ESPN the Magazine
Issue: September, 2005
Assignment: Graphic-heavy feature previewing surfing’s December competition season for EXPN Magazine insert.
DEK: Every December, O’ahu’s North Shore becomes surfing’s Ground Zero.
The stretch of Hawai’ian coast that begins to the southwest in Haleiwa and ends to the northeast at Sunset Beach is the most exposed series of surf breaks in the world. The waves here have made history for nearly a century, and every winter two things conspire to make it the center of the surfing universe. First, the northern Pacific hurls huge swell after huge swell across its reefs. Second, a series of contests determine the prestigious Triple Crown Of Surfing, the even more prestigious ASP World Championship Tour, and the downright Promethean In Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational. Winter on O’ahu is, in a word, intense.
Sunset
•Key Features
-Sunset breaks far off the beach and it’s difficult to gauge how big the swell is until you reach the lineup. It’s always bigger than it looks. The other defining characteristic at Sunset is the sheer volume of water that moves over the reef, giving the waves tremendous power—surfers caught under the lip of a breaking wave here have had their legs broken.
•The Wave
-A peeling right-hander, every aspect of the wave is dramatically affected by swell size and direction. Generally, Sunset starts out as a huge slab with avalanching white water before pitching into a steep barrel on the inside section.
•Skills Required
-Surfers at Sunset need a full selection of carving maneuvers for the wave’s open sections, plus sound barrel-riding technique on the steeper ones. But wave selection comes first and foremost. Because the wave varies so much from swell to swell, knowing the difference between a clean wall and closeout is key.
•The Board
-6’3”-to-6’10”, rounded pintail, three-fin thruster. Because the waves are fast and heavy, Sunset boards need a lot of volume to provide floatation so the board doesn’t bog down on the wave face. Rounded pintails allow for more maneuverability in the open sections.
•Historical Note
-Before equipment innovations in the 60s broke Pipeline wide open, Sunset was the wave by which all others were measured. It was the focal point for the Californians who pioneered North Shore surfing in the 30s and 40s, and surf anthropologists believe it was surfed thousands of years ago by Hawai’ian natives.
•Pros To Fear
-Pancho Sullivan: One of Hawai’i’s most respected pros, Sullivan has a lethal frontside cutback and an unsurpassed knowledge of Sunset’s many quirks. He eschews the world tour in favor of surfing when and where he chooses, and eagerly awaits the arrival to his home turf of the so-called world’s best every December.
-Fred Patacchia Jr.: Although Sunset is a right, powerful backside surfers like Patacchia can use the long faces to generate enormous power in the top and bottom turns. Part of Hawai’i’s next generation of pros, Patacchia is having a surprisingly solid first year on the WCT and due for a major victory.
The Event: The O’Neill World Cup Of Surfing
The second event of the Triple Crown Of Surfing has its roots in the North Shore’s first-ever professional contest: the 1965 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational. If the Pipeline Masters is the ultimate test of a surfer’s courage, Sunset—with its massive volume of water, shifty peaks, and tricky currents—is the ultimate test of a surfer’s ability to navigate the ocean. Sunset champions carry a mantle that dates back to the beginning of surfing’s modern era.
Pipeline
•Key Features
-Both a left and a right (also known as Backdoor), Pipeline technically consists of three reefs. First Reef handles waves up to twelve feet, breaking perilously close to shore over razor-sharp reef. Further out, Second Reef handles waves ten-to-eighteen feet and, because it’s not nearly as shallow as First Reef, can actually be less dangerous. Third Reef only breaks in maxing swell, and is rarely surfed.
•The Wave
-Pipeline features a steep, critical takeoff before jacking into a sheer wall that immediately throws forward from the top, creating what is considered the most perfect barrel, or tube, in surfing. Easily the most photographed wave in history, Pipeline remains surfing’s gold standard.
•Skills Required
-Since Pipeline is primarily a left, regular-footed surfers need to master backside barrel-riding—a tricky combination of balance and precision that is considered one of surfing’s most difficult techniques. This, combined with Pipe’s near-vertical takeoff zone, makes it a challenge with few equals.
•The Board
-6’2”-to-6’8”, pintail, three-fin thruster. Pipe boards are designed for one thing: getting barreled. While board lengths have come down in recent years to allow maneuverability in the tube, the narrow board profiles and sharp pintails are all about stable tracking across sheer walls of water.
•Historical Note
-Prior to 1961, no one is known to have successfully surfed Pipeline. That year, at the urging of filmmaker Bruce Brown—he of Endless Summer fame—Phil Edwards navigated the drop that was previously considered too steep to make. Legend holds that, by the time he left the beach, three other surfers were in the lineup and it’s been crowded ever since.
•Pros To Fear
-Kelly Slater: In addition to redefining backside barrel-riding over the years at Pipe, Slater is the event’s only five-time champion. There may not be another wave on the planet where the six-time World Champ feels more at home.
-Andy Irons: Irons won his second of three consecutive world championships in 2003 by taking Slater out during the Pipe Masters. He is the most cold-blooded competitor on tour and unflappable in the type of critical conditions Pipeline dishes out every year.
The Event: Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters
The final event of both the ASP World Championship Tour and the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, the Pipe Masters is surfing’s Super Bowl. A handful of waves on the planet have been found that rival Pipe’s sheer power, perfection, and challenge, but none can lay claim to this kind of arena: Pipe breaks literally yards from shore, allowing anyone with a towel a front row seat to one of the most dangerous venues in sport. The event has been held every year since 1971 and—outside of World Champion—no title in surfing carries more gravitas than that of “Pipe Master.”
Waimea
•Key Features
-Unlike the other North Shore breaks, Waimea Bay isn’t protected by outer reefs that absorb energy in huge swell. Rather, waves from eighteen to 35-plus feet travel across deep water and deposit themselves in all their fury on the Bay’s primary reef. The other notable feature is the shore break, which can get bigger than Pipeline and detonates on near-dry sand.
•The Wave
-Essentially a huge, pitching slab, Waimea is mostly known for its drop: a hellish descent that often begins in the air before the surfer’s board makes contact with the wave face and accelerates upwards of 25 miles per hour. If he can survive this, the wave flattens out long enough for him to pop over the back before the face lurches up to batter the beach.
•Skills Required
-A vast knowledge of the local rips and currents are needed to keep from being killed by outside sets. Otherwise, all you need are tree trunks for legs to handle chop on the wave face at insane speeds, and balls that click when you walk down the street.
•The Board
-9’6”-to-11’0”, pintail, single fin. Waimea boards haven’t changed much over the years because surfing at Waimea hasn’t changed much—it’s still about running down a monster and sticking the drop. Built primarily for paddling and stability at high speeds, these high-volume boards are affectionately known as “Rhino Chasers.”
•Historical Note
-Notable long before expat Californians pioneered surfing here in 1957, ancient Hawaiians used the valley inland from Waimea for delivering the children of Royalty. The hill tops above the break are thought to have been used for human sacrifices.
•Pros To Fear
-Bruce Irons: The younger brother of the current World Champ shocked the field at last year’s Eddie Aikau Invitational with a performance that was pure bravado. People will talk about the ferocious shore break barrel he braved for years to come.
-Makua Rothman: Rothman won the 2003 XXL Big Wave Awards by picking off a 66-foot giant at Jaws when he was just eighteen. As the face of Hawai’i’s next generation of big-wave surfers, the waves at Waimea are in his blood.
The Event: In Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational
Eddie Aikau was a legendary North Shore surfer, lifeguard, and waterman who defined big-wave riding at Waimea Bay in the 60s and 70s. Because the rules dictate that it cannot be held in surf smaller than 20 feet, the Invitational in Aikau’s honor has only been run seven times since it was established in 1985. For nearly three months each winter, 24 of the most respected surfers in the world stay on call and descend on Waimea when the event organizers deem the waves big enough to respect Aikau’s considerably legacy. As much a spiritual gathering as a surfing contest, “The Eddie” is unlike anything else in the world of sports.
Haleiwa
•Key Features
-One of the North Shore’s few combination beach and reef breaks, Haleiwa has a vicious rip current running through its line up. Surfers are constantly paddling to their left in order to stay in position for set waves, and locals have a distinct advantage over newcomers.
•The Wave
-Haleiwa can throw mushy shoulders, howling barrels, and steep, fast sections at competitors, but without the consequences found at Pipe or the power found at Sunset. No wave on the North Shore can be taken lightly, but Haleiwa’s fun-to-fear ratio is a bit more even than most.
•Skills Required
-The open sections at Haleiwa allow for a lot of maneuvering, so surfers who can land clean airs or get really inventive above the lip of the wave stand out. More than any other competition wave in Hawai’i, Haleiwa demands versatility.
•The Board
-6’1”-to-6’6”, squash tail, three-fin thruster. Haleiwa is the only place on the North Shore where you’ll find high-performance shortboards like the ones ridden in California and Florida. The squash tail sacrifices stability to allow for a lot of movement on the wave face.
•Historical Note
-Historians believe that the first surfing done by Hawai’ians on the North Shore took place at Haleiwa.
•Pros To Fear
-Andy Irons: Pretty much any wave in Hawai’i is home for Irons at this point, and no other surfer combines power maneuvers with aerials like he does. Irons has the perfect offense for Haleiwa.
-Sunny Garcia: The six-time Triple Crown Champion is likely in his last year of professional competition, and Haleiwa is his backyard. After a disappointing season on the WCT, Garcia will be looking to go out with a bang in front of his hometown fans.
The Event: The Vans Hawai’ian Pro
The first event of surfing’s Triple Crown is the traditional start of the winter season on O’ahu and always features a rowdy mix of recently-arrived WCT surfers and Hawai’i’s best home-grown talent. As a tune-up for O’ahu’s heavy winter swells, the Hawai’ian Pro reveals who’s firing on all cylinders as the contest circuit enters the home stretch.
HED: Meanwhile, Over On Maui
DEK: O’ahu hogs the spotlight, but its southeastern neighbor is a December destination, as well.
Honolua Bay
•Key Features
-Aside from the treacherous scramble down slick, muddy cliffs to get to the water, Honolua’s best-known feature is a cave that juts out underwater between the wave’s two main takeoff zones. Inside currents sweep right across it and can drag surfers uncomfortably close if they’re caught by a big outside set.
•The Wave
-Honolua’s considered one of the world’s classic right-hand point breaks. Between six and sixteen feet, it features a long barreling section through the middle and a huge, carvable face at the end. The Bay’s aspect shelters it from the kind of open-ocean power that O’ahu’s North Shore receives, but big Honolua is still a force to be reckoned with.
•Skills Required
-A true showboat wave, Honolua favors fast regular-foot surfers with strong barrel-riding skills. Those with a few choice maneuvers to throw on the wave’s open sections will stand out from the rest of the field.
•The Board
-6’0”-to-6’8” rounded pintail, three-fin thruster. Board selection depends greatly on how big the swell is, but most pros are comfortable on a fairly standard high-performance shortboard.
•Pros To Fear
-Sophia Mulanovich, Chelsea Georgeson: With the women’s tour entering its final leg, Mulanovich and Georgeson are locked in a dogfight that may well come down to the Honolua event to determine the World Champion. Mulanovich holds last year’s crown, but Georgeson won convincingly in six-to-eight foot Honolua last December.
•Historical Note
-Honolua’s aspect keeps it sheltered by near-shore islands from all but a handful of swell directions, making truly great waves a relatively rare occurrence. Since the Bay was first surfed in 1947, there have only been a handful of epic days recorded. The most recent was last December fifteenth; the same day Jaws was breaking at 70 feet, dedicated Honolua surfers scored perfect fifteen-to-twenty foot barrels.
The Event: The Billabong Pro Maui
Between tricky permitting issues and relatively inconsistent surf, Honolua lacked a major competition until 1998, when the Triple Crown began running one of the women’s events there. The next year, it became a WCT event, and since 2001 has served as the final stop on the women’s tour.
Jaws
•Key Features
-Jaws is created by a spur-shaped reef jutting up a half-mile from shore where open-ocean swells moving between 30 and 40 miles an hour plow into it. There is no real beach, just 100 foot bluffs overlooking the reef that vibrate when the waves explode below.
•The Wave
-No one’s sure just how big Jaws can be surfed, but the current ceiling is 70 feet. Perhaps more impressive than the wave’s sheer size is its shape: few tow-in waves barrel at all, and none as consistently. Although the left has been surfed in recent years, Jaws is primarily a right that can carry surfers in excess of 200 yards.
•Skills Required
-Tow-in surfing is a team endeavor that requires a jetski pilot with even more poise and courage than the surfer. In addition to knowing how to properly line the surfer up for the wave, the pilot also must be able to navigate the turbulent whitewater inside the reef, in order to drag a fallen surfer out of the impact zone before set waves reach him.
•The Board
-6’8”-7’2”, three-fin thruster, foot holds. Tow-in board design is evolving every season, and there is little consensus in terms of shapes, tails, weight, etc.
•Historical Note
-Prior to the development of tow-in surfing in the early 90s, only a handful of windsurfers could generate the speeds required to catch waves at Jaws. The XXL Big Wave Award, which goes to the largest wave ridden anywhere in the world each winter, has been won by surfers at Jaw for the last three years in a row on waves of 66, 70, and 68 feet, respectively.
Before tow-in surfing developed, only windsurfers could generate the speed required to get into the waves at Jaws. Sailors like Mike Waltz, Rush Randle, and Dave Kalama were experimenting at the break in the 80s. Kalama partnered with Laird Hamilton after the tow-in pioneer arrived on Maui in the early 90s and the two have helped make it an annual destination for the global tow-in community of surfers.
•Pros To Fear
-Laird Hamilton: The father of tow-in surfing, Hamilton has called Jaws home for over ten years. He brings a carve-and-slash style of surfing common at places like Sunset to surf three or four times bigger than a paddling surfer could ever catch. Even in the elite community of big-wave surfers, Hamilton is considered a freak of nature.
