Page 4 - MidWeek Central - Jan 19, 2022

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JANUARY 19, 2022
A loha surfers and beachgoers,
He’s one of the best wa- termen walking the planet.
We’ve been supporting her hard efforts from the start. We used to surf Waimea together in the 1980s. To- day, women’s equal status is becoming a full-blown reality: Women in the Eddie at Waimea, women in the Pe‘ahi Challenge and now, most of all, the Pipe con- tests.
peeling wave into ever-shal- lower water — as if the left weren’t shallow enough. Backdoor is even more dan- gerous than the left, which has killed plenty of surfers and seriously injured plenty more. Well, the man of the hour and the day was none other than John John Flor- ence. He’s having a ludi- crously successful season in his backyard, winning all of the main contests thus far. No one would be very sur- prised if Florence won this one, too. Watch out 2022.
Whoa, what a winter it has been!
Then, breathing down the neck of that episode, we got an even bigger one a few days later. It’s rare to see such a one-two punch on this scale, especially in a La Niña winter pattern, which typically gets smaller swells with less consistency. La Niña also means a wetter winter, and this most cer- tainly has panned out. For the latest forecast — and it’s looking good — check snnhawaii.com and we will dial you in.
We had our first Waimea- sized west-northwest swell of the season with waves reaching 12-18 feet on Jan. 9. For over 40 years I’ ve been watching and report- ing the surf for Hawai‘i nei and I have to say, I don’t recall seeing Waimea Bay more crowded. There were nearly 60 surfers bunched together with more than six jet skis in the water just in case. There were tons of waves steam-rolling in with good conditions most of the day, but it was a circus.
The Da Hui Backdoor Shootout had gotten in two full days of fun competition at the time of this writing. It usually scores insane waves and this year was no excep- tion. It was some of, if not the best, Pipe that’s been seen this season. It was huge, thick, A-frame, lip launchers all day long with some of the best Pipe spe- cialists on Earth.
Moana Jones Wong celebrates at a recent surf contest. PHOTO COURTESY BETTY DEPOLITO/BANZAI PRODUCTIONS
What’s new? The girls get to take part! That’s awesome and gnarly all at the same time. Women are busting down the doors in all surfing categories: per- formance, big wave surfing
This now includes the World Tour’s Billabong Pro Pipeline Jan. 29-Feb. 10. This event is historic for many reasons, but the main one is that it’s the first-ev- er World Surf League Pipe contest for women and men.
Mahalo for sharing the surf stuff with me here in MidWeek’s Central O‘ahu Voice. Stay safe, well and stoked! Mahalo and aloha.
If you wanted your fair share of waves, you had to surrender to the circus and, even then, good luck with fair share. Still, some pretty epic rides were had, including the heroic Mark Healy going left and getting barreled — over and over again.
My friend and Surf News Network reporter for over 35 years, Betty Depolito, has been fighting for wom- en’s surfing for decades.
GQ, droppin’ in 4 U!
BY GARY KEWLEY
Crowds Pack North Shore’s Waimea Bay For Surfing
and heavy reef barrels like Pipeline, the apex predator.
Going back to the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout — it features the right or back- door of Pipe because you often come from behind the heaving lip and race a faster
gary@surfnewsnetwork.com
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