Here's what you won't see in the WSL highlight reels: a pro surfer sitting in rehab, stripped of everything that once defined him, finally facing the truth he'd been running from his entire career.
That was Beyrick De Vries 12 months ago.
You might know him as the quick-witted charmer from the Qualifying Series, always ready with a joke or a wild story from last night's party. That Beyrick – the one who could light up any room and surf circles around most of the tour – was also slowly destroying himself.
"Humor was my shield," he tells me, with the kind of raw honesty that only comes after you've lost everything worth lying about. "I was the funny guy, because being real? That shit was terrifying."
In this edition of Raw Files, we jump into the undertow that nearly dragged one of surfing's brightest talents into the darkness for good.
Beyrick walks us through the perfect storm: early success that came too easy, a competitive circuit that normalized destruction, and the crushing pressure to maintain an image that was killing him inside.
This isn't another story about addiction in professional sports. It's about what happens when the party ends, when the Instagram filters fade, and you're left staring at yourself in the mirror, finally ready to ask for help. It's about finding God in the last place you'd expect, and realizing that true strength isn't in how hard you can party or how big you can surf – it's in having the courage to start over.
Through tears, laughter, and the kind of silence that says more than words ever could, Beyrick shares a journey that will feel painfully familiar to anyone who's ever used success to mask their struggles.
Whether you're in the water or on dry land, this conversation reminds you that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is admit you're lost.
Want to know what real courage looks like? It ain’t 8-10 ft Pipe on a west swell. It's what Beyrick does in what you’re about to see and hear – laying his soul bare so others might find their way out of the darkness a little sooner than he did.
This is Raw Files. This is real. This is recovery.
If you haven’t listened to Chapter 5 - Mental Health yet, you can do it here
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