Article Courtesy of StabMag.com | PC: Pilgrim/Snowden

What a year it’s been for Hawaiian big wave enthusiast Aaron Gold. He paddled into one of the biggest waves ever at Jaws, secured a top ten spot in The Eddie, tore his head open at Gas Chambers and scored a slot on the Big Wave Tour. You have also heard from all corners of the surf-media world that he nearly drowned during the early sessions of last week’s monster Cloudbreak swell. Well, thankfully he survived the two-wave hold down, was rescued by Uri Kurop and, after spending the week recuperating with family, has opened up in an interview with Matt Rott of Magicseaweed. Here’s what Mr Gold remembers from the day he almost died in paradise:

“Yeah, it was a crazy scenario, the whole thing and the way that it went down. Even the way it happened…I was being held down and I didn’t have any of those normal feelings where I’m getting close and seeing stars, and knowing that I’m close to blacking out. It wasn’t like that. It was like the light switch just shut off, and then, when I came to, I knew exactly what was going on. I knew exactly what had happened. But I never had that experience of fear and being in some crazy situation.”

“Well, we got out there early and it was around 6 to 10-feet, maybe a few bigger ones, but we knew it was going to build. And I figured that was the window, because the forecast was for the wind to pick up. So we decided to go for a warm up, and weren’t really concerned. It wasn’t huge, I’ve surfed 10 to 12-foot waves like that thousands of times, so it didn’t feel like a big deal at all. So I didn’t put my floatation on, which was a mistake, and a learning point for me.”