For the past week, a pack of Temple Rats have been rinsing themselves silly on the North Shore of Oahu. It’s a place of great pleasure and frustration; one moment they’re locked into the wave of a lifetime, the next their coughing up water on the shoreline. One moment it’s ten feet, the next its two. The highs come with the lows and on the North Shore. Harrison Roach, Lewie Dunn, Woody Gooch and Andy Gough have been rolling along the bike path between Velzy Land and Pipeline, sampling both huge and small swells.
Last week they paddled out to gigantic conditions at Pipeline, it was as if they’d gone to battle mother nature at both her fiercest and most beautiful. Lewie remembers how intense it was being caught inside on a set wave at second reef, “I opened my eyes as the whitewater rushed over, my leash popped instantly and I felt the wave push me way down, in an instant the blue/white colour had turned to total darkness. I tried to relax and let it pass before I started with slow paddles toward the surface. It was the deepest hold down I’d ever experienced... and then I had to swim in.” Meanwhile, on the same set but much further in, close to the first reef detonation, Harrison took the whole ten wave on the head. He was stuck in the impact zone, not being washed in or out and he reflects on it as being the worst beating he’s ever had. Strangely, neither Lewie or Harrison spoke much of fear once on shore, they should have been, but it was as if they had had no time for it. The looks on their faces however made it obvious how serious the experiences had been.
The swell dropped as fast as it rose, and the last two days of bad weather have left the Rats eager for redemption, and word is the swell will see a sharp increase over the next two days, with Wednesday looking to be right back up in the same range as it was last week. We wish them all the best…
Frame Grabs by Andy Gough.
