Pounding surf hits here and Hawaii

RICK FIGNETTI

We left off last week on the North Shore of Hawaii with that massive

swell expected to hit at the end of the week, and it did. Reports of

huge 30- to 50-foot swells meant it was time to start the Quiksilver

Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational.

The sight around Waimea Bay was heavy traffic on the highway and

the cliffs were lined with massive amounts of spectators checking out

the 20-plus best big wave riders in the world. Huge surf , with good

shape that lasted all day was the call, with air drops, big turns,

heavy wipeouts, breaking way out the back with giant close-out sets

too.

Taking the win was Bruce Irons who caught a macking 50-footer,

survived a heavy takeoff, powered the wall, raced across the Bay,

then threw a huge cutback, reforming it into, a giant closeout shore

break left, getting the heaviest barrel, all casual, before

destruction.

The crowd went wild, the judges liked it, a perfect 100 score by

the five wise men on the panel with Irons cashing in on $55,000.

Runner up was Australian Ross Clark Jones, a former winner who was

leading most of the way. Third was the Big Island’s Shane Dorian, who

got some bombs too. Fourth was world champ Andy Irons, who had one of

the highest scores of the event. Fifth was Santa Cruz’s Peter Mel, a

standout big wave Maverick’s rider who got some mean ones. Sixth was

the last “Eddie” winner, Kelly Slater, who had some heavy ones too.

Other notables; local boy Pancho Sullivan getting some big sets,

Titus Kinimaka from the outer Islands on some giants ones, and Santa

Cruz’s “Flea”, Darrel Virotsko, the Mav’s winner, paying the price,

in a couple heats, breaking his board and getting hit in the face

too, but going for it on a couple huge sections and waves. The vibe

was good, the crowd was stoked as were the elite crew who staged the

extreme sport of big wave riding to the world -- no serious injuries

either.

Back here in Surf City, how about the weather? Finally some warmer

days, some even warming to the 70s. Last week was classic, some big

days in the lineup with 6- to 8-foot surf midweek. There was some

overhead easy to rip surf with strong offshore winds some days.

The Huntington Cliffs were even seeing some double overhead sets

late Friday afternoon. It was pretty incredible.

I saw some deep barrels by the boys on North side. Veteran John

Davis, “Junga” Ralph Rodriquez, Teddy Navarro, Big D and Richard

Payne all pulling in. Timmy Reyes is back from Hawaii and was

shredding it up out there, super explosive and leading the charge.

Away from Surf City, our local mountain resorts, Bear, Snow

Summit, Snow Valley and Mountain High have been operating on anywhere

from 1- to 3-foot base depths.

The coverage is pretty decent thanks to those early storms.

They’ve been blowing the artificial snow during the Santa Ana Winds

at night when it’s cold enough, plus special activities going on

during the two-week break.

It’s early, but Merry Christmas to ya from the Figsta!