- December 16, 2025
Soli Bailey had, arguably, the best year of any surfer in 2024: He packed in multiple waves of a lifetime at XL Cloudbreak and Shipstern Bluff. A mind-bending sandbar barrel in Surfline’s Maps to Nowhere series. A too-good-to-be-true boat trip in Indonesia. He started 2025 by winning the first Natural Selection Surf at a cooking Micronesian reef pass. A career-defining edit. “After last year, I felt invincible,” Soli said. “Coming into Hawaii, it felt like it was clicking again."
But Soli’s life and career flashed before his eyes after injuring his neck at Off The Wall in February 2025. “What began as discomfort turned out to something far more serious, where a disc in my cervical spine had ruptured and was pushing directly into my spinal cord, causing compression and symptoms in my arms,” the 30-year-old shared months after the incident. “It’s been confronting to face the very real possibility that my life may never look the same again.”
I love surfing, but not on the level that Soli does. I’d be absolutely terrified if I had an injury that left me bedridden and out of the water. So I cannot imagine the emotions coursing through him as he dealt with this. “What started as a crazy pain in my neck quickly turned into my worst nightmare,” Soli explains in the video above. “Doctors were telling me I couldn’t surf again. Couldn’t walk. Was in so much pain. After countless opinions and scans, I had the choice of a risky surgery or never surfing again. That was an easy choice to make.”
Between the injury, surgery and rehab, Soli was out of the water from February to October. Now, he’s back. Consider “BONEHEAD” the start of his redemption tour. Long Indo points are a damn good start.
“It’s been six months of dealing with this injury,” a grateful Soli concluded. “The last two days, getting to come back over and strike a swell, and not re-injure myself, is such an incredible feeling. I can’t even think right now. There was a lot of nerves, and a lot of what ifs, and I didn’t feel 100%, but it was close to. It’s been a long journey, six months of questioning everything. I’m very thankful.”
Related: Is Soli Bailey One of the World’s Most Well-Rounded Surfers?
