One of the best free surfers on the planet, Parker Coffin, nearly lost his left eye, and his life, surfing an epic sea break at the Soup Bowl in Barbados last Friday.

As he himself told on Instagram, he felt a bump in the wave that threw him off balance, the foamboard ended up eating him up and as he fell he went straight into the reef.

The locals quickly helped him and he spent the whole day in the hospital checking that both his brain and eye seem to be fine.

The Californian is returning home to undergo surgery.

“It goes from dreamy to scary really quickly,” Coffin described the whole situation.

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