Watch Surfer of the Year Nathan Florence's Big Wave Challenge Awards Footage
You've probably heard by now that Nathan Florence was named Surfer of the Year and awarded Ride of the Year at the inaugural Big Wave Challenge awards held over the weekend in Nazaré, Portugal.
The Ride of the Year award was for Florence's absolutely insane wave at Mullaghmore Head in Ireland.
Florence spent most of the year chasing waves on his self-proclaimed Slab Tour. Then a few days ago, he shared clips of some of his gnarliest waves as he packed up and headed off to the awards.
Florence's latest vlog dropped yesterday, featuring behind-the-scenes (and in front of the stage) footage of the award show.
The video features a lot of stoke from a lot of badass big wave surfers, like France's Justine Dupont who has officially surfed the biggest wave of the year, and big wave-obsessed surf cinematographer, Tim Bonython.
During his awards speech around the 20:50 marker, Florence pays respect to big wave surfers Shane Dorian and Nathan Fletcher for "being at the pinnacle of the sport and pushing the limits so much" that it inspired Flroence's generation.
To hear the rest and celebrate vicariously with Florence, press play on the edit above.
Florence spoke out in the video's comments section:
"What a cool experience, riding the waves in itself was the true reward, but feels awesome from a career standpoint to finally get the coveted ride of the year and surfer of the year!
"Shout out to my lovely wife for putting up with my crazyness all year and always supporting me!
"And I want to thank all of you guys my loyal subscribers for the support and for being a huge part of the last 12 months of chaos you all were pretty much along the ride with us through this YouTube channel! So thank you and appreciate all of you!!"
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