Watch nine-time world bodyboarding champion, Mike Stewart, bodysurfing the waves of Teahupoo in Tahiti, in October 2018.
The legendary bodyboarder ended up suffering a painful injury.
“I was having a great session until the end of my last wave when good things came to an abrupt halt,” explained Stewart.
“As I rode my last wave I found a new technique that took me faster, out of the barrel and onto the shoulder. I then tucked both arms in, attempting to go faster still, to get out in front of the white water snow ball.”
The idea being to better penetrate the waves face and cut out, avoiding the dreaded inside suck over onto the dry reef. It was a miserable fail.”
“As I dove into the wave face I soon felt that inescapable, eerie anxiety of my body getting sucked over backwards.”