This is why I get agitated with hype-marketing and overestimation of wave size. Some people just don't know better, and unfortunately they can get hurt or killed.
I'm not that old, but I'm old enough to feel that the internet is a tremendous contributor to this type of behavior. It's so common for people to thump their chest and lie about doing irresponsible things to make themselves feel tough, and those that are trying to learn get their "information" from these fools, since that information is so readily available.
So, they see the ad with 2 people on basically a surfboard, and they see the forecast of 1-2 ft, and remember that everyone on the internet can run through measly 2-3 footers at 40mph without a drop of spray (so 1-2 must be basically glass, right?), and they go and get themselves in a bad situation.
Off the soapbox now. It's so easy to blame the guys out there for their stupid mistake (and no doubt it was a stupid mistake), but I know I sure did some dumb, risky stuff without the internet tough guys telling me how easy it was going to be. I shudder to imagine if I had tried to learn the ropes with the invincibility of a teenager plus a wildly skewed sense of confidence based on internet talk.