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It’s hard to believe Tucker Wooding began filming surfing only five years ago. In that time, he’s shot countless XXL sessions from the sky, from Pipeline to Jaws to Maverick’s to Cloudbreak and beyond. 

Yet it was just five summers ago that he got his first surf clip, which, of all people at all places, happened to be Kai Lenny on a random day at Huntington Beach. It was just a novel, fun thing to do for a seasonal Alaskan commercial salmon fisherman. Today, Tucker’s eye for fresh angles and his ability to track the action in real time, like looking into Soli Bailey’s runaway Fijian freight train, sets him apart. In 2024, Bill Sharp named him the Big Wave Challenge Videographer of the Year. 

Recently, Tucker was on hand for the first real swell of the season at Maverick’s on November 6. With the help of Jack Sandler (who shot the biggest session of the year in 2024) on the jetski, Tucker stitched together a tidy cinematic reel of the day’s highlights. As the afternoon stretched into evening and the tide dropped well under -1.5 feet, the bowl awoke in full. Some (we see you, Wilem Banks) made the late drops, while others didn't fare as well. You’ll also see Luca Padua take advantage of the left before dark.  

If Tucker's portfolio looks this good after five years, I cannot wait to see what he does with the next five.

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

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