It's been such a glutton-fest for big wave surfers round here lately, that most of the more prominently known ones seem to have headed off to California and beyond, chasing other big wave dreams.
The most recent Waimea swell was a clear example of this with no pro surfers that I saw. Heaps of local underground crew out though, making the most of the rare opportunity to surf Waimea without the added pressure of a dozen pro big wave surfers or 2.
In fact this most recent day was being called the biggest day so far by a lot of crew, including the lifeguards and I'm going to dispute that. It was gigantic.
I saw one set take out the entire pack of surfers, leaving a dangerous tangle of broken, splintered big waves guns in it's wake, and in the impact zone. One guy even went over in the lip. So lucky that no one was seriously hurt in that mess.
Round this time of the year, those smaller in between days tend to be not such good quality because the swell only gets small for like a day or 2 at this time of the year before another big one fills back in. Consequently the smaller sessions tend to be chaotic remnants of old swells combined with for-runners from still distant approaching swells.
Yesterday afternoon had a fast rising west swell of significant timing. Something like 13 feet - 25 seconds. Combine that with a still languishing 6 foot north swell, and just about every wave was a weird double up, adventure into the unknown. This morning started out looking promising with groomed looking lines marching in from the horizon, but as it got lighter, it became apparent that it's another one of those days that are so common at this time of the year. The word is that we can expect more of the big stuff in the coming weeks. What an amazing season, it's been.
If anyone is interested in seeing more images from this series, click here. You can also see a gallery of the best images from the December Waimea Eddie swell here. If anyone is interested in purchasing any of these images, please send an email to info@seandavey.com and we'll take care of it.
Aloha,
Sean