One of South Africa’s top surfers had to undergo emergency surgery after being partially scalped in a freak surfing accident in Mexico.
Cape Town big-wave surfer Matthew Bromley told TimesLIVE Premium how a dream ride turned into a near-fatal underwater nightmare last week at a world-famous beach break. The ordeal left him with 35 stitches but no less determined to challenge the ocean’s biggest – and scariest – waves.
“I did feel rattled. I was just very grateful that it wasn’t worse and that I will be OK and can go back to my family,” Bromley said from Mexico on Wednesday, five days after the incident at Puerto Escondido that is big news in the surfing community. “I feel like it was just a freak accident. I’m still as excited as ever to be riding big waves. I do get really scared to surf big waves, but I feel a deep sense of purpose – I know this is what I’m meant to be doing,” he said.
Drawn by the promise of a giant swell Bromley had accepted an invitation to feature in a documentary film series about the world’s biggest waves. However, his adventure was cut short on the second day when the "barrel" he was riding imploded. “Everything was looking good, but suddenly when I was locked in I could see the wave had changed shape — the whole wave kind of imploded on me.
“I did what I always do, which is to hop off the front of the board and pin drop into the barrel. As I got engulfed in the wave I felt the board shoot into my head.”
The heavy nearly 3m big wave board left a gaping hole in Bromley’s head, releasing gushing blood that obscured his sight. “I grabbed my head, I could feel that there was this big flap of skin. I just thought, 'oh my gosh, what is that.' It felt really bad.”
His immediate challenge was to reach the surface and stay there despite being stuck in the wave impact zone, with more giant waves crashing down on him. He still had his board, leashed to his ankle, and managed to push through a few waves before deciding to paddle for the beach instead. “I couldn’t really see the waves property because so much blood was coming over my left eye. It was a very intense situation.”
There is an unwritten code that everyone is willing to help
— Matt Bromley
To make matters worse he found himself stuck in a riptide dragging him away from the beach and back into the impact zone, prompting him to head back towards the other surfers waiting in the line-up. “There was an awesome moment when all the surfers in the backline came around to see if I was OK. I could see the shock in their eyes, that it was a really bad knock.
“That’s one of the most beautiful things about big wave surfing — when something goes down there is an unwritten code that everyone is willing to help and get involved, even if it means to go into the impact zone and put yourself in danger.”
Accompanied by other surfers Bromley paddled about half a kilometre away from the surf zone to board a fishing boat, which took him to shore. From there he was taken to hospital. His wound required 20 internal and 15 external stitches on his forehead. The surfboard had missed his eye by about a centimetre. “The gash was very hectic, about 8cm wide and down to my skull. It was pretty much like getting scalped.”
Incredibly Bromley said, shocking as it was, the wound was not hugely painful and had stopped hurting altogether after three days. However, the sight of the wound almost caused him to faint: “When I saw the length ... I almost fainted, I had to sit down.”
The magnitude of the event only really sunk in upon speaking to his wife at home in Cape Town with their two baby boys. “I just broke down. I could only imagine the fear that she must have had wondering how bad it was — and all the what-ifs. What if my board had knocked me out? She did not sleep that night.”
Bromley strongly believes his survival was not just blind luck. “The whole way I felt I could just surrender and trust that the situation is above [my control]. I believe this is my purpose in life, to ride these big waves, and that God is holding me in his hands.”
Bromley’s accident is likely to feature in the big wave film series produced by Now Now Media, due to be aired on their YouTube channel early next year.
Now Now media filmmaker and fellow big wave surfer Alan van Gysen witnessed Bromley’s wipeout and posted his reaction on Instagram. “Watching him struggle in the shorebreak after his rock-hard, big wave gun speared him in the head was terrible,” Van Gysen said.
“We all felt so helpless on the beach as the rip swept him aside and another two big set of waves pounded him. Miraculously remaining conscious with blood blinding his left eye and with adrenaline fuelling him on, Matt got back onto his board and punched through the last wave of the set where fellow surfers look on in horror at the wound and blood, and rallied to his aid.
“I hope and pray accidents like these will ignite the support the lifeguards so desperately need at what must be one of the most dangerous waves in the world frequently surfed by so many. It is much gnarlier than I ever imagined,” he said.
