Spirit Animal

For Dane Gudauskas, relentless optimism and unbridled enthusiasm aren’t affectations; they are the key to surfing fulfillment

- Kimball Taylor

“I was struggling,” recalled Dane Gudauskas of his mental state in the lineup at Cloudbreak on May 25, 2016. “Crazy thoughts were going through my head.”

Ten days before, the worldwide big-wave community had taken notice of a monster southern-hemisphere storm that was poised to slide between the west coast of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia. This trajectory set a direct line for Fiji, a weather phenomenon that hadn’t occurred on this scale since 2011. Early on, however, forecasters suspected that the May swell would be met by “questionable” wind conditions. The size of the waves promised to push world-class surfers to peak performances, but devil winds could easily make a session impossible. According to photographer Todd Glaser, a core of big-wave surfers including Greg Long, Mark Healey, Aaron Gold, Mike Pietsch, and Gudauskas felt it better to travel to Fiji and risk meeting bad winds at Thunder Cloud reef than chance the prospect of remaining at home while perfectly formed, barreling lefts spooled down the line at 30 feet tall. “Even if they had to sit in the channel and watch,” Glaser said, “they wanted to see what swell like this looked like.”

Before the sun popped over the horizon on the morning of the 25th, Gudauskas departed Tavarua Island on one of two packed boats. His goal for the trip was to find a wave shaped like the perfect “4-footer” he knew the reef could produce, but, perversely, he wanted to find that wave at five times the size.

Approaching Cloudbreak, the passengers sensed a “chunky morning sickness” to the surf. The wind blew slightly side-shore. The sets were big and growing. Some of the waves had potential; many just snowballed. Seated in the boats, the surfers assessed conditions. It was going to be a long day, but things could change for the better.