Adventure Lover Lewis Hamilton Recalls a Life Threatening Surfing Accident That He Suffered Because of a Dare

Credits: IMAGO / NurPhoto and IMAGO / Kräling

Formula 1 drivers are said to be some of the most daring people on the planet. It takes a lot of courage to strap oneself into a machine going 200+ miles per hour, and Lewis Hamilton is no different. A daredevil both on and off the track, Hamilton recently revealed in an interview with Robb Report, how he went through a near-death experience while trying to complete a task given to him as a dare.

Hamilton is quite an adrenaline junkie, and as it turns out, even during his time off from racing, he stays busy with various adventure sports. Amongst the various extreme sports, Hamilton loves surfing and snowboarding. He also recently tried his hand at offroading biking during the recent summer break.

The seven-time world champion has a lot of friends who are champion athletes of these adventure sports. It is while hanging out with one of them, that Hamilton faced a life-threatening situation.

Lewis Hamilton describes his near-death experience

As per Hamilton’s interview with Robb Report, a couple of years back, the Mercedes driver was hanging out with his friend and Surfing Legend Kelly Slater at the Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii. One of the world’s most famous surfing spots, the Pipeline is considered home to some of the most dangerous waves in the world.

It was here that Hamilton came face to face with a 25-foot wave and tried to surf on it when Slater claimed that it was impossible for him to do it. Hamilton said, “Kelly was like: ‘There’s no way you’re going out there.’ And I was like: ‘Kelly, I’m going out.’”

He commented that his main aim was to not get sucked in and explained, “I dived down and grabbed the reef and prayed. I could hear the thing land behind me, like a bomb going off. My board got ripped off and snapped in half. I was very close to the end. But that excites me for some reason.”

Hamilton has always been a daredevil

To back himself up, Hamilton explained that he has never been the one to back down from any challenge. He claimed that he has always been a ‘risk taker‘ and gave an example of himself trying to climb a tree if anyone challenged him that he couldn’t.

He said, “When I was younger, I was reckless. I took a lot of risks, and I was very fortunate not to get injured.” However, he also understands that with age, he has matured, and even though he still loves being on the edge, his risks are much more calculated.