Hawaii’s daredevil surfers grab their boards to ride hurricane’s epic waves
HAWAII - As Hurricane Lane approached the Hawaiian islands this week, residents made different preparations. Some boarded up windows. Others rushed to stock up on water and food. Others decided that the best thing to do was grab their surfboards and head out into the waves.
“I’m an ocean person,” he said, as he packed his surfboard in his car on the roadside near Ho’okipa beach last weekend. “It’s where I find my sanity. If I don’t get in the water I go crazy.” Although more rain was on the way, torrential downpours had given way to light showers. The sun peeked from behind the clouds. Nees looked out on one of North Maui’s most popular surf spots. About nine or 10 surfers bobbed on their boards near the break. Nees has lived on Maui for 14 years, and surfs almost daily. Before that, he lived on Oahu, where he “pretty much surfed all the storms”. So despite news of a possible category 4 hurricane headed his way, and his wife’s concern, Nees went surfing on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On Wednesday, he said, the waves were good: about 6ft from the base, or 4ft by Hawaiian measurements, which gauge the wave from the back. On Thursday, he encountered stormy seas that made him think twice about going out. “It can get big but unpredictable,” he said. “There’s always a lot of negotiation with my wife before I go out.” And yet for Nees, and many other surfers in Hawaii, the best part of storm surfing has nothing to do with the waves. “The biggest draw is that that there are not a lot of people are out during a storm,” he said. “You have the waves to yourself more.” (The Guardian)