Watch: Sophie McCulloch’s Back-Breaking Wipeout

“I had already fallen out the front of a smaller wave that morning,” Sophie explained, “so I was determined to put my head down and paddle for a bigger one. It wasn’t quite a set wave, so it didn’t let me in with the chip, and I didn’t paddle hard enough to get under it and make the drop. I ended up in the lip and had to try and pin drop. It wasn’t until I got sucked back around a second time that I landed on the ledge, butt-first, and compressed my spine. I felt a big crunch and instant pain, so I knew it probably wasn’t good.”

After a slam that hard, that brutal, Sophie surfaced in a state of shock. She continued:

“I was pretty rattled, but once I regained composure, I realized I probably wouldn’t be able to paddle in and walk back to my car. I paddled back out and asked Chris [Whitey], for a lift over to the WSL event skis. By now I think shock had set in, so the pain had subsided a bit, and I got my hopes up that maybe it wasn’t too bad.”

It was bad. She took an ambulance to Busselton Hospital, where an x-ray confirmed a substantial fracture to her T12 vertebrae. From there, she was airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital, where she got more scans. 48 hours later they released her in a brace.

Days before the injury at The Box, Sophie was relegated to the Challenger Series with a Round of 16 loss to current world #1, Caity Simmers. But now, her return to competition will be delayed even further; coming back from a broken vertebrae ain’t easy.

“While I am absolutely devastated to be sidelined again,” Sophie said, “it’s quite easy to maintain a positive perspective because I know just how lucky I am that the injury wasn’t worse. I feeling very fortunate to be back on the Sunny Coast with friends and family. I’m in a brace for three months, and will hopefully return to the water shortly after that, but I’m not entirely sure when I will be back competing.”

Here's to a speedy recovery.