I have been aware of the "Big Wave Surfing" for about two decades. Recently they seem to be promoting BWS'ing, but it has been around for a while.
I watched a documentary called "Operation Black" that somehow amazingly happened when things all fell into place. First an underwater earthquake happened off the coast of Japan, and then the word went out to all the BWS'ers to converge on the North Shore of Haw-Y-EE for a BIG Wave Competition.
This film recorded in depth how deadly and dangerous this event was. The film got it's title because a "Condition Black" was declared, meaning that anyone on the beach would be arrested.
It just so happened that a helicopter rigged for IMAX filming and a crew somehow was available, and the pilot of the helicopter was an ex Vietnam War veteran pilot who was a bit of a wack job.
Recently they show surfers setting records of surfing 80 foot waves, but I tell you that this was done about two decades ago in this documentary. There was this shot taken from the beach where the helicopter appears and disappears behind a swell because the pilot liked getting in close.
There was an explaination of why jet skies were required: because the waves were traveling at 50-55 MPH. BTW 55 MPH is eighty feet per second.
There was this shot of a surfer not having enough speed to catch the wave and tonnes of water snapped his board like a stale bread stick.
They showed as a cutaway how BWS'ers train without big waves, and showed guys diving in Kelp beds picking up 100 pound boulders and running in the sea floor as for their anerobic conditioning and to prepare for being submerged violently by tonnes of water.
Only a handful of surfers were able to make it past the breakers, and the guys on the jet skies were also in peril. They showed one guy who caught the big wave that they claimed was eighty feet. The video footage was spectacular.
Really badass. Another cool surfing segment is fondly remembered from a Jimi Hendrix film called "Rainbow Bridge." Back in the 70's we would go to the "Mini-Cinema" in Uniondale, Long Island. Just pulling into the parking lot you would run over no less than a case of beer bottles, and every Wednesday at midnight they would have a Jimi Hendrix film festival where every single Jimi Hendrix film would be played, including the documentary "Woodstock."
Inside the place reeked of weed, and some stranger sitting next to me would pass me a joint that got passed to him. Pretty much going to one of these festivals was an all night event. The one rule strictly enforced is that you kinda had to try and hide the case of beer you were smuggling into the theater by putting it under your coat.
Me, a drummer friend and another guitarist were regulars, and perhaps we were known as the "Freak Brothers" because all three of us wore surplus WWII trench coats without bullet holes as our uniforms.
Back on topic: So in Rainbow Bridge there is this Badass Surfer who is kinda evil and he plays king of the wave knocking down other surfers with mucho style. The footage is in slow motion and Jimi Hendrix might be playing Voodoo Child.
So when I was a kid I had this ambition to race the Baja 1000 in the 250cc Motorcycle class, but that never happened. Basically I just wanted to finish, and decades later I would run the NYC Marathon "off the couch" (This phrase was coined by Scott Nichole, a Norba Trials Champion and owner of IBIS Cycles, in an E-mail I got from him.)
I think deep sea tuna and shark fishing are Hemingway like experiences, but even walking along a beach with a surf rod alone exploring the possibilities and the unknown is much the same.
I identify with these surfers for sure. "Crazy is good," I say. It is all about personal challenge though for me.
Cal
