Well, it’s 2023. We’re just ten years out from the year the original Robocop was set in, five from when the remake was. Sixteen years past the year Escape From New York was set in and eight past the year Marty McFly traveled to in Back to the Future 2. Weird, right? And almost as soon as the clock ticked over into 2023, Jaws decided to welcome it with a bang.
“The first Jaws swell of 2023 was a mystical magic session with light off-shore winds combined with a northwest swell at around 12 feet producing hollow waves up to 15 feet,” wrote Marcus Rodrigues, who created the video you see above. “The weather was changing often from overcast conditions to sunny skies with a lot of waves to be ridden. It was a barrel fest to start off 2023 on Maui.”
You’ve likely seen a few clips from this particular day, like Kai and Ridge Lenny’s double barrel. All the best were out there, so there weren’t too many wasted waves. The Lenny brothers, however, stole the show.
“When they started to attempt to do the double tow in,” Rodrigues told The Inertia, “my partner who shoots aerials for us asked ‘what are they going do?’ My exact words were ‘the goal is for them to get barreled together and get the clip with the GoPro.’ He replied that that’s a pretty big goal. Next wave they did it, and I told him ‘what did I tell you!'”
No one filming from the cliff had advance notice they were going to try getting barreled together, but as soon as they towed into the wave, it became clear.
“I just had that deep feeling inside that these brothers were gonna go for that particular vision,” Rodrigues explained. “We had no clue they were gonna attempt this, but when the team radioed ‘Double Men’ and I saw the wave, I kind of knew the possibility. It was a good one with enough room to fit them both in it. It was amazing to witness and even more amazing to capture. To share a wave like that is brotherly love at its finest.”
Although the Lenny brothers grabbed the spotlight, this video shows just how good the whole day actually was. The swell was hitting the reef just about perfectly, and the local Peahi crew took full advantage.
“It was pretty much all the locals out there this swell,” Rodrigues continued. “Trevor Carlson was on it from very early and he picked off some amazing waves getting himself one of the bigger barrel rides of the morning. Daniel Goldberg from the Pe’ahi safety crew pulled into a bomb and got spat out when the swell started pulsing.”
It was a bit of a slow start, though, with a bit of morning sickness affecting the lineup. But by 10 a.m., things were well and truly pumping. By the afternoon, a usual suspect had joined the lineup.
“The wind got strongest in the afternoon,” Rodrigues said. “Jesse Richman started kiting and was boosting into the skies above Peahi while rainbows were coming off of the top of every wave. It was all so mystical and magical. Tyler Larronde showed up at the right time and scored a whole bunch of waves that were hitting the West Bowl. All in all it was a great start to a new year with the first swell at Jaws. Everyone was ripping!”
