ESCAPING SHADOWLAND
“Waves are not measured in feet and inches; they’re measured in increments of fear.” The late Buzzy Trent coined this phrase. In 1953, he was one of the first big-wave surfers to be published in newspapers across America before the birth of surf mags.1
Wave size, regardless of surfing skill, reaches a glass ceiling that’s guarded by fear. Can fear—a weapon that big-wave surfers wield—benefit us all? Do liquid mountaineers, like Laura Enever and Tom Carroll overcome fear by suppressing, ignoring or turning it off, and do they even acknowledge it? We prove to become a better surfer you must add fear to your quiver (custom-made of course).
Aussie legend Thomas Victor “Tom” Carroll is known as the world’s first goofyfooter to win back to back ASP World Tour titles (’83–’84). He’s notorious for roaming the globe and prospecting for unridden waves, making him surfing’s oracle of fear: “The fear response is underneath just about everything we do,” he says. “The fear of dying… that’s the basis of all our fears.”
Is this why fear is typecast as the villain? Either as a weak, wussy kook or an undefeatable psycho who undermines every move, is always one step ahead, and terrifies us with a two-wave hold-down.
Leaving the WSL Tour and becoming an ocean mountaineer marks the beginning of Laura Enever’s cinematic journey—gasping for breath, tossing around the jaws of the world’s most dangerous wa ves, rocketing down Shipstern’s steppie face—permitting her to neurohack fear. “Fear can be a superpower or just something that can rip you apart. Recognise when negative thoughts are made-up scenarios in your head. Know that you can choose to believe them or not.
