Each year, on December 1st at Waimea Bay, dozens of big wave surfers, legendary watermen and the Aikau family gather to give their respects to the late Eddie Aikau. The big wave contest hasn’t started yet (and won’t until the surf hits 20+), but they’ve already initiated the waiting period with a traditional Hawaiian celebration.
Eddie was the North Shore’s first full-time lifeguard, and he made countless rescues during the 60s and 70s. He was also a skilled big wave surfer as well. He was lost at sea in 1978, while paddling out to a stranded boat.
Kelly Slater, Reef Mcintosh and Alex Grey are just a few of the famous pros that have opted to take part in the contest, which was last held in 2009. Hopefully we get some big waves this year!
Check out this link to surfline.com to learn more about the contest.
Every surfer dreams about riding big waves. Just the thought of roaring down a 20-foot massive mountain of water is enough to make any surfer mad with sheer excitement. But unfortunately, riding big waves—as any surfer can tell you—is not an easy feat. It takes tremendous skill and dedication, as well as years of intense training. It also doesn’t hurt to be a tad bit insane (kind of a given, right?), but that’s a separate issue entirely.
Anyway, big wave charger Kohl Christensen offered some helpful advice for all aspiring big wave surfers in the latest issue of Surfer. Here’s what he had to say:
The night before a big swell there’s a lot of anxiety building up inside me. The anxiety I get from thinking about the surf is always worse than actually seeing it first hand. Well, almost always. Everyone gets nervous. That’s just part of it. The trick is keeping that emotion in check and turning it into focus.
Surfing big waves isn’t for everyone and that’s okay. But I’d definitely say that there’s a connection or thread between all of us. Big-wave surfing requires you to work, train, and really want it. But at the end of the day, it’s something you’re almost born with. There’s something in you that differentiates you from the rest of the crew. You either have it or you don’t. But a lot of the time, you’re really not gonna know if you have it or not until you get close to it.
What kind of board you’re riding in big surf really depends on the wave. If you want to use Waimea as an example, I normally ride a 10’0″ out there when it gets to be about 20 feet. You really want to ride a board with a lot of float. Nothing too thin. Most of all, you want to be able to catch the wave early.
It feels like you’re paddling down a hill. You’ll always want to take two or three extra strokes to get into the wave. That’s crucial. There’s gonna be a lot of water, and sometimes a lot of wind, so you want to make sure you’re really in the wave before you stand up. Some days, the waves themselves will generate wind. Basically, when you feel like you’re paddling into the wave and you’re ready to stand up, keep paddling. It’s something everyone figures out the hard way.
It’s all about drawing your line early. As soon as you stand up, you want to pick your line. That’s pretty crucial. Unless you’re Ross Williams or Slater, you’re not going to be looking to get barreled. So find your line early. And most of all, don’t lean too far forward. You really don’t want to pearl on a 20-footer.
Wednesday was the opening of day of the official “big wave season” at Maverick’s… and it was a hell of an opening day.
According to Surfline, sets early in the morning were typically around 15 feet, with an occasional sneaker wave of around 18 to 20 feet. Pretty impressive, right?
Well, this opening day also marked the first time in several months that the locals hadn’t been chased out of the water by a shark. Back in September, two separate crews had to vacate the line up several times due to a curious juvenile Great White. Thankfully, Jaws didn’t scare anybody this time around.
Check out this link to learn more about the awesome opening day at Mav’s.
According to an article on Transworld Surf Magazine’s website titled The Wetsuit That Will Forever Change Big Wave Surfing, big wave surfer Shane Dorian partnered with Billabong Wetsuits and the Mustang Survival Corporation to create the Billabong V1 wetsuit—the first surfing wetsuit to feature a built-in “instantly inflatable air bladder.”
Shane Dorian using his Billabong V1 inflatable wetsuit.
Shane Dorian stated in the article that it was after his horrid wipeout at Mavericks in February 2010 that he first thought of the idea of creating a wetsuit with a built-in flotation device. “I took off on the wrong wave and had a horrible wipeout,” recalled Dorian. “The wipeout was terrible, I got held under for two waves, I almost drowned. After that I had an idea to incorporate an air bladder, something like the airplane vests where you pull the tab and it inflates immediately with a CO2 cartridge.”
Dorian then e-mailed Hub Hubbard–the wetsuit product manager at Billabong USA–concerning his idea and they quickly began working on a prototype.
During the initial research phase, Hubbard reached out to the Mustang Survival Corporation, a well-known manufacturer of dry-suits and other flotation devices, to create a specialized type of polyurethane bladder for new Billabong suit (the company had created similar bladders for the US Military).
Once they had a working prototype, Dorian immediately began to field-test it in the surf.
“The first time I used it was at Cortes Bank this winter, 100 miles off the Southern California coast,” recalled Dorian. “The waves were super big and I paddled into a really big wave and had a bad wipeout, got pushed under super far and I thought ‘this is the perfect time to test this thing.’ I pulled my cord and I went from nearly panicking to being totally relaxed. I didn’t swim, I just let the thing bring me up.”
So, what does this mean for the big-wave community? Some see it as a wonderful boon; a flotation device like the V1 could honestly save the lives of many big wave surfers. However, others feel that Billabong might try and market the wetsuit to normal surfers, potentially causing kooks of all ages to feel mistakenly invincible in all too crowded line-ups around the world.
What do I think of it? Well, to be honest, I’m not quite sure. A V1 probably wont be cheap, so your average kook wont be buying one anytime soon, and the suit could really save lives. But who knows what the future has in store for the surfing community? Surfing has become more and more safety oriented over the years, and many old school surfers are concerned that the average surfer is losing his “edge” for commingling with danger (i.e. drowning, being eaten alive, or being decapitated by a runaway SUP). Lifejackets for big wave surfers are one thing, but if this product becomes available for everyone, it might not be for the best.
