Surfin' a 70 Foot Wave!!!

Did you see that crazy son-of-bitch riding that 70-foot wave in Hawaii on the news this morning?!!! They said it was a world-record ride, beating the old record by only 2 feet. My god, that guy looked so damn small compared to the wave it was almost comical.

[jdl22]

Wow. Which news channel was it on? I gotta check that out.

Any locals know where this was? My guess is Waimea where they have the Eddie but that seems big even for there.

I know (he's sort of a friend of the family of my fiance) a professional surfer that rides big waves. He finished in the semifinals at the Pipeline masters so he's really good, but I don't think he's crazy enough to ride waves that big.

[M2d]

It was at Jaws. Waimea closes out around 30 feet (60 ft. face). Jaws, Cloudbreak, and a couple other outer reef places are the only ones in Hawaii that could hold a ridable wave that size.

Only complaint is that the ride was tow-in. Only way to get onto something that size, but it takes a little away, no?

[dogsballs]

dang, when was this? I live about 4 miles or less from Jaws.

Was out this morning taking pics of windsurfers at Hookipa - cool stuff; crazy flips etc (...apologies if my terminology's crap for any surfer dooods)

[M2d]

Not sure when it was. iirc, there were a number of big swells this winter, so it could have been any of those. check around town. If you hear that Laird and Darrick are in town, you can be pretty sure that Jaws is or is going to be going off.

[Oski]

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Only complaint is that the ride was tow-in. Only way to get onto something that size, but it takes a little away, no?

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There is actually a separate catagory for non-tows. Anyway, at some point (I think around 55 feet, face) it becomes impossible to paddle fast enough to catch the wave (and ride it...you could "catch it" deep in, but you are going to be pretty f'd).

So, without the tow-ins, there is no "bigger" wave to catch.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on surfing, nor do I play one on T.V.

[youtalkfunny]

What's a tow-in?

[jdl22]

It's when you use a jet ski to pull (tow I guess) you into the wave. It allows you to ride bigger waves and do so on a shorter board than you could otherwise.

I could also be wrong on this as I too am neither a surfing expert in person nor on tv.

[M2d]

Because of the speed of the water moving under you, there's a limit to the size of a wave that is humanly possible to catch using the traditional paddle in method. A decade or so ago, some surfers on maui (Laird Hamilton, most notably) started using a jetski and a tow bar (held by the surfer) to increase the surfer's speed going into the wave, thus allowing surfers to ride even larger waves. The jetski tows the guy in then uses its high speeds to outrun the curl and exit on the shoulder
30 feet (hawaiian, 60 feet face) is thought to be about largest wave thats ridable by traditional means, although tow ins are becoming more prevalent at big wave spots like Jaws and Cloudbreaks. I don't think places like Todos Santos (I think too far from civilization), Waimea (can't hold much over 30 ft cleanly anyway), Makaha (too much tradition) or Mavericks use much jet ski assists. I could be wrong, though, since I'm pretty far removed from the surfing community at this time.

[M2d]

were those guys with the parachutes out? I forget what that's called (you know, parachute and board combined to do cool aerial tricks and stuff), but it's pretty trippy to watch.