Ever wondered how it is surfing the big winter waves in Hawaii? Keep reading Bill's surf adventure from many years ago. Having had our own encounters with the famous winter surf and knowing the power of those waves, Bill's story kept us on the edge of our seat
"December … this morning the air was cold and clear, and a search-light moon gave ground to a golden dawn rising over Mauna Kea. Those who wake early will know what I mean when I say the sky seemed almost polished, with the stars sharp and bright. It was a winter sky this morning, as December’s bright face came smiling into town.
Waimea is blessed with both high country vistas and easy access to long, creamy beaches along the Kohala coast. In winter we see the spectacle of teenagers in slippers and board shorts bundled up in thick hoodies with boogie boards under their arms, standing by the roadside waiting for rides down the hill. Winter surf is always the best surf!
Many years ago, my brother-in-law, Jim, who was a fine body surfer of some acclaim, was crowing about his custom-made paipo board. It didn’t look that great to me, and I thought that I could make an even better one. Paipo boards were made of plywood and were much, much faster than the soft boogie boards popular today. Of course they were dangerous too, but we didn’t worry as much about danger then as folks do now. Jim’s board was yellow. Mine would be red.
That was late summer, and there was no surf to speak of when I set out to build the fastest board Waimea had ever seen. It took a couple of months to laminate the material and slowly shape her sleek lines, building dynamic edges into the trailing corners, where the board would cut into the face of the wave. When it was done everyone wanted to take a picture. It was gorgeous and deadly at the same time. After all, it is much better to get conked on the head by loose foam boogie board than a 20-pound plywood missile!
We waited weeks for the first big surf of the season to finally arrive off the point at Waialea. When it came, it came big, and the whole bay was completely closed out! We sat on the beach for at least an hour before we could plot a way out through the steaming lines of surf stacked up all the way to the outside break.
I had great respect for Jim’s ability in the water, so I had taken care to give myself every advantage I could think of, including taking the time to carefully apply several coats of car wax to the bottom of my beautiful red board. The way it slipped though the water was something to behold as we made our way through the crushing walls of white water thundering through the bay. Soon the roar of the break drowned any thought of our calling to each other, and we dived deep enough to hurt our ears in order to make way under the giant breakers. My board was perfect in every way, steady and confident under water, but my heart was hammering out of my chest!
The outside break seemed impossibly big to me, although I knew that was just an illusion. Once our boards began down the steep faces we would fly like birds at impossible speed, masters of the thunder, and the waves would seem much smaller. Before long Jim took off on a magnificent wave and disappeared as the smooth back of the wave collapsed and tore across the bay. I waited and waited until I finally saw him seemingly a half mile inshore, waving triumphantly on his yellow board. He had made a fabulous ride!
Scared half to death I hesitated for several more waves until a true monster smoothed out and towered above me. I was in a perfect spot, well back in the pocket as I stroked hard down the face of the steepening giant, and my beautiful red board seemed to tremble with excitement, leaping forward, almost in free fall. The top of the wave pitched far out over the face, darkening the sky as the carefully shaped trailing corner of my paipo board knifed into the vertical face of the wave, groaning with the strain, and shot me forward so fast I didn’t think I could hang on. In a split second I was nearly airborne, streaking across the great green wall, when the hissing water plucked my fins and shorts right off my body!
I had no time to worry about how things looked, because a great, growing welt was forming across the face of the wave as the backwash surged out to sea, creating a ridge, cresting right in front of me, and there was nowhere to turn! In the blink of a terrified eye I was hurled high into the air, sailing far above the seething crush of bone-grinding white water below, watching my impossibly fast, red paipo board climbing ever higher in the gale of spray until the last glimpse of red winked away behind the giant avalanche that sucked me down, crushing me into a deep channel between the coral heads choked with swirling sand and darkness.
I never saw my board, my shorts or my fins again. Fortunately we had left towels in the branches of the keawe trees to cover my battered, scrapped and bruised body when I finally dragged myself to shore for the long wait until my brother-in-law with his inferior, yellow board finally swam to shore. I had time to think about my accomplishment, and there was no doubt in my mind. For a few glorious seconds I had ridden the fastest paipo board Waimea had ever seen. Who is to say what that beautiful red board could have done with a better rider?
May December bring you many blessings, fine health and much love! Malama pono, Bill Jardine Big Island Buyer Brokers
We and our visitors would love to hear from your Hawaii surf adventures. Mahalo, Pua and Keoki Kohala Coast Vacation
