Cutting Room: Skiff Trip

Seamount outs from photographer Brian Nevins’ New England discovery.

Light / Dark

“This is boat-required surfing,” writes Brian Nevins in TSJ 26.4. “The hazards include long runs in undersized boats, the sharks—it’s eerily reminiscent of relatively nearby Cape Cod—and the wave itself. The meter shows the wave comes out of the abyss, then goes from 380 feet to 2 feet deep in less than two boat-lengths. Sort of the definition of a slab. The inshore side of the ledge, where the wash-through goes, is where predators hang out. The fishermen look at us and say, ‘What are you guys doing?’ We listen, and keep the skis buzzing around for immediate pick-ups.”

The images Nevins submitted for print represent the culmination of 15-years-worth of work for his team—along with an incredible amount of research, exploration, and disappointment. “All of these years of ‘fail, fail, fail, fail,’ just relentless failing,” he says. “Then that one day turned it all around.”

Here we decided to rescue a few extras from the cutting room to revel in the successes for a moment. To read and see more, pick up the mag.

All captions by the photographer.