It’s great to see the boys getting sent out in ten-foot plus waves. That is what Hawaii is about, after all. It was always a place of big waves and a place where surfers needed to muster up courage and discipline to make an impact.
The majority of WQS events are run off in poor conditions. They never really get the booming conditions that are often seen for Championship Tour events because they don’t have the luxury of a waiting period. If lucky they might have one-day wiggle-space during an event period, but this usually gets absorbed by late starts or early finishes.
For those that have not been to Hawaii and have not seen or surfed Haleiwa, the most noticeable characteristic of the wave and the venue as a whole, is a sweep across the beach, a current that roars across and gets stronger as the swell increases. The sweep at Haleiwa does one thing – it places you too deep to make the wave.
To surf Haleiwa effectively, the sweep has to be paramount in your planning. Even on smaller days, if you’re not carefully following your markers on the beach you will soon be out of position and frustrated out back. It’s not the sort of place that you can just catch a white water in and bellyboard around to the channel and recalibrate.
When it gets big, there are many more factors at play. When it’s 20 foot, then a big wave thought process comes in to play. Bigger boards, deep breaths, the chance of getting a severe beating all become elements. There is also the competition element with surfers from all over the world desperate to qualify for the Championship Tour, or to get a better seeding, or to win some prize money to see them in beer over the Christmas period. So it’s tough out there. The ferocious sweep, serious big wave surfing, along with the snarling competition.
Point being, the Hawaiian Pro and the rest of the Triple Crown are vital parts of the World Surf League, and it’s encouraging to see them going in big surf, much like it’s encouraging to see Pete Mel pushing the green light at big wave events whenever he can. The second day of the tournament enjoyed some of the largest conditions in the history of the event, with surfers commenting how fitness and brute power came into play.
Standouts included Tanner Gudauskas and none other than perennial competitor Nathan Hedge. “For us on the QS, I think we relish having days like this because it’s always pretty small,” said Gudauskas after advancing along with Vasco Ribeiro (PRT), leaving O’Neill Massin (PYF) and Carlos Munos (CRI) to exit from the event.
Nathan Hedge commented that he had only surfed conditions like this at Haleiwa twice in 20 years. He won his heat and advanced alongside Patrick Gudauskas, with Mikey February from South Africa and Tom Whittaker from Australia eliminated from the event in that heat.
There is only one more QS event of real consequence left after the Haleiwa event – The Vans World Cup at Sunset being the final 10,000. With Hawaiian reputations and CT qualifications on the line, the Sunset event is always an exciting climax to the WQS calendar.
Two big right-handers in Haleiwa and Sunset is a great way to finish and many of the best surfers in the world have commented in the past that there should be another Championship Tour event in Hawaii, preferably at Sunset. Will the WSL take up the cause? For now we’ll have to be satisfied with watching the second tier surfers (speckled with a few CT cameos like Kelly and John John) battle it out in the most challenging waves in the world. So far that’s been pretty entertaining.
Watch it live here
