I started to turn back around, expecting to see the calm ocean, but instead saw a towering, monstrous wave crashing down on me. It knocked me off my surfboard and slammed me into the water. Every muscle in my body tensed as I was thrown under and the air was completely knocked out of me. I tried desperately to come to the surface when another wave, somehow even stronger than the last, came down on me. This time it hit me with such force that I was...