the leech attachal flea s surfboard to his leg is wrapped around one of the jagged rocks so dangerous, surfers call it the boneyard. the battering yards give flea no chance to release himself. just surge after surge, held in the spot. we thought we were going to watch him die, because he s in 15-foot whitewater being pounded by waves. there s no way anyone can get there. miraculously the leash comes off, and flea makes it safely to shore. it wasn t that big of a mistake. it wasn t that bold of an attempt. so that scares everybody off a bit. people are like whoa, okay. everybody but one. neil is already on his way out to the surf spot and doesn t see flea s narrow escape. after a full 45 minutes of paddling, he reaches the point where the waves are breaking. he sees a big wave coming and takes it. he got it. oh, my god. oh, he s dead. that guy s going to die. his balance was thrown off.
and knows he s in deadly territory, the same place flea just narrowly escaped. the boneyard. there was another wall of whitewater coming toward me. i decided to grab onto the back of my board and point it toward the crack in the rocks. somehow i managed to balance myself between the rocks and make to to the lagoon safely. he was held under water for almost a full minute before he drew a breath. it s amazing he s still alive. i don t think there s many wipeouts in the history of the board nearly as bad as his. he lived, but he got lucky. there are people that have died. neil paddles to shore through the foaming waves. he later discovers that the pounding whitewater broke his back.