Jet-skiers go airborne in mad dash to avoid big wave; one injured

Nearly two dozen jet-skiers, caught in no-man’s land while photographing or acting as safety teams for big-wave surfers, were sent scrambling to avoid getting pummeled by a big wave with several of them eventually soaring over the big breaker.

Surfline called it “Jet-Ski Mayhem on Super Swell Saturday.”

The incident occurred during an XXL surfing session at Oahu’s outer reefs where Hawaii was seeing its biggest swell of the year.

The group of jet-skiers glided over one wave only to be confronted with a larger one that was fast approaching. Some turned toward shore, but most opened the throttle and headed into the wave, hoping to clear it before it broke on them.

Highseas_Media captured the “mayhem” via drone:

Photographer Ryan Moss, who was injured, was a passenger on a black jet-ski manned by South Carolina pro Cam Richards when the craziness unfolded. Moss told Surfline what happened:

“The whole morning was absolutely beautiful and insane. I had never seen waves like that on Oahu…That set came and really caught everyone off guard. I hurried to put my camera away in my dry bag and then I told Cam to just ‘go.’

Also on FTW Outdoors: Pastor’s battle with two great white sharks is heaven sent

“I just remember feeling weightless and it taking a really long time to come down. I didn’t realize how fast Cam sent us over the lip of that thing. There was no handle on the ski, so I couldn’t stand up and hold on and hope my legs would have absorbed some of the impact. So, I was just sitting on the back with a death grip on the leather seat. Next thing I know I hear a loud thud. It felt like the ski buckled in half. Along with that, my back sent a shooting pain and tingling feeling from my waist down to my feet. I remember saying, ‘ I’m paralyzed.’ I legitimately thought I was.”

With the jet-ski stalled out and not restarting, he rolled off the jet-ski with his dry bag, in which his camera was stored, and “luckily” made it over the next wave, though his dry bag didn’t. He was then picked up by another jet-skier and was eventually transported to a Honolulu hospital after North Shore lifeguards attended to him.

“They were able to establish that I did have feeling and range of motion in my feet and legs,” Moss told Surfline. “That was the biggest relief.”

He told Surfline that the diagnosis is a 50 percent compression fracture of the L4, along with some minor fractures in his spine and ribs that are not serious.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Hidden mountain lion is a ‘Where’s Waldo?’ moment in photo