‘Hey, cool photo,’ you might say in a non impressed way, but some of you realize what you are looking at. This is a view from the West (Haleiwa side) of Waimea Bay! So what?  Well here’s the deal.  There is no way up on that cliff- no road, no trail (other than the small trails the wild boar have carved).  This was a planned attack that took research, long hours of fruitless searching and some muddy clothes and gear. Fortunately I found the way up two days before the Eddie.  I have been trying for two years now.  You can see a few clips from my successful first climb and watch as I slide down into a muddy ravine right before getting to the edge of the cliff (and let me tell you it is a long drop off that cliff- the fish eye takes some of the angle out of it)!

I shot this image in the afternoon of the Eddie during one of the big sets and you can see it lining up out the back with a peeler going in the middle of the Bay.  It is so rare to see Waimea look like this especially from this angle.  I love this shot and several others I took this afternoon. It was well worth the effort for me.  I hope this motivates the photographers out there to try different angles!  Look for more from the Eddie coming soon…

Everyone knows how much I love Waimea, so why would I go with Buzzy’s tow-in team when the Eddie was on?  I was asking myself this exact question when the 20 foot set caught us inside. I knew better. I should have stayed on solid ground, but I found myself on the back of jet ski with 15 pounds of camera gear being chased by white water the size of a garbage truck with an elephant on top.

The doubt started in the Haleiwa harbor as I was slipping on Buzzy’s tow-in wetsuit.  It is a brazilian make, bright red with florescent yellow flotation pads strategically placed to insure protection whilst making one look like batman with huge abs. The ‘get up’ is loud – Perfect for Buzzy. I looked and felt silly, but somehow ‘protected’.

Now that I had donned my gladiator armor, I put the final touches on my camera waterhousing by tightening the wingnuts that secure the lens port. That’s when I noticed I was shaking.  My hands were trembling.  It was a mixture of fear and excitement that I can’t explain.  I couldn’t wait to get amongst it and I was petrified we would leave soon.  This is the main reason I opted to shoot this session over the Eddie.  I may try to tell you that ‘I’m not into contests’, or that ‘a lot of other photographers would be shooting the Eddie’, but that’s all bullshit.  I had to go and see the ocean and meet this monster swell face to face (with a jet ski of course).

I had this really dreamy picturesque image of what today’s tow-in session would look like.  I would sit in a large channel at Outside Log Cabins on a new jet ski and easily shoot away Billabong XXL winners while the rest of the photogs were shooting the Eddie.  Ken Bradshaw’s wave would be forgotten because I would take a shot of Buzzy dropping in on the wave of his life, win the $10,000 XXL prize money and then go to Sizzler. Simple, right?  Nope.

I have been pouring over weather maps and buoy reports for the past few days and last night noticed a strange anomaly- The buoy did a little jump upward at to 21 feet, 17 seconds.  Strange, I thought.  I calculated the approximate time of arrival of these waves to be around 10am.  I told my jet ski driver Tony this as we were preparing the ski and thought nothing of it until later.

After saying the ritual prayer with our group of 10, we left the Haleiwa harbor headed to Log Cabins on a new jet ski!  I couldn’t believe it everything was going to plan (this will be great)!  We exited the harbor cleanly and began heading east towards Waimea and Outside Log Cabins.  On the way we checked Outside Alligators (the spot that claimed one of the all time Hawaiian waterman and big wave charger Todd Chesser back in 1997). This is the same wave one can see in the distance when viewing Waimea from the East side of the bay.

The set up is a series of two peaks next to each other, or one long wave/closeout depending on swell direction and size..  The peak to the east breaks slightly further outside and is the usual take off spot setting up a long (possible closeout) right or a shorter faster left.  The wave barrels top to bottom, which is unusual for a tow in spot.  The way to shoot it is to sit in the ‘channel’ which happens to be right in between the two ‘peaks’. This results in constant adjustments of the ski to keep me positioned just far enough in to get the shot, but not too far in to get caught inside.  It is absolutely gnarly.  There were ‘channel sets’ and I didn’t want to shoot there.  I was relieved when we headed to Log Cabins.

The swell had dropped overnight and Log Cabins just wasn’t delivering the goods.  The conditions were clean and the sun was out, but the wave was not working.  Everyone was disappointed- especially me. We headed back to Outside Alligators.

Once at Alligators, I successfully shot a few photos when a large set loomed outside and we were able to dodge it easily by gunning the engine and escaping around the end of the wave. It is amazing how fast a jet ski can actually get up and go (and get one out of trouble).  I was feeling confident now and so was the driver.  The sets were coming every 15 minutes.  ’This isn’t so bad’, I thought. Just then a huge wave popped up in front of us and one of the guys was immediately towed in and flying down the face.  The wave was 20 feet Hawaiian scale (roughly a 40 foot face).

I was shocked to be looking at it and Tony starts yelling ‘take the picture, take the picture!’  I was way out of position as the jet ski was facing the wrong way and I would have had to have an exorcist head to spin around and click off the shutter.  I yell back, ‘Dude, OUTSIDE!’  There it was a massive wall rearing up to get us just behind the wave we were looking at.  Tony gunned the engine and raced just in front of the building peak trying to get to a less steeper area that we could get over the top. He started to approach the wave to climb up the face and then suddenly turned and straightened out.  I couldn’t believe it.  ’We’re f*ckd’, I thought.

I sat there knowing the beast was right behind us. It broke with a sonic boom and I could hear it rumbling after us. We streaked across uneven foam and white water from the last wave. It reminded me of crunchy snow in the sunlight with dark holes.  I didn’t want to fall in any dark holes.  I held my camera tightly as we bumped up and down towards the beach a few hundred yards away.  That’s when I noticed the rocks.  Suddenly Tony turned around to face the monster wave and with enough distance to between us he found a fat part of the wave that wasn’t breaking. Amazing! We darted and dodged and weaved around the next three waves getting dangerously close to the ‘inside’ section where the rocks were (which would be the outside section for paddle surfers).  After several harrowing minutes, the white water horizon subsided and we cautious made our way back outside.

Tony is a skilled driver and saved our ass.  I feel like most people would have tried to get over that monster wave.  That would have been disastrous.  I can now see that we would have barely made it over, possibly dumped the ski, and then taken the full brunt of the three set waves right on the head!  We would have been doing underwater cartwheels with the ski close to us. I didn’t want any of that.  I am thankful for his experience and good instincts.  When we got outside he said, ‘Well there’s your 10 o’clock set’.  I had completely forgotten.  It was 10:09.

We shot a few more waves and then returned early to the harbor.  The waves just weren’t what the boys were looking for and I was happy not to risk any more close calls.  On the way back we drove by the surf spot Himalayas, so named for the mountainous waves that come in there. I had a moment of peace in the middle of the ocean among swell.  I was glad I had joined the team for the morning session.  Stoked to be part of the energy. Then I started thinking about the Eddie and how I would get there through the crowds and where I would shoot. That story is coming.

Buzzy later asked me in his Brazilian accent, ‘Hey Davy, you makey a pee pee in my wetchysuit? maybe I gotta soak in simple greeny now.’  I quickly replied, ‘Nah, man..’  But now that I think about it I’m not so sure.  When that set caught us inside maybe I did pee my pants, but only just a little.

I am too tired to write much because I was up at 3am hoping today would be ‘The Eddie’.  Well, It didn’t go, but there were still some incredible waves and remarkable performances.  Here’s a shot I liked because it shows the whole wave in the scene and gives it some scale.

The evening started to really pick up and I expect the Eddie will run tomorrow.  Unfortunately, I am probably going to miss it, but the upside is that I am on for a tow in session!  Gotta prepare and get some sleep….zzzz