SPORTS
“8ou get held down, but you keep your wits about you.
I’ve broken ribs, needed stitches and I saw a friend bit by a
shark. We took him to the hospital,” Thiess said.
“The lip of the wave hit me in the head and I was dragged
across the bottom of the ,exican pipeline,’’ said Brady. “I
didn’t think I would ever get up. I was pulling on my leash
to get to the top.’’
“A couple of big days I have been held under, but I’ve had
some real close calls with sharks,’’ Benton said. “I remember
when we saved about ve kids who wouldn’t listen to us.
They got caught in the rip. There were three of them grabbing
my neck as we brought them in.’’
%avis’ scariest moments came in Hawaii. “It was the north
shore of ,aui at a place called Hukipa. I went over the falls
and landed on the side of my head and it blew out my
eardrum. I lost my e$uilibrium, got mangled and nearly
drowned. Another time I was at Sunset Beach and I wiped
out and lost my board. The rip was carrying me out to sea.
%ennis Paganucci saw my board, paddled out and saved
my life.”
Barnes recalled a choppy 10- or 12-foot day as his worst.
“,y leash broke and the tide washed me in. I realiCed how
insigni cant I am in the universe. If the tide hadn’t been
coming in, I would have never been seen again. The rip
current took me within ve feet of a sharp lava reef. I only
have one good eye and another time my board hit me under
my good eye and I had to have stitches. If I was blind, I
would probably still try and surf.”
%avis says he won’t “stop sur ng until my health shuts
me down or when the nursing home won’t let me out.’’
“I’ll $uit sur ng only when I am physically unable,”
said Brady.
“In California you see a lot of guys in their 60s and ?0s
sur ng,” Thiess said. “I met a guy in his 80s who was still
sur ng. If those guys can do it, there’s no reason why I can’t.
As long as you don’t get in over your head, you should be
able to surf for a long time.”
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