Kelly Slater Gives Props to 19-year-old For Going Under Heavy Aussie Slab

Originally posted on SURFER | By August Howell | Last updated Jul 20, 2025 6:00 AM ET

There’s “backdooring” a section, and then there’s the longshot vanishing act Ned Hart pulled off here. Ned, an exuberant 19-year-old surfer from Western Australia, won the Big Wave Challenge’s first Young Gun award in 2023 for, in part, his brazen air-drop to barrel combo at Shipstern Bluff. He was 16 years old at the time.

Ned hasn’t slowed down since. He’s continued to surf and might be the only surfer on the planet who is getting backing from Florence besides, of course, the Florence brothers. Ned has two entries into the 2025 Big Wave Challenge, both unsurprisingly at frigid and shallow slabs. Some people just have a type.

The first entry came in October on this backlit left at Riley’s, Ireland's notoriously heavy and difficult slab.

A good water shot, but the wave wasn’t nearly as deep, heavy or dramatic looking as what Ned got in June. This second entry went down at a wave shared simply as “Aussie Slab.” Something tells me this thing isn’t in danger of getting overcrowded anytime soon. Best leave it to the enthusiasts.

Ned Hart — 2025 Big Wave Challenge Entry (0:21)

Ned lets go of the tow rope from so far behind the peak that it almost looks like the lip zips over to him, rather than the other way around. And how he doesn’t grab his outside rail and get in a survival pigdog stance is beyond me. Even Kelly Slater had to tip the proverbial cap. "Sick angle into that thing," he commented on Ned's post. "Wow." We agree with Kelly.

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

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