Wetass Hall of Fame–Big Wave Surfer Greg Noll: In 1969, at the age of 32, he paddled into the biggest wave ever surfed and became a legend. And the LA Times has a must-read story, “How Big Was It?” by Steve Hawk, and a spectacular photo gallery (well worth the annoyance of free registration) about the most famous day in surf history. Noll was the sports first big-wave hunter and on Dec. 4, 1969 the ultimate wave finally found him. The place: Makaha on Oahu’s West Shore. The precipitating phenomenon: a massive Pacific storm that pushed up the “Swell of the Century” and sent 50 foot walls of water smashing into Oahu. On a day when most of the big name surfers didn’t dare venture into the killer break off Mahala, Noll paddled out. From the story:
The waves were bigger than any he’d ever ridden — bigger, in fact, than any waves anyone had ever ridden. And they weren’t just huge walls of mush; they surged hard and fast, hurtling down from Kaena Point in ghastly 200-yard slabs. The distant crash of lip on trough jiggled the water beads atop his board, something he’d never seen in his 15 winters in Hawaii. “They were horrible, absolutely horrible,” was how Noll later would describe the waves. “The whole situation gave me a sick feeling.”
For 30 minutes he bobbed in the safe deep water beyond the breakers, debating. And then he chose: better to risk death than suffer the lifelong agony of an opportunity squandered.
Total Wetass. Noll estimated his chances of surviving that wave as 50-50, and here’s what happened:
The Makaha wave that cemented his reputation also nearly killed him. He made it to the bottom, looked up and saw it “starting to break in a section that stretched a block and a half in front of me.”
As the lip threw over him, Noll bailed out, skipping off the water like a stone across a lake before being buried. The turbulence held him under until his lungs burned and his eardrums felt as if they might burst. He clawed to the surface, but more waves followed, and he had to dive deep before each one to dodge the swirling maelstrom. He swam hard for the beach, barely reaching dry sand before the side-shore current swept him into rocks.
The experience transformed Noll’s life. “That wave was so big and powerful and frightening that it kind of cleaned the surfing out of his blood,” Tomson said. Noll soon stopped visiting Hawaii, liquidated his surfboard-making business and moved to Northern California to become a commercial fisherman. “For 15 years, my whole thing was to ride a bigger wave than the year before,” Noll said. “I was getting so cocky I said, ‘Come on, God, show me a wave I can’t ride.’ Then all of a sudden that day came along, and it kind of blew the cap off the whole thing.”
Great stuff. And it will all be featured in a documentary–“Riding Giants” by Stacy Peralta–to be shown at Sundance. Sounds like a good candidate for the Wetass Video Archive….
“Ohhh, Mama….”
(Photo: Doug Acton via LA Times)
The Earthist Chronicles 