What a toughie!!!!!!!! Hope the injuries heal well and scars are minimal. Hats off to you Keala for tacking a day that over 99% of surfers would not even think of heading out in.

Female pro-surfer Keala Kennelly suffered a serious and shocking facial injury after being blown off her board during an expression session in memory of surfing icon Andy Irons at the Billabong Pro in Tahiti.

Big wave surfer Kennelly underwent surgery to the right side of her face after smashing into the Teahupoo reef.

The Hawaiian had forty stitches – 30 at the front on her face and ten in the skull.

Doctors also removed a piece of coral that was embedded in the wound.

Kennelly tweeted this picture of her horror injury after the incident, which she described as like being in a car crash, telling fellow surfer Kelly Slater “here is that pic I told you about. (it looks way better now I swear!)







You can see her wipe out at 1:50 in this vid.

#!

Nice gash??

Keala had a heavy wipeout but how was the next wipeout
How does someone physically survive a wipeout on a wave that big

Read Steve Shearer's account of the big tow in day - best surf article ever written IMO:

http://www.swellnet.com.au/news/2564-the-outsider-death-mask-pt-2

PS that pic freaks me out!!!!!!!!

said...

She had some pics of her surgery on Facebook. It's amazing how well the wound looks all closed up on the operating table. I don't know what they use to close up a wound like that, but if they are stitches, I didn't see any. The line was very fine, kind of like a piece of china that had been glued back together. I'll bet the scarring will be minimal

Strong lady.

I'm guessing internal stitches with the skin glued .I've heard of super glue being used on smaller cuts but nothing like that , if that had been me with my chubby checks I'd be walking around looking like I was the looser of a Bondi bar brawl for the rest of my life. Gutsy Lady.... heavy take off , heavy wave and XOS wipe out.

Steve's article was an amazing account of the day , love this part:-

Slater described the experience of watching his friends cheat death as, "A draining feeling being terrified for other people all day long." I asked him if he thought that was pushing the limits of what human beings could endure.

"Oh, for sure, and what you can endure mentally as well. Looking at these things and holding that rope and knowing you can keep hold of that rope and go out the back or let go and...it's life or death. Letting go of that rope one time can change your life and not many people will ever experience that in their life."