funny in hindsight but it was a truly adrenaline-fuelled few seconds til the bastard got free. Makes you realise how fast you can paddle if you really want to.

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Sunday, 19 Jul 2020 at 12:48am

I'm with you Tango, farking lame- only a 20-30 second barrel.

I've had sexual encounters longer than that.

tango's picture
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tango Monday, 20 Jul 2020 at 7:52am

Zen, I'm using everything I've got not to take that further.....