Much of the magic of surfing is derived, for many, from the close proximity to nature our sport offers and nothing embodies this relationship better than actually sharing a wave with a sea creature.
Indeed we’ve seen many excellent animal surfer encounters, including the time Dick Van Dyke reported being saved by porpoises after falling asleep on his surfboard, or the time Aussie grom Jed Gradisen was body-slammed by a dolphin, and the more sinister clip from Byron Bay, where surfers were captured obliviously surfing over a shark, which lurked just below the surface.
However, despite this abundance of bangers in the animals and surfers clip category, the new one from Ry Craike might just top them all.
In it a pod of dolphins can be seen swimming jovially around among the waiting pack of surfers. After a few seconds Craike swings on an approaching wave, dropping in and setting his line as the dolphins appear in the face of the wave, gliding seamlessly just below his board. After a quick cutty, he holds in the pocket, fading briefly to keep pace with the jubilant dolphins. As he kicks out and duck dives an oncoming wave the dolphins can be seen accompanying Craike back to the take of spot.
Catch the clip in full here:
