Big wave chasers

The waves, or at least the ones that big wave surfers Will and Cliff Skudin are accustomed to, move somewhere between 25 and 40 miles per hour and, on average, the massive walls of water can rise 40 to 50 feet — with the force of a 3-ton wrecking ball.

“But the surfer is going much faster,” said Skudin, 26. “You’re running down a mountain and the avalanche is behind you the whole time. I’ve easily paddled into waves between 40 and 50 feet.”

As Will describes it, in those moments before he commits to riding a wave — which can mean spending hours in the water to catch, at best, five to eight good waves — he doesn’t think about the possibility of being sucked down 70 feet after a wipeout, as was the case in Mexico in 2005, and said he stays 100 percent focused. “I was so deep, it was pitch black and my ears were popping,” Will said. “But I didn’t panic, and I survived.”

“That’s what we live for,” he added. “It makes me feel alive … there’s a feeling when you’re riding a wave where nothing matters, there’s nothing going through your head. Riding a big wave is the most amazing out-of -body experience in the world.”

And yet those risks — and the nearly fatal wipeouts that they’ve both experienced — have not deterred the Skudins from their passion for seeking out some of the biggest waves in the world. When they’re not home in Long Beach during the summer months, teaching kids and adults with special needs to surf through their non-profit organization, Surf for All, or providing instruction through their Skudin Surf school, the brothers — who grew up in a surfing family — chase hurricanes and travel the world.

“A lot of people in Long Beach, family and friends, have known that I’ve been driven to ride big waves since I was 15 years old,” Will said.