Samuel Pupo “danced on the bricks” during World Surf League competition in Western Australia and his opponents could not watch. The rising pro surfing star got caught on a dry reef.
It was gnarly. Or, as the announcers put it, “absolutely radical.”
A dry reef can be both beneficial and detrimental to surfing. In this specific instance, it was both!
On one hand, a reef break can create some awesome waves. These breaks are known to be more predictable, consistent and powerful. They are usually pretty steep with large barrels. They’re totally tubular!
On the other hand, reef breaks are a lot more dangerous. The shallow water covers rock or coral under the surface, known as a “dry reef,” which can leave a nasty mark if you don’t see it coming. The last thing you want is to get caught on the inside and get knocked off of your board right on top of a reef.
That is exactly what happened in Western Australia earlier this week.
Samuel Pupo, 24, is better known as Samuca. He made his World Surf League debut in 2022 and was named as the Rookie of the Year. This is his third year of competition and he made the mid-season cutoff a the champion of the Challenger Season, which leads us to the reef break in Perth.
The Western Australia Margaret River Pro is currently underway. Pupo went too far into the shallows and was forced to bail from his board. He ran across the coral in cartoon-like fashion for a moment before he took a nasty spill right onto the reef below.
Ramzi Boukhiam and Deivid Silva were watching Pupo from shore. They had to look away!
Although Pupo got rocked, he was mostly unscathed with just a cut or a rash or two. Thank goodness.
As someone who does not watch a lot of surfing, I love everything about the announcers’ call of the fall. To refer to a vicious wipeout as “totally radical” could not be more on-brand. OUCH!