Last week I was reminiscing about the incredible start to the surfing year in Hawaii in January. This week it was happening all over again!
First up the Vans Pipe Masters scored a finals day in near-maxed out Second Reef conditions which, while not quite perfect, offered plenty of thrills and spills for the remaining invitees in the mix, not to mention the spectators lucky enough to be on the beach in surfing’s greatest grandstand seats, among them Noosa’s Coco Cairns, having a blast on the North Shore this season with her Roxy team-mates, and jumping up and down at Pipe while boyfriend and Gold Coast charger Lungi Slabb competed.
Meanwhile the rest of us had to make do with the kind of bizarre media coverage of the event, centred on a home-made live stream from Nathan Florence and the Florence Marine team. Dodgy framing, no replays and Nathan doing a lot of the commentary in between surfing heats and going on to deservedly win the thing! Big day for Nate, a truly great surfer who steps a little further out of the shadow of brother John John.
And on a day of incredible performances in some serious barrels, few surfers were more impressive than tiny Erin Brooks whose heart is bigger than Canada, the country she represents. Erin took off as deep as the boys but somehow made threading the needle to get to the shoulder almost effortless.
The day after the Pipe Masters the swell kicked again, accompanied by perfect winter weather, giving Waimea Bay specialists, including a few dozen Eddie Aikau invitees, the opportunity to tune up on some double to triple overhead bombs. Out there in the middle of the pack, surrounded by Florences, Slaters, Dorians, McNamaras Lennys, Hos and whoever else, was my gutsy little mate Matt “The Waxhead” Chojnacki.
Waxhead started his competitive career as a shortboarder before transitioning into one of our very best traditional longboarders, winning numerous old mal and logger divisions at the Noosa Festival of Surfing, as well as a bunch of national titles. More recently, as a globetrotting WSL commentator, he has grabbled every opportunity to test himself in the biggest waves he can find, often riding the collectible surfboards he has made a passion of riding.
On Friday 20 December he paddled out at the Bay on a 10 foot six inch Emi Erickson single fin model shaped by Lyle Carlson for the first time and scored some absolute bombs. That night he excitedly sent me some photos, potentially for an article we’re working on for The Surfer’s Journal, commenting: “This one’s a cover, for sure!” That’s our Waxy boy, doesn’t hold back. And while he isn’t on the Eddie Aikau Invitational list for this year, in his mid-30s he’s reaching his prime as a big wave rider, and I’ll back him to be in an Eddie very soon.
Speaking of which, the Eddie was yellow-lit on Friday, green-lit on Saturday and run on Sunday. In fact I’m watching the heats as I write this column to an early holiday week deadline on Monday morning, Sunday noon in Hawaii. I won’t be able to tell you who wins in this shorter-than-normal Brine – we can catch up on that next week – but I can tell you that the Australian contingent, including the veteran Ross Clarke-Jones, wahines Laura Enever and Felicity “Flick” Palmateer, and Ulladulla slab charger Russell Bierke, put on a seriously gutsy display, making some huge drops and regularly getting smashed by a mountain of white water, then paddling back out for another.
Although I’ve had the pleasure of attending a couple of Eddie opening ceremonies, I’ve never actually been on the beach for one of its 11 runnings (when the Bay calls the day) over the past 40 years. Watching the coverage from home as the organised chaos grew through the day, I had mixed feelings about that, but as Pipe winner Erin Brooks, making her own Eddie debut, said: “It’s the Superbowl of surfing. Where else would you be?”
On that note, all the best to Brine readers, have a safe and wave-filled holiday season.
