If you’re not familiar with Puerto Escondido, aka ‘Mexican Pipeline’, it’s Mexico’s answer to the powerful and massive waves of Hawaii. Zicatela Beach at Puerto Escondido is an anomaly, it’s one of those situations where huge waves roll in from thousands of miles away in the Pacific Ocean, only to be abruptly brought up by a sand beach and turned into a powerful and devastating beach break. The massive wave breaks both to the left and right, attracting big wave surfers from all across the globe.
That video you see above was taken on Sunday afternoon, where it was widely reported to be the biggest day in Puerto Escondido history. That footage shows pro surfer Mark Healey riding what the locals are calling the ‘biggest wave in Puerto Escondido history’, and Healey gets ABSOLUTELY DEMOLISHED halfway in. He’s sucked up into the tube, the wave doubles over, and he was probably left fighting to breathe for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably closer to 5-minutes stuck out there in the white wash.
That wasn’t the only video taken a Mexican Pipe on Sunday though, here’s another glimpse at a man facing his maker as he’s absolutely devastated by one of the most powerful waves in the world:
Some Instagram highlights from the insane day include:
https://www.instagram.com/p/2RjZt8o6TK/ https://www.instagram.com/p/2RBv8yKslD/After Mark Healey survived that wave (the first video), StabMag sat down with him to discuss riding the biggest wave in Puerto Escondido history, an interview you can read in-full here. But before you click on over, here are some quick excerpts so you know what you’ll be reading:
Stab: You had quite a day.
Mark Healey: Today was honestly twice as big as the biggest I’ve ever seen it here. The energy and the water moving was just… so beyond anything I’ve ever seen here. Everything else pales in comparison.
Is that the biggest wave you’ve ever caught? I don’t know. No idea. Definitely the biggest wave I’ve ever caught at Puerto Escondido.
Biggest wave you’ve ever paddled? Mmm, I don’t know. No idea! I didn’t even realise it was that big. I saw the photo later and it was, woah, it looks solid. I went full black out when I saw it, I just went “Ok, I need to commit to this. Done. It’s happening.” I barely remember what it looked like coming in.
Ok, so, this wave. It was hard to find a corner, and there were waves that were breaking so much further out on the biggest sets. You either had to be way inside and try to go for the normal waves, or outside for the sets. And then even outside was like, you might be able to make it around the biggest, furthest-out set. Pretty tricky, and the waves are moving so, so fast. The waves must be going 40 miles per hour. The wave I got was a normal set, it wasn’t the biggest wave. That was the first wave of a set, and all the guys who were around me when I caught that, all got fucking smashed by all the waves behind me. So if I hadn’t caught that wave…
To read about Mark Healey’s brush with the biggest wave in Mexican Pipeline history, CLICK HERE.