Gold Coast pro surfer keen to get back to surf break that broke him in Hawaii

INJURED professional surfer Bede Durbidge now walks down the Currumbin foreshore for a swim every morning and says he would jump at the chance to get back to the surf break that broke him.

Local pro surfer Bede Durbidge had a bad incident at the Pipeline Masters last year which has kept him out of the water, Bede is well on the way to recovery and rejoining the WSL Photo: David Clark

INJURED professional surfer Bede Durbidge now walks down the Currumbin foreshore for a swim every morning and says he would jump at the chance to get back to the surf break that broke him.

The fact he is walking and driving his five-year-old daughter Willow, 5, to school is a feat he is thankful for after being pummelled so hard surgeons compared his injury to a high-speed, head-on car crash.

In December Durbidge was dumped into a lava reef at the most deadly wave on the planet, Hawaii’s Pipeline, smashing and displacing his pelvis.

Gold Coast surfer Bede Durbidge when he was in hospital. Pic: Bede Durbidge/Facebook

He is still battling fatigue caused by kilograms of muscle and bone wastage.

“It’s such a long process, the fatigue is just crazy,” the 33-year-old told the Gold Coast Bulletin before his morning swim.

“Every time I do something it’s a big reality check because I get so tired.

“Because I couldn’t do anything for so long my muscles just atrophied — the weeks I spent in a wheelchair felt like a lifetime.”

Pro surfer Bede Durbidge recovering at John Flynn hospital, Gold Coast, with wife Tarryn and daughter Willow 5, after breaking his pelvis in horror wipe-out at Pipeline last month. Pic Mark Cranitch.

As Durbidge was being thrashed around underwater he said he could feel his bones floating loose in his body.

In a moment of numbness, before being hit with a wall of pain, feared he might have been paralysed.

He was rushed to shore on the back of a jetski in extreme pain where his wife Tarryn ran to meet him.

Durbidge, who grew up on Stradbroke Island, had two pieces of metal bolted across the front and back of one his pelvis.

An x-ray of surfer Bede Durbidge's shattered pelvis.

Now, with an athlete’s quiet determination and frustration at not being able surf, he spends hours rehabilitating every day.

“I work three times a week in the pool, doing rehab. I visit the chiropractor twice a week,” he said.

“And now I’m go down to the gym at the Hurley High Performance Centre when I can.

“I haven’t been pumping iron though — it’s fairly minimal stuff.”

Bedridden for months, Durbidge lost 3kg of lean muscle mass and four per cent of his bone density.

Bede is well on the way to recovery. Photo: David Clark

At the peak of his fitness in 2014 Durbidge’s body composition was scanned by Bond University’s Dr James Furness as part of his studies into the make-up of surfers.

When Durbidge was just beginning to learn to walk again, nine weeks after his injury, he contacted the associate professor, to learn more about the extent of his injuries.

“I profiled Bede as part of my PhD and after his injury he got in contact with me to do it again — he was learning to walk again by that time,” Dr Furness said.

Bede Durbidge at the annual grom camp. He is pictured with Zac Phillips, Tets Lewis, Johnny Saley, Jedd Golledge, Jasper Giddy and Declan Kelly. Picture: John Gass

“We found he lost 3kg of lean muscle mass, which is considerable.

“He lost four per cent of his bone mineral content but luckily before his injury it was through roof for someone his age.”

Dr Furness said in three scans he has taken in the 12 weeks the pair have been working together he has seen Durbidge’s muscles slowly recover.

Tarryn and Bede as he was pulled from the surf.

“Bones take a lot longer recover compared to muscles — it can take up to a year,” he said.

Dr Furness thinks Durbidge should make a full recovery.

“He’ll do everything he can to get back.”

Durbidge doesn’t know when he will return to the World Surf League Championship Tour but jumped at the thought of tackling the Triple Crown of Surfing which he won, with the Pipeline Masters, in 2007.

“Definitely, I would love to do Pipe and get back on the horse.

“There’s still a fair way to go though — you have to start from scratch with surfing.

“I guess you don’t really realise it but your body goes through a lot when you’re surfing.

“As an athlete I’m always striving for the best but I don’t want to overcook it and be in pain for the rest of my life.”

Bede Durbidge’s wipe-out during Round 3 of the Pipeline Masters.

Durbidge said this was the advice he received from close friend Mick Fanning, who ripped his hamstring off the bone in 2004 in a “career-ending” wipe-out before winning three world titles.

“He just said, ‘Whatever you do, take it easy’.”

In a wheelchair and on crutches, Durbidge was determined to bounce back by keeping busy commentating for the World Surf League, coaching surfing prodigy John John Florence at the Quiksilver Pro, presenting for Channel Nine news and kicking off his brainchild Balter Brewery with surfers Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Josh Kerr.

Pro surfer Bede Durbidge is taking steps to rejoin the WSL Championship Tour. Photo: David Clark

“It’s been good to dabble in a few things and have a look at what I might like to do after surfing,” he said.

For good measure Durbidge is currently second in the Gold Coast Bulletin’s rugby league tipping competition because he has “more time to study the footy”.

Spending more time with his family rather than travelling for most of the year on tour was the sunnier side of his injury.

“It has been so good to do normal things like take my daughter to school — I don’t think I’ll ever forget this winter because of that.”