Sam Ryder: A surfing accident changed my life

Image Source, Sim on Emmet

By Mark SavageBBC Music Correspondent

Sam Ryder - Eurovision finalist, human ray of light and possessor of pop's shrillest falsetto - is a man who exudes serious surfer vibes.

From his long blonde locks and laid-back attitude to his tie-dye shirts and complete lack of cynicism , it looks like he would be perfectly at home performing a cutback or hanging 10 on the crest of a wave.

And that was true until four years ago, when he was nearly killed in a wipeout.

"I was surfing in Hawaii and my board broke. Then I got hit by a wave and almost drowned", says- he.

"It pushed me so far in the water. And the turbulence of the water, the power, it's amazing. Fighting against that , you feel like you've been hit by a bus."

With his muscles battered and his body battered, it took Ryder a week of bed rest to recover. Moment when he reassessed his life.

"Obviously the golden rule of surfing is 'never underestimate the sea', but until it goes bad, you can't understand it," he says. "You're like, 'I'm insignificant in this body of water.'