Sunday, December 15, 2013

Day 259: Big Drama in Big Waves on the North Shore

I'm currently sitting on my couch, wrapped in blankets, as the snow continues to fall in the first official Nor'easter of the season. It's a blustery 10˚ outside and there has to be at least 10" on the ground after blizzard conditions pummeled the area overnight and into the early morning hours. The whirr of the furnace has been nonstop since the wood stove died out shortly before bedtime.

So what better than to talk about something warm and sunny and tropical on a day like today. Something that takes place in the 80˚ weather in the bathwater-like Pacific and the giant waves on the North Shore of Oahu. This weekend was the Pipeline Masters surfing competition in the Triple Crown of Surfing. I bet no one was wrapped in a fleece blanket at this event!

I went to school for a semester in the early '90's at the University of Hawaii and one of the highlights of my time there was a trip to the North Shore to see a Pipeline competition. I'm not sure I had ever seen waves that big in my whole life. Frightening, really. I'm not big on water sports since I'm not a great swimmer. The mere thought of being pounded by a 15 foot wave makes me claustrophobic.

The conditions on the North Shore were perfect for a competition and the results were dramatic. I'm not going to lie, the only name I recognized was Kelly Slater and that's only because he's close to my age. Slater had a good chance to take the ASP World Title for the 12th time—possibly a number that he would be happy enough with to consider retirement. But that wouldn't be the case.

Australian Mick Fanning had other ideas. He needed to advance through just two rounds of the Pipe Masters to clinch the ASP title and infuriate Slater. And it was touch and go for 28 minutes of a 30 minute heat where he experienced wipe out after wipe out, slowly killing his chances. But with two minutes to go, a perfect set came rolling in. Fanning dropped in, perfectly navigating the wave, and emerged from the tube with a flawless ride. The score was enough to secure the title.

Kelly Slater, while reeling from the loss of what would've made a cool dozen ASP titles, still had something to prove with the task at hand. He handily defeated young surfing phenom, John John Florence to win his seventh Pipeline Masters. Florence, however, didn't leave empty-handed. He came away with his second Triple Crown of Surfing championship.

Somehow all this talk about Hawaii and sun and sand and surfing has sort of made me feel warmer. Or maybe I just have too many layers on under my fuzzy blanket. I can almost see the palm trees swaying in the breeze—as long as I don't look out my window.

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