Watch: Nathan & Ivan Florence’s Dry Reef Cave Diving in Portugal

Once upon a time, shallow, rock-strewn barreling waves belonged to bodyboarders. Slabs like Ours, the Box and the Cave were ridden in prone position with help from a pair of fins. These days, there’s a dedicated crew at these waves capable of setting their rail and hopping to their feed at the last possible second.

In the midst of a Euro Slab Tour, Nathan and Ivan find themselves at the latter hollow wave. Nathan loves the Cave and has made a habit of checking the point over the last few years. This time, he brought his goofyfoot brother along for the ride. 

The Florence family has some history with the wave. Several years ago John John Florence was briefly knocked out when he hit the bottom on a big day here. No disaster befell the two younger siblings this session. They scored supremely glassy conditions, but you can see just how tricky this peak can be with the tide dropping out. Even Nathan has to pull back on a few with boils (and exposed rock) lurking on the inside. Ivan may have laid a goose-eye on the wave count, but we’ll cut him some slack. The Cave looks like it’s not made for backside surfing. Nathan manages three gems on his 6’ before calling in a day.

“So clean but crazy backwash and crazy shallow,” Nathan said while salt-dogging it in the van, already on the move to another wave. “Such a high-risk move but so sick when you get ‘em. That’s what the Slab Tour’s all about.”