Tag: Greg Noll
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What Lies Beneath: Conquering Fear at Banzai Pipeline
PIPELINE. Just the name shoots fear through my heart. Insanely hollow tubes breaking over a shallow coral reef. The steep drop, crazy speed, and all the while the fear of the dark reef gliding below, always reminding you of what happens if you fail. Conquering that fear is the ultimate challenge. And for many years…
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The Biggest Wave Ever Ridden: Greg Noll at Makaha, 1969
When I moved to Pacific Beach in April of 1970 they were still talking about it: the epic swell of winter 1969. To the locals, I had just missed the swell of the century. A swell whereby three separate North Pacific storms merged to create near-hurricane force winds blowing across a broad stretch of the…
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Unbounded Courage: the First Surfers to Ride Waimea Bay
When I was a young surfer I read about the first surfers to ride Waimea Bay in 1957. Surfers at that time were too afraid to surf Waimea, and for good reason.From the beach Waimea appeared too big, too fast, too steep and just generally too treacherous to ride. Add to that a raging rip…