Let’s get one thing straight: While adventurer Rex Pemberton聽has a well-deserved reputation for pulling off insane feats of聽adventure, that doesn’t mean he’s crazy. To pull off his most creative聽stunt to date鈥 skydiving onto and then surfing a big wave鈥擱ex and his聽crew spent months training, scouting the perfect location, and working聽out how, exactly, Rex was going to time his landing on the wave聽perfectly and then transition from air to water, without getting聽pummeled by waves or hung up in his skydiving parachute.
BTS 1: The Crew
To pull off the stunt safely and capture it all for the camera聽required a small army of people, from cameramen to ocean rescue聽specialists to helicopter pilots. Meet the crew of 16 who helped Rex聽train, pull off, and film the stunt.
BTS 2: Location
Landing a parachute on a wave and then surfing it is no easy task, and聽requires a predictable swell that can be timed from the air. Learn why聽Rex and his team thinks Jarosite Reef, off the coast of Victoria,聽Australia, is the perfect spot to do so.
BTS 3: Avoiding Injury
Skydiving is risky. Big-wave surfing is risky. Combining the two? Any number of things can go wrong鈥攁nd did, like when Rex took a surfboard聽through the face during a training run, a mishap that required 40聽stitches. See what they鈥檙e doing to keep Rex safe this time around.