Collins’ nephew shows off how to surf above the water

Fishing, fishing and more fishing…is that all there is? Not this time, because I have a few water-oriented tales that don’t directly involve fish.

I doubt that many of you follow surfing news, especially around here, where big waves are quite the rarity.

Let me tell you about a new type of surfing and how my nephew Capt. Byron Sewell, owner of Native Son Adventures, a charter fishing, surf school and unique water excursions operation, may have just put Hilton Head on the map as a surfing destination for some of the world’s best surfers.

Have you ever heard of a hydrofoil surfboard? I hadn’t until Byron purchased one last year and stopped by my house to show it off. It’s a surfboard but beneath it is a slim inverted “t-shaped” hydrofoil.

Not quite grasping the concept, I agreed to take him offshore in search of big swells so I could see for myself how the darn thing worked. Knowing that at low tide there were always large swells in front of Turtle Island, located just south of Daufuskie Island, we headed that way.

I was at the helm while Byron and his new contraption floated thirty yards behind me waiting for a nice set of swells. Like water skiing, he had a tow rope in hand and when he gave me the signal I floored it and I’ll be damned if he and the board rose two and half feet out of the water.

At that point he let go of the rope and using a pumping motion he rode that wave a good quarter mile!

The coolest part was only the inverted “t” was in the water. It was like he was running on top of the water, never once getting wet.

It was even more remarkable how fast he was going. I had the boat at half throttle and even then he was outrunning me.

Since that day Byron has begged me to take him here, there and everywhere. Sometimes I give in and sometimes I don’t, but last week he took this new sport to a whole different level.

He was over near the Savannah Ship Channel and rode the wake of a container ship going into Savannah for nearly a mile and a half. I wasn’t there but the video of it was crazy and after putting it on the Internet it went viral.

Within 24 hours he was contacted by renowned surfer Dave Kalama who did hydrofoil stunts in one of the James Bond films, along with Austin’s son Dave. They were on their way to check out and film Byron’s new discovery.

Now Byron is an excitable boy by nature, but when he called to tell me the news, I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

Unfortunately, the container ship wake riding didn’t pan out that day because of scheduling, but leave it to Byron to find even bigger waves on one of our offshore shoals. One ride in particular lasted over five minutes! The pros were absolutely stoked with the waves available here.

So why aren’t there big waves on our beaches you ask? Especially at low tide, if you look way offshore you will see white crests as waves roll over our protective shoals.

Having fished these areas all my life, I have seen some monster sharks patrolling these areas so there is no way you’ll ever see me on a hydrofoil surfboard out there.

If I were to try it, images of great whites breaching on seals would have me soiling myself, but then again, what a way to go.

This story was originally published April 26, 2018 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Collins’ nephew shows off how to surf above the water."