My favorite type of surfer

Tom Myers doesn't even have an Instagram account, he doesn't compete in championships, and he's not known much beyond his own circle, but he caught the swell wave in Australia.

April 23

A giant swell hit the coast of Sydney, Australia, last week. Many locals are saying it's the best swell in recent years.

The amount of images that came out along the Australian east coast was truly impressive.

But a couple of spots got the most attention, especially one wave (see below).

In my process of simply looking at images on my cell phone, I saw the beginning of it and by the angle and size, I thought it was Waimea out of season, but as the surf went on (the guy goes down and fits inside a tube in a wave the size of the famous Hawaiian wave) I knew it wasn't.

Then, to the screams of everyone, in a small field where they were watching, a spit came out as strong as a whirlwind, alive from the bowels of the wave.

Next, I go to see who it was, who the hero of the swell was. I read quickly and don't see any name in the background. It catches my attention. I look at the wave again, try to recognize it, and nothing.

I go and read again and without the @ symbol, without Instagram, they said that the wave had been surfed by a certain Tom Myers.

In the comments, more than one person asks who Tom Myers is, many congratulate him, saying it's the wave of a lifetime, and even Slater congratulates the wave surfed, "what a ride," he says, and accompanies it with applause.

Nobody really has much idea who he is.

A few days later, Surfline found him and asked him about the wave. He said he was suffering from severe sinusitis and took a packet of painkillers before going into the water.

He told himself he was going to "play it safe," but when that wave hit, he decided to throw those plans out the window. He was in the perfect spot and must have taken three or four strokes to get into the wave.

He said two of his best friends were screaming as he was getting into the tube, encouraging him to get out, and that he couldn't see anything when he spat it out, and then they screamed even louder and they all hugged each other.

He said that the two of them, his friends, made the wave so special because he considers them to be among the best at big waves, not only in Australia but in the entire world.

And he said that his family, his children, wife and father were all proud of him.

Until now, almost no one knew Tom… At Surfline, they call him a Core Lord; a Lord of core surfing, of surfing from the heart.

And these are the beautiful things about surfing.

At the end of the day, at sea, and especially when it's huge, the best shot of the day can go to anyone with the balls and talent to do it.

And, at the end of the day, we think the world begins and ends with championships, or free surfers and their YouTube videos, but there's still so much more to it than that, and that's one of the many great things about this activity.

He's my favorite type of surfer because he didn't go out of his way to be seen, nor did he seem to be doing so (nor does he have an IG). He went surfing for the love of it and let his surfing speak for itself.

Courage, talent, simplicity, and humility. Necessary qualities in this surfing world that are worthy of admiration.