‘Eat Sh*t and Die’: Mike Stewart’s Teahupo’o Wipeout (Video)

Speaking into the camera from Indonesia, the Hawaiian waterman says:

“I just wanted to let everyone know I’m okay. I’m upright. I cracked a rib, so I got pretty smoked at Teahupo’o. A lot of people trying to figure out what’s going on with me. I just wanted to let you know that I’m okay. Everything’s cool.”

Next, Stewart begins a full breakdown of what happened on the brutal beatdown. He explained:

“I carefully waited my turn, which is super important at this break, because there’s so much consequence and you don’t want to interfere with anyone’s takeoff. A good set approached, and I committed. This might’ve seemed a little reckless, but I was actually making a lot of waves all morning. I really thought I had a good chance of making this one.

“After reviewing the footage, I identified one critical mistake that led to a cascading of negative consequences. You can clearly see in my paddle trail, that I paddled out to meet the oncoming set. Had I paddled in, and over, I think I would’ve had a better chance at making this wave.

“While I started very low on the wave, there’s so much water sucking up the reef at this break, that it ultimately pulls you to the top. My idea was to make a deep scoop to stick to the face. But that didn’t work. I realized that I was going to go airborne. I thought I’d just really hold on tight, but the impact was just so intense. I just surrendered.”

From the impact, all the air was blasted from Mike’s lungs, and the hold-down that followed was particularly intense – he almost stayed down for two waves.

As for his board?

“Absolutely destroyed,” he said. “Never had a board split down the middle like this.”

Legendary waterman, legendary wipeout.