Many, many surfers would be very happy to ride the Waimea River wave all the time. It’s steep and has a clean face, ideal for shredding. But the Waimea River wave doesn’t work all the time. It only works when it’s supposed to – namely when enough rain has filled the river to force it to empty into the bay. And it doesn’t always happen during the day.
Jamie O’Brien and Ben Gravy wanted to ride the Waimea River wave. But due to timing, it was only happening when the sun was on the other side of the Earth. So they did the only logical thing: they set up flood lights and brought their filmers along to capture the mayhem. Mayhem that included the river emptying into the ocean where giant Waimea Bay shorebreak was waiting to pound surfboards and skulls into the sand if one happened to get washed down. In the dark.
So surfing one of the most famous river waves on the planet took a little more planning and timing this go around. Both Jamie and Ben kicked out edits from the session so we’ve posted one above, and one below, for your viewing pleasure.
