Last August during a QS 1,000 event at Anglet in France, Durban raised Dutch surfer Beyrick De Vries snapped his femur in five places after he tagged a hollow end section on a right hand sand bar. The impact shattered his leg and he ended up bowing out in the round of 64 and spent the rest of his time in France in a Bayonne hospital bed.
The 31-year-old kept his followers updated with a number of social media posts about his on going recovery until around October 2023. Then, he seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. That was until a couple of months ago when he posted an update to Instagram to share the struggles he had been facing.
The injury had led the previously self-proclaimed ‘bad boy’ to resort to excessive drinking and substance use in order to try and suppress his feelings and emotions. After intervention from family and friends, Beyrick checked himself into rehab and he has since been on a path of sobriety in order to try and become a ‘better man, better coach and in the future, a good husband and a good father’.
In a video posted to his Instagram, he said: “I snapped my femur in five places last year in France. I then find myself back in Durban, South Africa at my mum’s place sitting in a wheelchair, no chaos, no excitement, no new country every two weeks. Nothing to distract me from the bigger questions in life and as injuries do, I found myself asking where am I at in life? What am I doing with my life and who am I? Sounds deep, but it was deep. I hit the bottle, I drank a lot of whiskey, I hit the substances, anything to keep me high, keep me distracted, keep me from sitting with my feelings.
“The opposite of peace and the opposite of serenity. I decided that it was time to change, I wanted to go in a different direction, I wanted to go in the opposite direction in fact, so I decided to check myself into a rehabilitation facility called Changes Rehab in Johannesburg. In the first month, the primary phase, I saw my character defects and my behavioural patterns and realised that I needed to go to a secondary facility with Changes and work on these behaviours and work on the way I think and create new neuro pathways because I want to be a better man, I want to be a better coach and in the future I want to be a good husband and a good father.”
Since undergoing rehabilitation, Beyrick claims this is the best he has ever felt and described it as a turning point in his life and a new chapter.
He continued: “I’m on my way now to coach the Dutch team for the Euro champs. While I’m there in Europe, I think I’m going to give the QS another go in Europe. I will return to surfing and I think I owe it to myself to try it out with a sober lifestyle and a clear head and I can’t wait to get back on the horse and see you guys. I hope and trust that I have your support.”
Beyrick went on to compete in three QS events this year, first in Lacanau and at Pantin. While he was unable to make a heat in either of those events, he returned to Anglet last month, the spot where he snapped his femur, and was able to win his first heat with a 14.83 total.
The regular footer told Sunny Fassler on the latest episode of Duct Tape Theory that he feels he was the ‘last of the old school approach to surfing’.
“When surfing naturally progressed to the sleep, train, surf, hydrate type of stuff, I didn’t really get the memo, maybe it looked like too much hard work and so I didn’t do it, I partied hard.
“Everyone parties, everyone wants to meet girls, be together, be a bit raucous. But then there is that natural progression of growing up, settling down a bit, I always saw that and thought ‘fuck that’, but I always wanted a family. What I wanted and what I was doing wasn’t lining up. I believe one day I would’ve had to pull the trigger on getting sober but it came in the form of a snapped femur in five places and I believe that was god saying, sit down little boy and go to the corner and think about what you’ve done.”
The South African said that he often found himself comparing his surfing to the likes of Fanning, Parko, Taj and Slater, which created a feeling of not being good enough.
“Instead of focusing on improving at the smaller things, I just thought this is where I am, I’m not going to get better, so I’m going to milk this for what it’s worth and the way I milked it was through the parties.
“All the lessons I knew from the ocean, I didn’t take them over to the beach and back onto the land. I wanted to win the Wild Surf League, fuck the World Surf League, I wanted to be the Wild Surf League Champion and I think I ended up doing that.
“The girls? I’ve done that bru. I just wanted that affirmation that I am something, you know? I would lose my heat then go out and try have a threesome or something so that I could tell the boys back home, oh I did get the result, but it wasn’t in the right area that I was planning on. That’s lame and loser shit.”
Beyrick described his addiction as a ‘cheat code’ and an easy way out of whatever he was going through or feeling at a particular moment in time. He believes he had the ‘coping mechanisms of a child’ and was ‘spiritually, emotionally and physically bankrupt’.
He said that the birth of his nephew Noah was a turning point in his journey to sobriety.
“So, I’m an uncle now and that’s when questions started popping into my head, like ok, you’re an uncle now. What type of uncle are you? Uncle fuck up? What are you bringing to this kids life? Because if I was the parents, I would be saying stay away from Uncle Derick because he sways away from his core values.
“One day I got a call from my sister and she was going to suggest rehab to me but she chickened out. She suggested I go and do a business course and then her husband came on the phone and said ‘Woah, that’s not the plan. We think it’s time for rehab’. I jumped at the opportunity. Them suggesting it was like them throwing me a life raft which I could grab onto and the next day I check myself into rehab.”
Beyrick’s relationships with his family and friends are now the best they have ever been.
“I’m actively and consistently trying to be better than I am yesterday. I make sure I’m progressing in the areas that really matter and they are joy, love, self care, self respect because I noticed I didn’t have any of those.
“I think that is my definition of success; am I there for myself and am I there for the people that matter the most to me in this world. I didn’t realise how much emotional and spiritual pain I was in and a broken femur has nothing on that.”
He said that his focus is now on being ‘a good man and a good husband and father one day’. Beyrick has also set a goal of turning the Dutch surf team into one of the top five surfing nations within the next ten years.
“Hurt people, hurt people. But help people, help people. I’m getting so much fulfilment now and seeing so many opportunities to help people, whoever they are, wherever they are, to find the peace that I’ve found.”
To listen to more episodes of Duct Tape Theory, click here.
