Christmas Day Jaws session, Waimea whips whopper

Saturday, December 26, 2009

On a day when giant surf pounded Oahu's North Shore, one wave at Waimea Bay stood above the rest. 'It broke about 100 yards outside of the surfers', said one lifeguard who estimated it at higher than 40 feet (face value). 'Everybody in the lineup was cleaned' he said.

About 20 surfers were in the water and that some 10 boards were damaged or broken by the wave. In the aftermath, lifeguards on a personal watercraft pulled about 15 surfers out of the ocean. "It was the biggest wave," said Sylvain Cazenave, who was taking photos when the wave hit.

Cazenave, who has been visiting the North Shore from France every year since 1980, said the surfers could not get out of its way. "Those guys were paddling very fast, but they all got nailed," he said. "Many boards were broken."

Whether it was to ride the monster waves or to watch others try, thousands flocked to the North Shore. "It's the kind of high surf that we only get once or twice a year," said Ocean Safety Capt. Bodo Van Der Leeden, of the North Shore district.

Some waves at Waimea Bay were coming in with 40-foot faces, he said. "That's as good as it gets at Waimea." Other North Shore beaches were washed out because the waves were too big, Van Der Leeden said.