Surfing Magazine, circa 2006. Nondescript office building in the hills of San Clemente. Walk back in the edit department.

Evan Slater was getting back to work. He had just returned from Skeleton Bay, Namibia, for the Google Earth Challenge 2, a contest we started where readers sent us waypoints on Google Earth. We chose an entry based on surf potential and sent the reader there. Evan went along.

"20 second tubes", he said.

"Best wave I've ever surfed", he said.

We got the shots. We ran them, including a cover. I was impressed, but felt like I was missing something. I could imagine how good it was, and even though it looked good in the magazine, the photos didn't show what Evan, not typically given to exaggeration, was describing.

To this day, I haven't seen a photo that really matches what he described. Even the shots we ran 5 years later, in Volume 20, Number 4, or the videos in Going Deeper for that issue. It's all quite good, and for anyone contemplating a trip there, I encourage a read of the feature by Alan Van Gysen. But still not the best wave Evan's ever surfed.

Finally, this video, below, recently surfaced and started to fill out the picture. Like the wave, the video is long, but stick with it all the way. Some mutants in the end section.