If this wave isn't the biggest ever paddled into, it's the closest thing to it. On Friday, Jan. 15, at the big-wave break Jaws on Maui, a massive northwest swell freight-trained into the island. With unusually light winds, the conditions were ideal, and the waves' faces were estimated to be up to 70 feet. In the early afternoon, Pedro Calado caught this monster. He made it to the bottom, but then got obliterated by the falling lip.
This wave from Aaron Gold is the other contender for "biggest ever" from the Jan. 15 swell. Up until this point, Gold has remained a respected, underground Hawaiian charger, but thanks to this ride, he may just find his name in the lights at the annual XXL Big Wave Awards.
Here's another look at Gold's wave. If you consider that he's about six feet tall and that he's riding a 10-foot board, the wave face has to be somewhere near that 70-foot mark.
Session after session, local boy Albee Layer was able to put himself in the right spot. Not necessarily catching the biggest waves of the swell, he spent some of the time tube hunting.
Mark Healey spent the day mostly riding lefts. He was on the wave before Calado's, and watched him paddle into it. After an all-day session on Maui, Healey headed for the airport, where he flew to California and chased the Big Wave World down to Ensenada, Mexico, for the contest at Todos Santos on Sunday, Jan. 17.
Surprisingly, there are more than a handful of guys who tempt fate in these conditions. Everybody is out there for their own reasons, but when an outside set steamrolls through, they're all thinking the same thing -- survive.
"I'm still baffled by the waves I saw paddled on this last swell. This wasn't the biggest, but it was plenty big enough for me," Shane Dorian said on Instagram.
Ian Walsh's house serves as ground zero during these big Jaws swells. He headed out with Dorian and Greg Long (pictured in the foreground) and came away with a few rides he won't soon forget. Walsh's brother was injured during a wipeout and taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
Shane Dorian celebrates one of Ian Walsh's successful rides at Jaws.
Here, Jamie Mitchell wrangles a beast. Already surfing Nazare in Portugal and Todo Santos, as well as Jaws, Mitchell is enjoying all that the El Nino winter has to offer.
Maui's Kai Lenny is known to spend 12 hours on the water and survive 40-second hold-downs underwater. He's one of the most fit surfers at Jaws, and he's able to power through a rugged session and still make drops like this appear effortless.
An unidentified hero gets his before the wave gets him.
"Today was the scariest and most beautiful day of surfing I've seen," Trevor Carlson noted on social media.
The behind-the-scenes look at Jaws is usually comprised of a tangle of boats, jet skis, paddlers and surfers all trying to sort themselves out and not get smashed by the next set.
Maui's Will Hunt, also known as "Coconut Willie," goes steep and deep on a heavy one.
On Saturday morning, 11-time world champ Kelly Slater showed up and did a few laps at Jaws. "It's amazing how big 'small' Jaws still is," he joked on Instagram. Clearly, he was joking.