Mother Nature's Top Hat

I woke up feeling medium rare. By 7 AM the sun had been slow roasting me for almost two hours. The slatted blinds at my window form a braai grill for the sun’s rays to pierce through on mornings like this.
But hot, windless conditions are deceptive in PE. They trick people into making HORRENDOUS beach decisions. I’m sure anyone who woke up this morning, looked outside and then leaped the car for a day in J-Bay feels duped right now. I’d be hissing bile if I was sitting in the Supers parking lot, scared to open my car door in case the wind tears it off.

There’s a ‘Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau’ contest update on www.surferssvillage.com. Apparently conditions haven’t been right to run the event so far— the waves need to be 20 feet at least to please organizers. Prestige and honor aside, I think you need to be a special kind of bedonered to get involved with that kind of surfing. They’ve posted a video with the update, of the worst wipeouts at Waimea Bay during the Eddie. It makes your skin crawl to see people go down like that. For more on the event and its history, check out http://live.quiksilver.com/2008/bigwave/index.php.