All Paddle, No Flotation: Revisiting the Best Cloudbreak of All-Time

Originally posted on SURFER | By Zander Morton | Last updated Nov 26, 2024 11:43 AM ET

In June 2012, during the WSL’s Fiji Pro waiting period, the charts turned dark purple and the horizon went black. After running a few heats at XL Cloudbreak on the biggest day of the swell, the WSL had no choice but to call the comp off. Not a single surfer on the CT packed boards big enough for 15-foot-plus Fiji.

But, with the WSL’s broadcast team already in place, they kept the cameras rolling. What unfolded still stands as the best day of big-wave surfing ever captured on a live broadcast. From Kelly Slater and Dave Wassel’s epic commentary to the cartoonish caverns that steamrolled the Cloudbreak reef, the now infamous “thundercloud” swell started a big wave tube riding revolution.

In the edit above, Nick Pollet curated 5-minutes of previous unreleased clips from that day, including the wave of the swell at the 2:43 mark — a mutant outside ledge monster that very nearly cleaned Mark Healey up. The wildest thing about this swell is that it was before the advent of Shane Dorian’s flotation vest.

So, while a few surfers are wearing impact vests (which offer a small amount of flotation), guys like John Florence, The Gudauskas brothers, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and more charged this day in boardshorts, with absolutely nothing to protect them. Looking back, it’s extremely lucky nobody got seriously injured (or worse). Can you imagine what might have happened to Healey had he not ripped off his leash and swam under that bomb?

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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