Surfing Waves

http://www.worldsurfleague.com/posts/85006/quiksilver-eddie-aikau-green-alert It's on green alert meaning they are probably going to run in on Wednesday unless the predicted swell doesn't show up

The Eddie Aikau Waimea bay event will be tomorrow and in two more days the Titans of Mavericks http://titansofmavericks.com/

I watched the 2nd Eddie. Was easy, just pulled up to Waimea Bay parking lot and park the car. Now, park somewhere way over in Haleiwa and walk. Bus ? That day the "7 Mile miracle" becomes the "7 mile parking lot". Smart residents park their cars on the road the night before and rent out their drive way.

There is always those very rare super big times when the car park goes under

Ok so it appears it's not going to run

Titans of Mavericks is running (the link is above)

Congrats to Nick Lamb for winning. I think big wave riding is going into a new phase where the riders have support crew and devices and are pushing themselves into more and more critical waves. Long ago it was just crazy guys with longboards who got a thrill from bigger waves. They have improved the boards. The modern big wave surfer trains more and drinks less beer than they old guys did. They get seriously injured more often. So what can we learn from this? Ride a longboard, don't train, drink more beer.........

oldmansurfer wrote:Congrats to Nick Lamb for winning. I think big wave riding is going into a new phase where the riders have support crew and devices and are pushing themselves into more and more critical waves. Long ago it was just crazy guys with longboards who got a thrill from bigger waves. They have improved the boards. The modern big wave surfer trains more and drinks less beer than they old guys did. They get seriously injured more often. So what can we learn from this? Ride a longboard, don't train, drink more beer.........

I don't know if I agree with you about the danger. The big wave riders of the past used to paddle out into the lineup. Today's big wave riders are transported to the lineup on jet skis after every ride.They've cut out what I consider the most dangerous aspect of surfing and that's fatigue. When I get injured surfing, it's almost always related to my being exhausted. It would be nice to have a ski lift back to the outside lineup. I could surf all day and remove a lot of the risk from the sport. It's kind of like watching tourists climb Everest these days . . . not exactly an impressive achievement. Don't get me wrong, I respect the skill of today's big wave riders, but I think the riders of the past had greater achievements.

Instead of paddling into 10 waves they are towing into a hundred waves. They don't have to paddle but they still fatigue from riding so many waves and they may stay out 10 hours. If they paddle in, they don't worry as much that they may get caught inside and pushed into the rocks or drown because they have jet ski's to assist them back out and a helicopter if worse comes to worse to take them to a hospital. and a flotation device to bring them up to the surface if they need it. The big wave riders of the past couldn't hope to achieve the level of surfing they have today but they were a brave bunch and went out without jet ski's to save their butts or flotation devices to keep them from drowning but because of this it tempered their willingness to put themselves into more dangerous situations. The new big wave riders have all this stuff and it does make them more willing to take chances. I think anyone wanting to be a big wave rider these days should count on having numerous serious injuries throughout their career.

Ok this times looks for real........IT"S ON!!!

OMG John Florence won it!!!!!

oldmansurfer wrote:OMG John Florence won it!!!!!

Ross Clarke-Jones second - he is 49!

Clyde Aikau competing at 66 - Old Man, I expect to see you and Jaffa there next year.

dtc wrote:

oldmansurfer wrote:OMG John Florence won it!!!!!

Ross Clarke-Jones second - he is 49!

Clyde Aikau competing at 66 - Old Man, I expect to see you and Jaffa there next year.

Yeah. That was amazing. Clyde in his last Eddie contest at 66 years old. I think Tom Carroll was there and he was in his 50's. A bunch of surfers in their 40's including Kelly Slater who nabbed a tube ride in monster surf at Waimea bay. Pretty sure I couldn't make it out through the shore break there on that day. I have only gone in the water there on a day when it was totally flat. I dove off the rock on the left hand side of the bay. It was a day trip from Kauai with a bunch of girls and another guy I knew. There was this Puerto Rican girl that I was smitten with and I was showing off for her. Don't think she even glanced twice at me.