A Roar in May....

This was a day for no wahines to be sure.
It began soft and grey in the 5 o’clock hour as the dawn broke. Groggy-eyed boys and one girl fell onto the beach, waxed boards and gave cool nods to the not so innocent by-standers at glorious Pipeline.


I came this morning to shoot as the forecast called for 8-10 feet this morning; and this is Hawaiian measurement my friends….which isn’t a sunny San Diego on Cinco de Mayo!
I wondered if perhaps the weather guy was mistaken because the surf wasn’t that fierce, and being it was May, this made sense. I shot a bit, sipped some coffee, and watched more people pour into the water. I got antsy, shoved my camera into the trunk, grabbed my fins and I too fell into the blue. I figured I’d catch some waves with my body a while and see if this swell was going to show up or not. I glided, tumbled and felt the sun breaking through the bog, ray by ray until my nose was on fire. I high-kneed it up the beach and turned around to see the waves looking a bit thicker and more menacing than the last few sets that marched on in.

I grabbed my gear from the car and returned to find the ocean had awakened, and she was roaring…! There was a handful of the tribe floating at the lip of Pipeline, waiting to drop in and ride. In an instant it seemed as if it was December, and all the boys were here to shred, compete and dare. I could not believe how fast and how large the sets became, as I shot furiously the gunners dropping into and riding beautiful pieces of energy!

The waved poured in for about an hour; surfers rode, some swam over mountains and a few boards had their last day at Pipe....

I never get tired of seeing this wave do her dance.