There was a swell on the North Shore this week that brought in anywhere from 25-40 foot waves!
We made our way to Waimea Bay after work on Monday. The ocean was so intimidating standing on the shore looking out at the monsters! The pics just don't do it justice!
The tracts are from a four wheeler the life guards use.
Watch out!
Here's a few pictures looking down at the same bay. Notice all the white water!
They use jet skis (above) to get out to the lineup, and for safety/lifeguard purposes. There was a helicopter too. The black spot to the left of the jet ski is a surfer. Puts a little perspective on how big these waves are.
On Tuesday, the waves were even BIGGER! They held the Eddie Aikau surf competition that day. Eddie Aikau is kindof a local hero. He was a big wave surfer and a life guard. He would swim out into really rough surf and bad conditions to rescue surfers and others in trouble. Often Eddie would swim out into dangerous rescue situations when noone else would. Hence the motto: "Eddie Would Go." He drowned trying to save a group of people who were caught in a sailing canoe in a storm. Quicksilver sponsors this event in his memory.
This competition is only held once a year in the wintertime when the surf gets big on the north shore. On average it only runs about once every 5 years because the waves have to be at least 25 feet and have a clean face before they'll hold it. The last time this competition was held was in 2004! By 6:00am Tuesday morning this year, the beach was already packed! We didn't make it out there, but the boys watched quite a bit of it on TV. Just crazy! Waves were huge!
Here's a link to a you-tube video that captures the competition pretty well. It's about 5 1/2 minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8avZoHRIfw&NR=1
If you liked that clip, check out this one too. It's the perfect 100 score from 2004. Only about 1 minute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwJx1uUgMNE
Sunset Beach
The Triple Crown surf competition has been going on a while now. It started at Haleiwa, then to Sunset Beach, and now they're surfing Pipeline. We've been watching on TV, but so far we haven't made it out on the weekend yet. They don't surf everyday...only when the surf's up :)
So, Sunday, before the Tuesday of the big wave competition above, we were going to make it out for the last day of the competition at Sunset. But...we missed it :( Booooo. But we went out to the beach anyway!
They were tearing down all the sets from the competition. Time to move on to Pipeline.
The water at Sunset Beach is soooo clear.
Beach Bum...
Lesson learned: never turn your back on the ocean! This wave got me up to my waist while I was smiling for the camera :)
Another Beach...
Just some more pics from one of our favorite spots. It's not a great beach for swimming, but people like to fish here, and we've never seen it crowded.
We spent a lot of time picking up sea shells. Here's a few of the collection :)
searching for shells.....
Foot prints in the sand?
We sat down for a snack. Mason played real hard in the water. This was the first time we'd been to the beach together in about four weeks!
Here's a pretty cool piece of coral I found. I thought the purple color was a neat find, since most of what we've seen is white - maybe the color has all washed out.
Thanks for checking in!
