Day the swell went nuclear
SO there he was, The Offsider, privy to an exhausting two days of exceptional surf this week. Unfortunately, it wasn’t anything local but again a double dose of action from two separate competitions on the world tour, run concurrently as a massive groundswell struck Hawaii’s North Shore on Tuesday and Wednesday NZ time.
The events in question were the Pe’ahi Challenge, held at the outer reef of Jaws as part of the three-leg big wave world tour, and the final leg of the women’s world championship tour (CT), the Beachwaver Mauri Pro at Honolua Bay on Maui.
Jaws was windswept and maxing out, with some estimates putting it around 40-60’ on the first day, while at the same time Honolua Bay was utter 6-8’ perfection. To describe the waves at the latter break as flawless would have risked doing them injustice at a picturesque location which resonates to the profoundest levels of surfing’s soul.
The women’s event was wrapped up in slightly smaller but no less perfect 6’ waves on Tuesday, where Stephanie Gilmore N Australia claimed her seventh world title and drew level with Layne Beachley for the most women’s tour titles in history. As the final leg of the women’s CT, the Maui Pro title was eventually won by homegirl Carissa Moore N Hawaii, who is far and away the best female surfer The Offsider’s seen this year. Also great to see Paige Hareb G Taranaki reach the quarter-finals. Impressed commentator and former world champ Martin Potter N South Africa even noted Hareb had the best backhand tube-riding skills on the women’s CT, a comment which made The Offsider proud to be a Kiwi.
Jaws was at the other end of the spectrum altogether. There, the swell continued to grow in near pathological proportions throughout Tuesday morning, leaving organisers little choice but to call things off after the very best watermen on the planet were repeatedly unable to stick the drop. They’d paddle in and often make it on to the wall of the long-period swell, only to find the wave doubling up — leaving the rider in freefall, vainly attempting to reconnect a 10’ board to the wave face.
The Pe’ahi Challenge was eventually taken out by Billy Kemper N Hawaii in ’mere’ 20-25’ surf yesterday. Remarkably, it’s the third time he’s won the event in something like four years it’s been held. Bagging several incredible barrels, Kemper emerged victorious from a field representing a veritable who’s who of the major players in the big wave surfing universe.
There was even a bonus section once the event had been called off when the WSL ops team decided to continue streaming the session while a couple of tow-in crews tackled the massive swell. Quite unusual to see so few takers but apparently many were caught offguard because to tow into waves of that magnitude means needing to have everything ready — ski, boards, gear, food, head — but as no one had foreseen the comp being called off, many were caught unprepared. This left something like two or three crews to ride the place by themselves. Maui-based waterman Kai Lenny stole the show as he reset the highperformance big wave bar, and on one of the longest waves ever witnessed at Jaws, made it all the way to the shorebreak, leaving one commentator to note he must have “missed the turn-off to the channel”.
■ The Offsider is Age Malley. Respond at sports@northlandage.co.nz
sportsbuster Francis