Mark Healey Is The Most Fearless Man On The North Shore
The North Shore’s own Mark Healey has built himself a sturdy reputation for being unafraid of anything. Whether it’s riding sharks (crazy true) holding his breath for more than five minutes (astonishingly true) and taking one of the biggest wipeouts we’ve ever seen (terrifyingly true) it's safe to say that Mark Healey's living life in fifth gear. In the post below, we’ve highlighted some words of wisdom from Mark as well as a few of the moments that made him such a legend.
About That Now Famous Puerto Bomb
Recently, Mark paddled into this behemoth wave in Mexico, only to be swallowed whole and catch one of the most intense beatings of his life.
He’s Aquaman Incarnate
As an avid freediver, Mark routinely patrols the depths of Hawaii’s blue waters in search of dinner with nothing more than a spear and a pair of over-inflated lungs. In the section below, he breaks down some words of wisdom when it comes to learning how to hold your breath longer.
“Before you start to train, keep in mind that you’ll always hold your breath longer if you’re not being timed. That’s how much of it is purely mental.”
“The rules for holding your breath while you’re freediving are the polar opposite to holding your breath while you’re taking a beating. In diving, you want to relax and get calm. In surfing, if you’re taking a beating, you’re already stressed and expending a lot of energy.”
“You can start to get better at holding your breath within a single day.”
He Knows How To Handle A Bad Situation
When you live like Healey, you’re always prepared for the worst. Here are some words to quite literally live by if things go squirrelly.
On Dealing with A Natural Disaster: If you’re looking at a real disaster and need a few things to survive, I’d grab a water filter, a dive mask, and some cash. Fresh water is pretty crucial, cash is always good to have in a bad scenario, and if you have a dive mask, you’ll be able to pull some food in from the ocean so you won’t starve. On finding an injured surfer:
You’re surfing and you see another surfer floating face-down on the inside: It’s really difficult to deal with an unconscious floating body by yourself, so the best thing you can do is to try and call as much attention as possible to the situation. If you can, pull people from the lineup and get them to help you bring the person to shore. Also, try and signal people on the land and let them know what’s going on so they can call 911 and get help as soon as possible.
On Fighting a Fish While Diving: You spear a fish in deep water that turns out to be a little bigger than it looked, and it takes off for the bottom, dragging you with it: For starters, no fish is worth dying for. I’d rather let go of my spear any day than drown and I’ve had to do it a few times. But when you’re put in a situation like that, you want to gauge how much oxygen you have and how much energy it’s going to take to fight that fish and then make your decision. But in the end, like I said, it’s not worth drowning.
He swims with Tiger Sharks There’s really not too much to say about this image. The man is fearless.