Here we have 46-year-old surf dude Kelly Slater getting mega pitted at Billabong Pipe Masters this weekend and living to tell the tale. Slater won his matchup against Brazilian surfer Filipe Toledo, though the most impressive thing he did was get back on his board after eating a wave. Slater was pretty much all the way in the water before somehow getting his feet back on the board and leaving the barrel standing up. It’s been dubbed the “Houdini tube ride” for a good reason.
I’m going to let Surfer Today explain this with properly gnarly lingo:
The 11-time world surfing champion sat underneath the ledge for a super late drop, went through the early barreling section, fell off, grabbed his board mid-flight, pulled it back underneath him, bodyboarded the wave for a second, got back up onto the surfboard and stood back up inside the barrel.
Not bad for someone surfing against someone half his age in his penultimate professional season.