Big bag of nopes.
All eyes were understandably on Waimea Bay last Sunday and the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational. On Maui, that meant most of the island’s big wave community was spending its day on Oahu while Jaws was busy getting lit up like a Christmas tree. A handful of standout locals did stay back to take advantage of the lighter-than-usual traffic at Pe’ahi and were treated to “one of the biggest days in a long time,” according to videographer Marcus Rodrigues.
“Around midday, the swell had picked up a lot and it was getting really big,” Rodrigues said. “The tow-in session started at the perfect time, when some of the biggest waves of the day started coming through. One Jet Ski was unfortunately lost, alongside multiple tow-in surfboards on the extremely dangerous, rocky shoreline of Jaws. The swell was 25 feet solid, with bigger sets and no wind. It was all-time barreling top to bottom from the north peak all the way through the west bowl.”
One of those local chargers was Ty Simpson-Kane, who was dealt one brutal moment in the spin cycle. It’s easily going to be in contention for the gnarliest wipeout we see at Jaws this season. While navigating plenty of chop on the face of the wave, the nose of Simpson-Kane’s tow board pearled and sent him tumbling head-over-feet. And then the worst part followed when the cartwheel prevented him from piercing the surface.
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As one would expect when a wipeout this crazy goes down without injury, he got back out to the lineup afterward and continued on with his session.
“There are no words that can truly describe the energy and the power that was surging. Pe’ahi was alive in all her glory and I still can’t believe I was able to get a wave paddling,” he said. “I’m doing good. Just a lot of water in the sinus…”
On the bright side, with this winter’s Pe’ahi Challenge operating as a season-long digital contest, Ty Simpson-Kane is probably a lock for the wipeout of the year award.
