I just finished The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey and I’ve been Googling a lot of big-wave surf videos and generally obsessing about the tsunami that’s going to smash the California coast sooner or later (get out while you can, my friends). (Bee-tee-dubs, Europe’s gonna get it, too.) (This book has made me one of those “End is nigh” weirdos. Except I still shower.)
The Wave covers massive, tragic waves that wiped out cities (did you know Lisbon was leveled in 1755? or that a SIXTEEN HUNDRED foot wave hit Alaska’s Lituya Bay in 1958?), and other dangers of the high seas. But the most fascinating parts focus on big-wave tow surfers (so named because a partner has to tow them into the wave with a Jet Ski), particularly Laird Hamilton (check out this video).
Casey takes us to all the great big wave breaks, each with its own set of dangers. Pe’ahi (aka “Jaws” aka “Atom Blaster”), on the North Shore of Maui, is a massive wave reef break that earned its nicknames because the reef is shaped like jaws and breaks with extreme force; Teahupo’o in Tahiti is in shallow water — just 3’ or so — and the seabed is sharp coral. A wipeout almost guarantees you emerge a bloody mess — and that’s if you’re lucky. Off the coast of Half Moon Bay, CA, lies Mavericks, which is very cold, very treacherous (part of it is dubbed “the Boneyard”), and it’s in an area known as “the Red Triangle” because more attacks by great white sharks have occurred there than anywhere else on earth(!!!).
Anyhoo. It’s a great book.
PS: Seriously. Watch the video.
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