You’ve likely seen Jamie O’Brien surfing the wave created when the Waimea River flows into the bay. It’s a scene down there when the river is full enough to make that fun lump of water, and in recent years, that scene has gotten far larger. River wave surfing has been a thing for a long time now and as surfers like Jamie, Ben Gravy, and Blair Conklin show just how fun it can be, everyone’s waking up to the fact that waves aren’t just in the ocean anymore.
In Jamie’s most recent installment to his vlog, he shows exactly how the Waimea River wave is formed. And as you might’ve expected, it involves rain. A lot of rain. A recent Kona low brought a whole pile of tropical moisture from the south with it, and it poured. “The rain is coming down,” he says. “The whole valley is flooded. This is gnarly. I’m freaking out. I’m going to tell you… it could possibly be the best Waimea River I’ve ever ever been involved with.”
