Botha story.
I was in Cabo in the late 90s. There was a big hurricane just offshore, driving huge surf into Baja and all the way up the Sea of Cortez side. I was in my young 20s and pretty fearless when it came to big waves.
When I arrived, I went straight to a beach break on the west side to check the waves. Bodyboards and swim fins in tow. I walked through a hotel lobby and could hear the surf rumbling. I walked down the beach and it was offshore and no exaggeration, about 15' shorebreak top to bottom massive closeouts with mega whitewater. Nobody out. I was in awe of the raw power. Like big Waimea shorebreak.
I was with a friend and he immediately said he wasn't going out with me. As we stood there gawking at the size, I was taking note of the set intervals and getting feel for the water movement. I was wondering if I could even survive a pounding and whather or not I would drown in the massive undertow from the steep beach incline. I was starting to have doubts myself.
I look down the beach and here comes this little kid all by himself. It's Andre Botha. I knew who he was from the mags. He was probably 15 or so and looked it. Skinny little dude. He came up to us and immediately sat down in the sand, put on his fins, and attached his board strap. Told us he was going try to drop knee the waves for fun. No standing around. No stretching. He got up and walked up the water edge, waiting for giant sets to clear.
He timed it just right. Jumped over the last wall of water and paddled like mad. He got outside and waited as my friend and I watched. First big set comes in and he goes for the first wave in the set, no hesitation. A monster 15' top to bottom shorebreak starts feathering as he kicks into it and jumps to drop-knee stance at the top. He tries to go drop knee and eats it half way down the face and tumbles. Wave slams down like a fucking death machine and we could see him sucked up and over the falls. He comes flying out of the waterwater bouncing around like a pinball and getting swept down the beach. Eventually he comes back up on the beach, runs down the beach to where he originally paddles out, and waits again for the sets to clear.
My friend and I were like holy fook this kid is insane. I ended up paddling out with him and it was just us riding for about an hour. The first waves were scary as fvck as I'd never been a shorebreak barrel that big. I hit bottom so hard I thought I blew my eardrum out on one wave. Turned out to be fun as hell but I was blown away by Botha. After three straight wipeouts going drop-knee, he starts proning instead. Most waves we were just pulling into huge barrels but sometimes the waves would a-frame slightly, giving us some big launch ramps. Botha was launching huge airs in about 5' of water and 20' over the flats trying pull off ARS moves. I was in awe. Never saw him again after that sesh.
Tom Morey made this experience possible.
