Jaws
Jenny & Adam
PAIA, Hawaii // A huge storm was off the coast of Hawaii and causing massive waves on the north shores of all the islands. Every year there is a popular surf competition sponsored by Quicksilver put on standby on Oahu called "The Eddie". Waves must be so massive to run the contest or else the event is cancelled, as it has been the last 7 years.
The contest window lasts from the first of January to the last day of February. The final week of February, every time you turned on the news in Hawaii they were talking about the tournament. On the morning of February 25th, the contest organizers determined that waves were big enough and the conditions perfect to give it a green light. We ended up watching it online all morning and checking the surfline.com website to see how big waves were on Maui.
It turns out, not only did Oahu have huge waves that morning, but the waves on Maui were equally as big. We drove out to the most well known place for big waves: Peahi aka Jaws. When we arrived, there were people with pickup trucks shuttling others down the half mile dirt road to the beach where the waves break.
Never in my life have I seen waves like this before and it was pretty cool to see all the crazy surfers in action. After attempting to surf waves 2 to 4 feet at the beginner area of Kalama Beach Park, I was really able to appreciate the difficulty and skill of the surfers out there on waves 10 times as large.