I was driving along the Hana Highway headed for Kanaha Beach park to go surfing. Just as I passed Ho’okipa I noticed three standup surfers and one longboarder out in the waves. The conditions were pretty huge, the channel out to “Middles” was closed out with big waves breaking completely across it. I’d guess the set waves were 6 to 10 foot Hawaiian (here we measure waves from the median water height to the peak instead of the bottom of the trough, the front of the wave can be .75 to 2 times higher, so figure ten to twenty foot faces). I assumed the standup guys were doing a downwind run on the outside of the break, probably started at Maliko Gulch. But suddenly one of them turned and paddled incredibly quickly into a huge wave. He caught right on the edge of the shoulder, with tons of water pounding next to him, did an amazing turn right in the middle of the face (how in hell do they DO that) and got a beautiful ride, going up off the lip a couple of times with a board that was at least 12 feet long.
It had to be either Laird Hamilton or Dave Kalama. I scrambled for my camera, and found all I had with me is my little Canon point and shoot in the underwater case. I struggled to get it out because the case always has salt crusted on the lens area until I stick it in water. By the time I got the camera on and ready all three of the standup guys were headed downwind. They were half a mile away in just seconds.
So these photos pretty much suck, but at least they give you some idea of why I was grabbing for my camera. Whoever this was is simply amazing. If I got stuck in waves this big on a standup board I’d assume I was going to die. click the thumbnails to see what little perspective you can from these pictures.
I’d tell Diane I want to carry the Nikon with me from now on, but I doubt that would go over so well.
