Beast Mode 2: Luca Padua on whipping Alo Slebir into history at Mavericks. December 23, 2024
Luca Padua is from Half Moon Bay but is a frequent visitor to Malibu — training with Laird Hamilton and Gabrielle Reece-Hamilton, and also visiting his wahine. On New Year’s Eve Luca went brushing through Zinque sporting some serious beard. We had a quick chat and then after the New Year, we talked about Dec. 23, 2024 — a day that will live in big wave history.
You and Alo Slieber made headlines with one wave on Dec. 23, 2024. I’m looking at a couple angles and man oh man: Just when you think you’ve seen it all. Did you guys realize what you’d done when you did it?
When that wave was coming at us, it was a solid wall from Moss Beach to the Ritz Carlton.
Ov vey. In Malibu terms, that would be a solid wall from Point Dume to First Point.
Well, Alo was talking about when he caught the wave and was dropping in, he felt like was going backwards.
Oh, that’s fun. Were there a lot like that that day? Or was that one special.
Special? It was clearly the biggest wave of the day. But there were a lot of tall waves that also went square. There werea lot of waves that were loading the bowl. But the volume of water that was moving and the velocity these waves were moving: It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen or felt. But obviously, I haven’t been around for that long
Well, Peter Mel has been around that long, and he said he’d never seen or felt anything like it. When I’mhustling people to let me help them write a book, I always say: “Anybody who played a role in history has a debt to history, to detail that role.” It’s a hustle, but I also mean it. And it appears you two did make history. So to quote MC Hammer: ‘Break it down.’
Well, that morning, we delayed a little bit. I live maybe 30 seconds from the launch ramp at Princeton Harbor. We drank some coffee, did a 15-minute breath work protocol, respiratory warmup, and then we went outside and we tossed the football for 15 minutes. That was our warmup. We left the dock around 8:00 or 8:30.
On your Instagram, you’re hugging someone in a doorway.
That’s my mother.
Does she worry you live only 30 seconds away from the gateway to heaps of trouble?
It’d be funny for you to chat with her, but let’s just say: She knows we take it seriously, so she doesn’t have much to worry about. She’s happy for us to have the opportunity to be doing what we love. And train for.
My dad was never really interested, until this year. On my way out the door, my dad — he’s not a surfer but he knew it was a significant day — I was about to close the door and he looked at me and said, “Hey, make it count.” And that was seared on the frontal lobe of my brain the entire day: “Make it count.”
And we did.
What are your indicators for how big Mavericks is, since you live so close?
Right before we were heading out, after the “Make it count,” I closed the door and I took a breath, and it smelled big.
Okay I made a bunch of snips of that wave from different news sources. And I mean, geez, have you ever seen a wave at Mavericks like that?
I don’t think so.
I’ve looked at photos of giant Mullaghmore and thought: “What would happen if you got caught inside that thing?” But the same goes for those waves at Mavericks that day. Is that survivable? Did anyone get caught by the biggest waves that day?
I was the first one to pack a barrel that day. You don’t really see it in the photos or videos, but that wind grain and lump was there, and we had to deal with it along with everything else.
So my first wipeout, I was bottom turning on a double up, hit one of the ribs, and my fins cavitated and came out. It was like pulling the e-brake. I did a faceplant in the bottom of the trough, got pounded, took the next few waves on the head and got obliterated.
From the drone angle you were just a fart in a windstorm. Six skis came to get you. Looked like a Special Forces op: “Leave no man behind!”
Alo got me before I washed through the rocks, but my board went through. So we went searching for my board and just got it then had to pass through Black Hand and Mushroom Rock and I mean, it was 20 feet in there and just getting back out through Black Hand Reef is an operation. So we’re working our way, trying to get back out and Pete and Augie (Ryan Augenstein) came flying in. Pete had just packed his barrel, he got pounded, and his board went through. But we all recovered and got back out and it was nonstop.
How many waves did you guys catch before the big one?
Alo’s wave count was probably around 15. It was pumping, just nonstop all day. We had a routine. I was screaming at him all day: Kick out of a wave, grab the rope and I’d yell: “Up top the mountain!”
Top o’ the world, ma!
Because every time you kicked out, there’d be another, and another, and another. All day long. So much energy.
You said the one you picked was walled up from Moss Beach to the Ritz Carlton.
It was a wall as far as I could see in either direction. I was seeing things … after a pickup we waited like five seconds to go back out instead of ripping straight back out and we saw two break through and we were like, “Holy sh**!”
How many Mavericks days did you have before Dec. 23?
Good question. We had probably 10 sessions under our belt since the start of the season. We had a good day the day before and I caught a wave that would have been a big one any other time. I slept like a baby that night and was calm and ready for the big day. I never felt that calm in the water before, and never had more fun.
Boards?
Yeah, we’re working with Stretch, and he’s building us some rocket ships. Ours are Stretch’s bread and butter tow boards: 5’ 10” x 16” and a quarter wide and one and a quarter inches thick.
Who went first?
Alo went first. Usually I go first but we started settling it with a good American game of rock paper scissors. I went first the day before, and I just wanted to feel it, and I can feel it in a different way when I’m driving.
Right off the bat, he got a really big wave that turned out to be slightly insignificant compared to the giant one that herode, but still a big wave. A monster. It was right when we got out there, big old wall, and it set the pace for us.
There were probably four teams out there, and we drove straight out to the top of the pack. All those waves came in. I said, “We’re going. Turn around.” From then on, it was game on, yeah.
Does tide matter when it’s that big?
I’d say no. There’s so much water moving out there, a three foot tide swing that day was insignificant.
Was it shifting around a lot, or was every wave bombing in the same place and it was easy pickings? So easy, acaveman could do it!
Definitely had to pick the right one. Part of it is doing your best to take the wave with the clean runway. Every wave is bumpy. You’re trying to pick the cleanest of the bumpy ones.
Are the second and third and fourth waves cleaner?
They can be, but you’re also trying not to get the one that has a bunch of giant, turbulent white water on it. There’s a hunting aspect to it. And, yes, it was shifting around. At one point, we were sitting, who knows how far out to sea: fourth-reef Mavericks. There were different currents moving around. At one point, there was a football-field-wide river rip current going through the lineup.
We were getting moved around, and I didn’t like where we were. Alo was on the rope, and I just had a feeling: “Let’sjust get up. Get up and move.” We got up and went over this little bump, and there was a white water from the horizon. Who knows how big? 60-foot white water, like 80-foot white water, probably 80-foot white water, rolling from the outside.
It was a left rolling into us, and we were like where are we? Fourth Reef Mavericks? A left? What are we doing? What is this wave?
Did you go left at all that day?
Nope.
Astronauts used to eat steak and eggs before launch. What do you eat and drink before a big day at Mavs?
We drank coffee in the morning, and we ran it hot all day. Normally, we’re pretty good about getting some fluids in throughout the day, drinking electrolytes, maybe crushing a protein shake, just easy to digest. Eating a bar here and there on the big day.
But I swear there was not time to take a sip of water, because there were sets coming. It just pumped all day long.
At the very end of the day, we knew we had been running it hot, and we knew we weren’t getting ahead of that fuel demand that your body has. We knew the crash was going to happen at some point. And sure enough at probably 4:40 in the evening Alo was doing a bottom turn and he had a full hamstring lockup. He was able to kick out but he was in full lockup for a whole minute. That was that.
Didn’t head in for lunch? Just stayed out there to get some! And get some more!
We knew we might not ever see a day like that again, so we came in on fumes, physically and mechanically. There was essentially no gas in the ski.
Bingo fuel. You don’t want to run out of gas out there.
I know… I know where the threshold is, yeah,
Did you come in because you were beat or had Christmas shopping to do or had to check messages?
We stayed out, watched the sunset and then rolled in.
How do you come down from a day like that?
That’s the hard part. I actually didn’t, and it was crazy. My girlfriend drove up here. And I came in from the craziest day and my girlfriend and my mom are in the kitchen. So that was nice, but I didn’t sleep for three days.
Brock Little said it best: “Adrenaline is a funny drug.” The adrenaline is almost like an acid that etches a permanent memory in your brain, and it doesn’t fade.
Yep, that’s it. Lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, replaying it all.
You looked like you were still buzzing on New Year’s Eve as you zizzed through Zinque.
Oh and we all got sick from that day, by the way. There was some kind of red tide out there or something, and we all got sick.
What did you get for Christmas?
A beautiful morning with my grandparents and my folks and my family. My dad got my girlfriend and I a beautiful grill. It’s called a bowl. It’s gonna be great.
Christmas was funny because my birthday was on the 17th, so my mom, last minute, asked me: “What do you want for your birthday and Christmas?”
I said: “I want a 60-foot wave.” I was kind of joking but then, sure enough …
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