The Combo-Land swell brought some really fun surf to the north side of the Huntington Beach Pier. It was a good morning of surf…but was it epic?
I woke up before the sunrise knowing there would be great waves and made the drive from Los Angeles to Huntington just to film. With the first minutes of sunlight barely starting the day, the very first wave I saw through my lens was a great one. As I watched more and more waves roll in through the morning I kept saying to myself, “This is an epic day of surfing.” And plenty of surfers ran by repeating much of the same. For many, it was the best they’d seen at Huntington Beach in years, maybe more than a decade. Some might have even called it the best they’d ever seen with their own eyes. The word “epic” stuck out in my mind all morning. Certainly, this was it. So when it came time to make the drive home I could barely wait to dive into the footage. And then I actually did…
Was this the same session I had just filmed? I had just spent hours telling myself the waves were worthy of that “epic” label — the highest grade surf conditions can reach. Epic is relative. To some it might be the rare combination of perfect tide, swell, and wind conditions coming together. To others it could be great but never epic until a wave is maxing out. And what may constitute epic at one spot could just be another walk in the park in another part of the world. Still, we all hear the word often.
Maybe the word “epic” is being completely overused. Like the term “GOAT.” Every day someone new is being labeled the greatest of all time, which technically negates the entire idea of it.
Epic or not, this was still one special morning.
Editor’s Note: Watch more from Brad Jacobson on YouTube.
