what like best about that shot is the contextualization of the wave. And to be perfectly honest, surf mags rarely provide enough context for what is happening around the wave. mc framed that once in a lifetime barrel on that beach in the larger context of the town. it tells a story about access, infrastructure, and density.
I think that a lot of the time a picture of a wave can stand alone but providing more context whether it is sand, stone, palms, fir trees, mountains, deserts, or fields for that matter always tells a more complex story.