In this video, Billabong presents the five best–or worst–surfing wipeout nominees for 2012.

“This day really made me think about how awesome it was to ride big waves,”said Joao De Macedo, the second surfer on the video. “But also how humbling it was to be in the guts of a dragon.”

“It was just a sensation of ‘was this really happening?’” Macedo told Surfline. “[…]I had to just stay immediately in shutdown mode and completely relax. Skipping down the face was horrifying. You’re going and you just feel the distance of how big the wave was.”

Macedo was surfing at Mavericks in Northern California when something went horribly wrong and he was placed back on the lift. Overcome by the rushing water, the surfer tumbled deep into the bowels of the wave. Fortunately, Macedo did not lose consciousness during the impact and he was able to activate his Patagonia flotation vest. This compilation is a reminder that while man may have harnessed the power of nature, nature can still hit you with four stories of saltwater at a whim.

httpv://youtu.be/ete3SRqSFEY

Image screenshot of video by BillabongXXL on YouTube