"Sunset gets a hold of you in a half-nelson then
keeps you down for the longest time and then there is always seven
waves behind it."
Yesterday, after being notified via an
Instagram friend that the HIC un-culled Pro at Sunset Beach was
running, I stopped my work and tuned directly in. As per my
previous point, the World Surf League does an absolutely terrible
job marketing the Triple Crown. I swore, for example, that
yesterday’s event was part of it. I thought in the confusion of
dropping Pipeline then reinstating Pipeline that the Triple Crown
must have been shuffled, kicking off in Sunset instead of
Haleiwa.
Of course I was wrong but there I sat watching, marveling at
Sunset. It looks like a big wave that you or I could conquer, no? A
throaty drop but then long, non-intimidating wall that ejects into
the safety of a wide channel. Sunset looks like the big wave for
the rest of us but that’s where we’re all wrong.
The place is a nasty kick in the pants, or so I’ve been told.
Michael Tomson, one of my very favorite all-time surfers (read more
about him in the hit Cocaine +
Surfing!) opened my eyes to the terrors. The
strong-jaw’d South African is no shrinking violet and made a name
for himself fearlessly charging both Pipeline and Sunset during
those late 1970s winters. He told me, one sun-dappled
afternoon:
I don’t even want to ride Sunset anymore, you know what I
mean? It’s just too fucking heavy. The older you get you realize…
I’ve nearly died at Sunset twice. At 50 and 52. And this one time I
was out there and this set popped up and I said, “Fuck it. I’m
gonna go.” And there it was, life on the table, got pounded, held
down, thought I was dying right? Next thing is I’m being pulled up
on a board. I couldn’t focus on anything, had to go to the
hospital. So I had another one like that at Sunset and I have
become so careful now because when you fall there it is worse than
Pipeline. Pipeline is violent but short. Sunset gets a hold of you
in a half-nelson then keeps you down for the longest time and then
there is always seven waves behind it. I get cold thinking about
some of the wipeouts I’ve had there.
Does it give you pause? It should.
Back to yesterday, though, Kiron Jabour beat O’Neill Massin,
Beyrick De Vries and Slade Prestwich in the final.
Has there ever been a final in any sport ever with better names?
I defy you to find and maybe we should hold off on the cull? I’d
like to see where this O’Neill is headed. Beyrick and Slade too.
It’s like a lost Game of Thrones village!
