Makai McNamara, almost killed at Pipeline.
Makai McNamara, almost killed at Pipeline.

North Shore community rallies around Makai McNamara after lifeless body pulled from surf

Derek Rielly

By Derek Rielly

“They brought him back to life on the beach. There was life back in his eyes.”

The little brother of Makai McNamara, this year’s Eddie winner Landon McNamara, has posted an update on the condition of his bro, almost killed yesterday after a wipeout at Pipe.

“Was so scary not seeing him come up after falling on that wave. I’m here wishing I did more & got to him faster but I know he was in good hands & just tried to be there how I could for him in that moment. I can’t recall everyone who was there because my mind was set on my brother but Thank you so much to whoever grabbed him first, to @eli_olson for taking charge until we could get him with @northshorelifeguardassociation @keegan_hd @kylefoyle to take over.

“They brought him back to life on the beach.There was life back in his eyes. He spoke words. The feelings where overwhelming. He is in the ICU right now & last update is he will be kept asleep for the next 72 hours in order to heal the best. right now we all need to send all of our healing energy & prayers his way. He is so strong and has so much life left in him. I love you so much big brother. I know he’d probably roust me for making this post cause he’s the real deal haha but I truly believe the collective positive energy and prayers make a difference so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.”

Makai McNamara’s daddy Liam, the 1990 Pipe Master, also posted an update.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Liam Mcnamara (@liam__mcnamara)

“I just wanted to come on here. It’s very hard to do this, but I feel it’s important to let you guys know he’s doing well. You know, it’s been 24 hours since the incident, and he’s on his road to recovery. He’s getting very good care here at Queens Hospital. He feels your energy. He feels your love.

“He feels your positive vibes and we appreciate each and every one of you for your support. I thank the lifeguards and everybody who helped, so many people. Thank you so much for helping save my son.

“The next two days he’ll be here in the hospital, and we just need the continued prayers and positive energy. Makai’s a strong young man, and he’s going to get through this.

 So thank you guys very much. We love and appreciate you. My family appreciates each and every one of you for all the messages of support. I will update you again soon.”

Over the last two years, February 2023 to February 2025, Pipe has been a bloodbath.

Joao Chianca, Kala Grace, Makua Rothman, Billy Kemper, Koa Rothman, the Peruvian shredder Joaquin Del Castillo, Teahupoo kingpin Eimeo Czermak (twice!), all put to the coral sword.

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The Silver Surfer (pictured) doing Scientology things.
The Silver Surfer (pictured) doing Scientology things.

The Silver Surfer slated to finally die

Chas Smith

By Chas Smith

"If the Surfer falls, who then wields the awesome Power Cosmic?"

If there is one bit of surf-adjacent kitsch that I’ve properly never understood, it is the Silver Surfer. As a surf enthusiastic child, I figured the metallic fins-free longboarder was the character for me, seeing that “Surfer” was in his name. Every time I tried to get properly invested, though, I was rebuffed by the incomprehensible. Namely, the Silver Surfer did not surf in the ocean or any sort of wave, but zoomed around space. He did not come from earth, but from a planet called Zenn-La that he saved from a bad guy named Galactus by becoming his slave. He was eventually exiled to earth but didn’t surf in the ocean there, either, even though he had a finless longboard.

Plus other Scientology-esque oddities.

Jack Kirby, who created the character in 1966, explained, “My conception of the Silver Surfer was a human being from space in that particular form. He came in when everybody began surfing — I read about it in the paper. The kids in California were beginning to surf. I couldn’t do an ordinary teenager surfing so I drew a surfboard with a man from outer space on it.

Well, hot news has dropped, this morning, the industry source ComicBook announced publication of Death of the Silver Surfer, a five-issue series, that will drop June 6, 2025.

“The SILVER SURFER returns to defend a war-ravaged Earth,” the synopsis reads, “but Norrin Radd (the Silver Surfer’s real name) has a galaxy-sized target on his back. A new enemy will stop at nothing to steal away everything the Surfer is or ever will be. A single human life may be all that decides the Surfer’s salvation…or damnation. If the Surfer falls, who then wields the awesome Power Cosmic? And what of the Surfer’s old master, Galactus, Devourer of Worlds?!”

Good riddance, as far as I’m concerned.

We already have Kelly Slater and he is more than enough.

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Lifeguards work to stabilise Makai McNamarama.

Breaking: Hawaiian surfer Makai McNamara seriously injured at Pipeline

Derek Rielly

By Derek Rielly

"If it's your time to get hurt, it will happen no matter what. Even if you are wearing full body armor, when it's your time it's your time.”

Just in from the North Shore is news that Makai McNamara, older bro of Eddie Aikau winner Landon McNamara, son of Pipe Master Liam McNamara and nephew of tow-lord Garrett, had to be revived on the beach at Pipe after a wipeout.

Details are sketchy but in clean six-to-twelve foot waves, Makai took off an insider, it drained almost dry, and, likely, Makai hit the bottom or his surfboard, knocking him unconscious. A fire fighter gave the twenty nine year old CPR until lifeguards arrived.

In an interview with the WSL a few years back, Makai McNamara was respectful of his linage but keen to drive down his own path.

“My dad and uncle have definitely made a good path for me, but you can’t just think you’re the man because of someone else’s accomplishments. It used to affect me a lot more because I felt like I would always get the raw end of the deal, but feeling bad for yourself doesn’t help anything. Now, all of their accomplishments in surfing give me motivation to do better. Like how my dad won the Pipe Pro and Pipe Master trials many times, it just makes me want to do the same things and beyond!”

When asked if why he didn’t wear a helmet like his bro Landon he said,

“I get asked this a a lot, and it kind of trips me out. Landon goes on the craziest looking waves I have ever seen and has some of the craziest wipeouts I have ever seen so I hope he keeps wearing a helmet! As for me, I’m kind of a scaredy cat but I try not to think about wearing or not wearing a helmet and focus on making the waves I go for. I do believe that if it’s your time to get hurt, it will happen no matter what. Even if you are wearing full body armour, when it’s your time it’s your time.”

More as it comes.

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Matt Wilkinson set for multi-million dollar payday.
The standout moment of 2017 was Wiko's victory at the Outerknown Fiji Pro in June where he beat a stacked field, including eventual world champion John John Florence in the semifinals, for his third career CT win.

Surfer rated “least likely to succeed” set for multi-million dollar payday in astonishing property windfall

Derek Rielly

By Derek Rielly

And it’s not Mick Fanning!

It’s been seven years since the homely yet attractive one-time world title contender Matt Wilkinson, barely thirty, shelved his spurs following the three most eventful years of his pro surfing life, a wild high followed by a failure that would’ve levelled a lesser man.

Let’s recap.

In 2017, Matt Wilkinson was coming off that wonderful breakout 2016 season where he won two CT events (Quiksilver Pro GC and Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach) and briefly held the world number one ranking. His surfing was tight and filled with filled with an about-to-explode energy, as exciting to examine as a woman in stockings and with a scrubbed morning face.

The standout moment of 2017 was his victory at the Outerknown Fiji Pro in June where he beat a stacked field, including eventual world champion John John Florence in the semifinals, for his third career CT win.

The Fiji win threw him back into first and proved his 2016 success wasn’t a fluke. He told Australian’s national broadcaster that the win gave him a “spring in his step” and a fresh perspective after a mid-2016 slump.

However, despite his electro-dynamism consistency would elude Mr Wilkinson.

After Fiji, he managed respectable but not spectacular results: fifth at J-Bay, ninth at Tahiti, and a mix of 13ths and 25ths elsewhere.

Matt finished the year rated fifth, matching his 2016 ranking. He said that 2016’s whirlwind success had left him “freaking out” and 2017 was about learning to handle the pressure of being a top contender.

The following year was a hell of a bitch fight, and his last full season on tour.

The year started poorly with a 25th on the GC.

Mid-season offered flickers of hope. A fifth at J-Bay and a ninth in France, surf fans warming themselves on his incandescence.

At the Pipe Masters in December — the season finale and his last shot to requalify — Matt hit another 25th and finished the year 4,100 points well off the twenty-two cutoff (held by Joan Duru).

But rather than exiting in a flood of tears, Matt and his then girlfriend now wife and baby mama, Anna Jordan, spent $3.2 million on the gorgeous Possum Creek school house, which had subsequently been rebuilt and turned into a $1500 a night guest house, out the back of Byron Bay there.

 

As far as post-tour life goes, Matt made several very good decisions.

Land, wife, ongoing income. A sunset golden.

All good things must terminate eventually and, five months ago, Matt and Anna listed the lavish resort with hopes of five-mill ish, with initial hopes of maybe five mill.

That expected price is now seven-and-a-half mill plus and should it sell it will make Matt and Anna rich beyond their wildest dreams, although not quite in the realm of Mick Fanning or Kelly Slater.

The realtor describes the property as “one of the most significant landholdings in the Byron Bay hinterland… an unmatched fusion of local history, premium commercial potential and luxurious rural living” and a “peerless blend of entrepreneurial appeal, accessibility and magnificent natural beauty.”

If you want to buy, maybe you have a mill-five deposit, the repayments will be roughly forty gees a month.

And do you remember Matt’s blood feud with Fred Pawle? Reminisce here. 

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Lowers (left) and The Bu (right). Which is your poison. Photo: Instagram
Lowers (left) and The Bu (right). Which is your poison. Photo: Instagram

California surfers panic east as Revel Surf Park opens its gates in sunny Arizona!

Chas Smith

By Chas Smith

“Revel Surf is a place where the small envision big and the broke feel rich..."

California surfers awoke, this morning, with cars packed for an exciting surf adventure. They made themselves hot cups of coffee, sprinkled with Laird Superfood Creamer, checked the air pressure in the tires, found the new FKA Twigs album on Spotify then pointed east, away from the ocean, to the newest, and closest, surf tub.

Revel Surf, in Mesa, Arizona, has officially swung its gates wide freeing the aforementioned wave sliders from the whims of Mammy Nature. The swell lagoon utilizes Wavegarden technology and offers four levels of experience. Level I, “Learn to Surf,” costs $119 per session. Level II, “San O,” costs $129 and is for those who enjoy longboarding in manmade waves. Level III, “The Bu,” also at $129, promises “a small point wave that will be a little bigger and faster than San O.” Level IIII, “Lowers,” bumps up to $139 and is the high-performance offering.

Sessions average 10 – 12 waves per participant.

Founder Cole Cannon bullishly declared, “Revel Surf is a place where the small envision big, the broke feel rich, and immutable memories are forged daily. Revel Surf at Cannon Beach truly is the intersection of lifestyle and adrenaline.”

I am broke but would like more than to just feel rich. I would like to be rich too.

The beach portion is free until Feb. 28 and features sand imported from Florida’s panhandle. How much do you reckon a pound of panhandle sand goes for on the open market?

Can I get rich there?

I imagine trucking sand across the contiguous 47, from Pensacola to Mesa would also be at the intersection of lifestyle and adrenaline.

Very cool.

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Photo: Jack English
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