Benjamin Sanchis
Benjamin Sanchis
See that slightly reddish patch in the water there, pooling around the head and shoulders of noted French hellman Benjamin “Sancho” Sanchis? Yep, that be blood.
“My friend Sancho ate shit and I picked him up unconscious and bleeding,” said fellow noted French hellman Alain Riou shortly afterwards. “The good news is that I was in hospital with him this evening and he is sweet, just a few stitches. It was heavy trying to get him on the ski. He was unanimated, eyes rolled back, blood everywhere. I was pretty proud of my pick-up and how I kept my calm in that situation, but fuck it was heavy.”
It was the day before Makua Rothman’s injury; the swell had been the subject of unprecedented online hype, and the line-up was heaving with caarnts, effectively doubling the danger levels. “I towed him too deep because of the crowd.” said Alain “We had been waiting a long time for that wave and as we headed in another ski got in our way, I had to slow down and go around it and we ended up too deep despite going full throttle…. So dangerous and stressful. Too many people that wanted too many waves – there were no turns being taken out there. It was a full-on dog fight sometimes.”
And here’s Sancho, on the wave in question, reacting to the way-too-deep in a hopeless close-out situation in the only proper fashion: standing tall.
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