18/09/2024
Big
Banzai Pipeline: Radical not Insane
As a boy I had a picture of Pipeline above my bed - a shot of the great Californian surfer John Peck, in a low rail grab crouch.
I'd look at it each night and think, "One day I'll be there...".
In 1971 I surfed it for the first time at 15 years old on a Ben Aipa 6'4" squash tail.
As I paddled into the lineup on a 10' day, I saw a kneeboarder take off, get stuck in the face, and then he was flipped upside down, still holding on to his board, going over the falls in slow motion. Catastrophic destruction - I never saw him again.
I feared that wave from day one - a healthy fear and as I surfed it more and more, I became more confident. I found I could control the fear and commit to being radical and survive. Radical but not insane was my approach.
By 1975, when this never published pic was taken by Jeff Divine, I was on to my 2nd winter on my 7''10" pink banana shaped by Spider Murphy. I had just won the Pipeline Masters against the goofy foot domination and I felt kinda invincible on the board and my 3mm O'Neill wetsuit gave me protection from getting bounced off the bottom. The board had so much curve it fitted like a glove into the curve of the Pipe wall.
Rabbit, cousin Mike Tomson and myself were having a big dig whenever that West swell exploded on to the reef. Wherever the god Lopez would sit, I would sit on the inside - the game was on and the competition was intense.
But, there were still waves that we wouldn't even consider. Those mutant waves that would cap on the second reef, back off and then bring all the energy onto the inside section, mutating with boils and backwash into an unrideable killer.
Today at Pipeline, it seems no wave is unrideable - no takeoff too steep, no tube too deep.
Prayers for Jaoa Chianca and for the safety of every surfer putting their lives on the line on those hollow waves on that hallowed reef.