It makes all the sense in the world really. When the swell’s too big for the North Shore of Oahu, go find somewhere bigger!
And so was the reasoning behind Narrabeen expat Ben Wilkinson’s decision to book a flight from Oahu to Maui late last week once it became clear Jaws would the one spot able to handle the same swell bombing The Rock.
“I spent most of the morning looking around home (Ben lives in Haleiwa) trying to find a spot handling the swell but it was all a bit so so,” Wilko told Tracks.
“But in the back of my mind I had a pretty good idea Jaws was going to be where it was at.”
Wilko, also a competitor on the Big Wave World Tour, had been keeping on an eye on the all important swell buoys, including one in particular of the coast of Kauai which had been out of action for months.
“That buoy started showing some pretty magical numbers, up around the 15 feet at 15 seconds,” he recalls.
“So I made the call, got my stuff together and jumped on a plane across to Maui.”
He also convinced two photographers, Doug Falter and Brandon “Laserwolf” Campbell to join him. Doug planned on shooting while Laserwolf was determined to have a crack at surfing the joint.
So just over 12 hours after rolling out of bed, Wilko, who now owns and operates a timber furniture business on Oahu, found himself ambling across the ever-so awkward rocks at Jaws, 10’6 under arm ready for action.
“There were some…big…waves coming through,” he recalled.
“I was pretty amped once I got off the rocks and started to make my way towards the line-up.”
Shortly thereafter he proceeded to catch a couple good-sized lefts before lining up a solid right.
“I got into it pretty well but I caught sight of someone dropping in down the line a bit,’’ says Wilko.
“And just that split second of a delay kinda caused me to get held up in the lip a fraction…I made the drop but because I got held up a bit, by the time I got to the bottom all I could do was go straight and I just got mowed down.”
Though he says he got pretty “lit up” underwater, he decided against inflating the Patagonia life vest he was wearing, saying he was well prepared physically to deal with the exact situation he was in.
He survived the impact, though surfaced to find his 10’6 gone and he knew full well where it would be-the dreaded rocks which had been busy consuming boards all morning.
“I usually ride asymmetrical boards but not this time,” he says.
“But after being belted on the rocks, it ended up looking a bit asymmetric!”
Wilko regrouped and paddled back out for more and followed up with a second, slightly more crowded session the following day.
“Waves like that don’t come around every day,” he says of the swell.
“So I’m pretty stoked with how it all panned out.”
And Laserwolf? The ballsy photographer determined to take on Jaws for the first time.
Well, after a dramatic morning which included a battle with peak hour traffic, a missed flight and a dropped phone, he eventually also found himself “paddling over the shoulders as Dorian and Twiggy were dropping in on monsters,”.
“I’ve paddled and towed some big waves before but I’ve never been in the water with waves that big,’’ says Laserwolf.
“I got three or four waves that I was really stoked on so all in all it was a great first trip to Peahi (Jaws).”
But like Wilko, the one aspect he was unable to avoid were those rocks lining the shore.
“Coming in on those rocks with those waves smashing you so hard is so nuts,’’ he laughed.
My board, hands and feet all got dinged up pretty good, next time I’m hiring a ski to get in and out!”
