We’ve seen Ethan Ewing shred Slater’s Lemoore tank many times, and it’s always impressive. But in this clip, from Abu Dhabi’s new Kelly Slater Wave Co pool, Ewing surfing is absolutely deadly. Perhaps it’s the fact that in Abu Dhabi, salt water is pumped into the pool, making both the look and feel of the wave more natural.
It could also be that the wave is a bit larger, giving Ewing more room to move freely in the pocket. Either way, Ewing should be the favorite to win the WSL’s first Abu Dhabi Championship Tour event when it rolls through the Middle East in a few months.
“It’s a pretty wild experience,” Ewing says after his very first wave, which opens the above edit. “It’s so clean it was hard to tell where the lip was and how steep it is. But it’s insane. You would never encounter a wave like that in the ocean.”
Being Ewing’s first wave, he surfed it in third gear, cruising through lip slides and stylish snaps, before completely throwing out an ending section. From there, Ewing paddles (er, walks) back out and catches wave after wave, surfing each one better than the last. His last wave of the day was ridden so perfectly, with so much power and variation, that the jury would have no choice but to give it a perfect 10. It has to be the best wave ever ridden in the Middle East. At least until someone else (see: Filipe Toledo) steps it up in the coming months.
Related: Watch: Jack Robinson, Ethan Ewing Score “10 out of 10” Keramas
