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Posted on Monday December 14th 2009 at 11:15 a.m.
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Mark Visser: Photo by Tyler Cuddy
Sunshine Coast surfer Mark Visser gave his account of the day :
"You wouldn't dream about the stuff that went on out there. There were 30 jetski's in the water, 5 choppers hovering above our heads, boats everywhere and people all over the cliffs watching. Four ski's were wiped out and smashed about at the bottom of the cliff. People were getting smashed about there as well. It was crazy! It was the heaviest carnage I've ever seen go down in one surfing session. It was an amazing morning though - the weather was really nice, the sun was out, blue skies and the waves were big and clean. Then by about 12pm it turned ugly. Strong gusty winds came through and so did the rain. I was pretty happy come to back in one piece by the end of the day."
Jaws became a real arena at the dawn of the 2nd day: 5 helicopters, 2 airplanes, more than thirty jet-skis and 5 boats were waiting for the first launches.
Oxbow Rider Laird Hamilton at Jaws - December 7th, 2009...
Laird went first, but it's Jason Polakow the Oxbow team rider fell, erased by the wave. He disappeared for more than a minute under the water, blocked by 3 waves. "I don't understand, I'm still alive, I saw myself dying" confesses Jason after his misadventure. It's a miracle that he is alive... Laird Hamilton says Jason is the only living person to tell this story. He is the first surviving 3 successive waves.
Oxbow Rider Kai Lenny, the younger tow-in surfer at Jaws. Kai was getting ready to tow-in the Jaws for the 1st time and Laird Hamilton proposed to bring him up to the ridge of the wave: a symbolic handover. Thats what we call sharing! Successor is here. Kai entered the history. He confirmed that he is an exceptional waterman.
The swell is so powerful forecasters expect it to significantly impact the West Coast of North America in the coming days, reaching California on Wednesday and Mexico on Thursday, working its way south throughout the Pacific until finally reaching Chile over a week from now.
The greatest performances of the landmark swell will become entries in the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards, which honor the biggest and best rides of each year based on the photographic evidence. The tenth-annual Billabong XXL Awards will take place in April in California and will present over US$130,000 in prize money in categories including XXL Biggest Wave, Monster Paddle, Monster Tube and the coveted Ride of the Year. This week's Hawaiian action is expected to figure heavily when XXL nominees are announced in March...
Billabong XXL Jaws Supersession - Pe'ahi / Jaws Dec 7th, 2009