Shot taken just before I broke my back

By Neal Miyake

Mid Oct 09: Prelude to disaster. I remember pondering to myself, man I'm so fortunate that I've found my life's calling (from a recreational standpoint) as a surf water photographer.

30 Oct 09: Where to surf? When to surf? A hefty NW swell was on the way, right on time for the weekend. But it didn't ping our indicator buoy (51001) till around midnight. So I made the command decision to go out on Saturday for a little while to bodyboard in the small surf, then spend more time shooting Pipeline on Sunday when the swell filled in. After September's insane winter opener, I was just drooling to shoot more big water. As it turned out, it was not meant to be.

31 Oct 09 (Halloween): I wasn't the first one out as is many times the case. Drove out a little late and joined the already growing crowd. Started out at small Pipe and Backdoor, snagging a few fun ones. The rest of the "D-List" Pipe crew was out, catching what we could amongst the small contingent of early season Aussies and pro wannabes. I don't hide the fact that I'm a marginal waverider at best. But like the other D-Listers, we're just looking for that one ride, that one moment that'll make our session. Thankfully I got a few good "visions" going both left and right.

Me, scoring a fun one at Backdoor (photo courtesy Cory of Beanshot.com)

Timed it nicely for a casual paddle out through the light rip and into the lineup. Waves were pretty marginal at Pipe and Backdoor, so I worked my way over to Off The Wall (OTW), where the swell seemed to be funneling in a little better. Some of the bodyboarding boys were out already, partaking in the fun conditions.

Maurice, about to get fully pantsed by a backwash section

The one noticeable difference between OTW and the Pipe/Backdoor lineup was an unusually strong backwash. Waves would reflect off the steep shore sandbar, erratically pitching the oncoming wave into beautiful fans. In fact, it was so prevalent that I deliberately waited for the backwash to kick in to get more dramatic shots. And I believe that was partially responsible for my demise.

The backwash was kicking

With complete honesty, I told Ron McAdams (of Lobster Lounge fame) that I've always been nervous out at OTW, even at that size. Prophetic words maybe?

I've played the event over in my mind a hundred times and I still can’t quite figure out exactly what happened. I did not feel I was taking inordinately more chances in my shooting position than any other photo session. And yes there were some decent-sized waves, but were they far from big by North Shore standards.

What I do remember was that a bodyboarder was coming down the line and I was at "Inside OTW" tracking him. Unfortunately, nothing really developed with his ride—it was absolutely a throwaway as far as the surf sequence was concerned.

The fateful wave. Note the small backwash wave coming in from the right.

But suddenly, I found myself stuck in the lip of the wave, getting launched up high and simultaneously pitched out towards shore. There was this moment of realization that, "Oh s#!t, I’m going over the falls."

When this happens, you usually have the ability to adjust your body position, bracing for a fall/wipeout by rolling over on your back for a flat impact on the reef. This time, however, I was totally out of control—just couldn't reposition myself. So I just went with it—not that I had any other choice.

As I fell, I distinctly remember that it was taking a hell of a long time. I dropped, just immobilized in the lip, waiting, waiting, waiting. Then suddenly… BLAM!!!

Sometimes when you wipeout, the landing is as soft as a feather bed. Not this time. I penetrated through the trough at the bottom of the wave—did not even feel the water—just hit the reef seemingly at full falling velocity. I remember having a sort of out-of body experience on impact. I could not so much see myself like an underwater image, but more the position of my body. I saw that my legs were straight out, horizontal to the reef, with my back straight, but at like a 120 degree obtuse angle.

I landed hard on my butt and felt a sickening crunch resonate through my body (not unlike those graphic CGI renderings on the CSI TV series. I knew it was bad, but how bad remained to be seen. As I tumbled underwater in the turbulence, I remember angling my body shoreward, and realizing that I could move first my arms then more importantly my legs. This was just an ever so slight bit of relief 15 seconds into my ordeal.

I came up yelling. Not so much from the pain (which had passed the initial shock), but more in frustration. I knew immediately that I once again sustained a serious injury and I'd miss shooting the rising swell the next day. Sounds like such a trivial thought, given the circumstances, but hey, that's what was going through my brain at that moment.

Slowly, there was a greater realization of the true gravity of the situation. This could put to question my ability to ever shoot from the water, or even just to stand or walk. It was sobering thinking that just when I felt I found that one recreational pursuit in life that was truly rewarding in mind, body and spirit, it could potentially be taken away. I gotta get healthy fast, I thought. But first I had to get to shore.

I immediately yelled for my friend Maurice, who was one of the guys I was shooting, and in an instant, he was there supporting me. "Mo" has been a great friend the past few years. We bodyboard together once in a while, and kind of started surf water photography about the same time. So we talk story often about surf and photo techniques.

Also to my aid was the bodyboarder I was tracking on that fateful wave. Never got his name, but I do want to thank him for helping.

When I got to shore, I felt really unbalanced. I think the injury just didn't allow me to stabilize myself as I normally would, so even a soft push by breaking waves sent me reeling. Felt like I was drunk, with narrowed, tunnel vision.

In a surreal moment, a surfer came up and offered assistance. I looked up and immediately recognized him as Jay Adams (of Dogtown fame). Hanging on the North Shore, you kind of get numb to seeing "surf stars." But, the sheer randomness just caught me off guard. Jay tried to reassure me, saying that he also broke his back during one of his many life trials and tribulations. Never doubted him for a minute.

Commotion down the beach, photo by Kirby Fukunaga

The next step was getting to a hospital. I knew the injury was significant if not severe, so I resigned myself to going. I told the boys thanks, but I wanted to get home on my own. I must've looked not too bad because after initial apprehension, they let me go. I felt that I had to man up and do it by myself.

So I slowly made my way from the OTW shoreline to the Ehukai Beach Park parking lot. The walk never felt so long! I must've been a sight to see, wincing in pain while taking these baby steps in the soft sand. Friend Kirby Fukunaga saw me from one of the surf houses fronting Pipe and saw the commotion. He thought a "bodyboard photographer" got injured, and he didn't realize it was me. He even told me that they were going to call 911 on me. Guess I looked pretty shot.

In hindsight, that was kind of stupid. I could've risked greater injury. Just wasn't thinking straight at the time.

After slowly showering off and packing my gear, I made the long drive back to Town. Sitting and driving wasn't too painful. I just kept my back straight and drove with a cool head (out of character). Called my wife to break the news, asking her for our doctor's number. She was distressed, out of love and concern.

The doctor's office was closed so I went straight to Queen's Hospital Emergency all the way back in Town (maybe a 45 minute drive). After parking in the garage, I slowly shuffled like an old man into emergency.

Driving to the hospital in frustration, self portrait

As many will attest, an emergency room visit can be frustrating, with long waits and suspect care. Thankfully, my visit was way better. The wait for the doctor was mercifully short, and he immediately requested a CT scan, which they performed in-house.

Of course, my loving wife zoomed in and was by my side, worried as always and stating that I should never surf or do any water photography ever again. I love her.

After waiting a bit, the doctor came in and gave me the results of the CT scan: compression fractures on both the L1 and L2 vertebrae. He prescribed some Vicoden and Ibuprofen, and sent me on my merry way, recommending that I relax, lie down, ice it, and see my doctor in a couple days, who would probably recommend I see a back/ortho specialist.

You would think that lying down would be good to relieve the pain and promote healing. When I got home, I just couldn't get comfortable while horizontal. Maybe our bed and sofa wasn't conducive to the right kind of support, but after lying down for any length of time, my back would seize up if I tried to move or twist. It was apparent that the trauma was not just in the spine, but actually in the muscles in the surrounding area.

If you don't already know, I'm one of those Internet junkies, participating in several surfing forums. I like to share my surf experiences with my photos and stories. Admittedly, it is a way of showing off (or at least garner some pity) and gives me some delusion of grandeur. Hey, if it makes me feel good and I can share some stoke, then as far as I'm concerned it's a win-win situation.

So even in my crippled state, I start reporting to the online surfing world that I "broke my back." Just one more way of showing off I guess. I have been and continue to be flattered by the show of support and offers of help from many people who are at once both strangers and friends.

1 Nov 09: Spent the day relaxing at home. For some strange reason it was too chilling to watch football. Stuck to the videos. Wife and daughter pampered me too much. Rested uncomfortably. Took some Ibuprofen but refused the Vicoden. Accidentally fell asleep on my stomach once—bad, bad, bad.

2 Nov 09: Stayed home from work to see some doctors. My doctor, Dr. Gary Inamine, is kind of used to seeing me overextending myself. Injury list in the last 10 years include: complete tear of left achilles tendon, pinched nerve (C6-7), compressed discs (C4-5 and C6-7), left rotator cuff (shoulder) tear, right meniscus (knee) tear. He just kinda shook his head when he saw me once again. Recommended I take it easy for 4-6 weeks, letting my body tell me what I can/cannot do. I asked about stretching and yoga and eventually light weights, and he was good with it. Asked if I could travel in a couple of weeks, and he said that was ok too.

In the afternoon, I went to ortho/spinal specialist Dr. Gregory Chow. For the first time, I got to see the actual CT scan image. Kinda scary. He said that it was good that it compressed on the "front side" which minimized the likelihood of bone fragments pushing towards the spine. He recommended not doing the kyphoplasty procedure to inject "filler" cement into the spine. Again, relax for 4-8 weeks, come back in a month, do light stretching and exercise, with my body telling me my limits.

MRI scan showing compression of L1 and L2 vertebrae. I'm probably shorter now!

3-5 Nov 09: Critical time at work for me with some very important things I needed to churn out. Ended up going half days to work, then relaxing/sleeping in the afternoons. Coworkers were tripping when they saw me at work. I was doing so much work at home that I thought why not just go to work, at least for a little while.

The secret was just to keep my back straight and upright. In this position, I barely felt much pain—unintended consequence is that it's forcing me to improve my bad posture. But I snagged a Herman Miller Aero chair anyway from a generous coworker. Yeah, it's pretty good and has some small-kine lumbar support. Leaning back while on the laptop or on VTC made it feel like business as usual. However, I didn't take it that way. Was in the mindset of being real laid back—no running, jumping, twisting, even stifled coughs/sneezes/laughs.

7 Nov 09: Been purposely avoiding the surf reports and surf photos. I just get so envious of others while I'm missing out on the action. The Triple Crown of Surfing was about to begin and I couldn't even partake as I've done for like the last six years. Grrrr!

Light stretching and yoga have been refreshing. Note to self: need to continue doing this for the rest of my life.

Dropped off wife and daughter to an event in Kaneohe, so I took the time to head to the eastside to check out the swell. A system just several hundred miles away threw some messy, short period swell from the east. I busted out my puny 70-200 mm "land" lens and the monopod.

Surf was pounding pretty solid, but the short swell period coupled with side-onshore winds made for less than ideal conditions. Still, in lieu of a temporary lack of NW winter swells, nobody was complaining. I was stoked just to be on the beach again.

Sandy Beach from shore

17-19 Nov 09: Took a business trip to San Diego. Plane rides were a lot less stressful than I expected. Mid-flight yoga helped a lot. But my sedentary lifestyle coupled with too much ono Mexican food and Trader Joe's has pushed me over the edge as far as weight. It's time to (once again) settle down and focus on long-term health.

29 Nov 09: Getting injured forces you to reflect on what happened and what could have been, both good and bad. Especially after my Yakudoshi, I've already gone through that soul-searching and realization that I ain't young anymore. It truly is sobering, but acceptance is part of the deal. I'm not giving up though. Will work to get stronger and healthier.

2 Dec 09: Finally, back to see Dr. Chow, hopefully for some good news. Wife was there to make sure nothing got lost in the translation. Did an X-ray before seeing him. Admitted that I was still stiff, but way better than before. He said it seemed to be progressing well, and I could start getting back in the water. So stoked!

5,6,8 Dec 09: To make my wife happy, I told her I wouldn't be going in the water for a couple more weeks, just to be safe. Well, the surf just happened to be pounding during that time, so I wouldn't have gone in anyway—not for my first session back. But I did take some time to shoot from land some Waimea Bay, Backdoor/Pipeline, and Sunset. Even the Eddie went this year, and I got some decent shots from shore.

The 2009 Eddie, from behind the point

12 Dec 09: 42 days after the injury, I finally got a chance to get back into the water and do the thing I love. The third round of the Pipeline Masters was on in smallish but pristine surf, so I worked (with) Rarick and the Triple Crown crew and got to shoot Pipeline from the lineup. Backdoor was way better, but I knew my limits and cruised in the Pipe channel. It was so liberating to be sliding through the pockets of power underwater, like a Hawaiian monk seal reveling in rough seas.

Back in the game!!!

Epilogue: Surfing and even shooting on the North Shore, it is just a matter of time before you have to pay your dues. Thankfully, my injury wasn't so bad. Don't get me wrong though, I'll live with the repercussions for the rest of my life, and it'll probably manifest itself more as I grow older. But losing anything (in this case the ability to shoot from the water) even temporarily, gives you a greater appreciation for what you have. I'm honored to be able to do what I do, and I'll work hard to keep doing it.

Happy to be here

Stay stoked!