Hawaii has been getting a lot of attention this January thanks to an incredible run of swell, most notably “Super Swell Saturday.” But while 99% of Hawaii’s jaw-dropping surf clips come from one of its many world-class surf breaks––Jaws, Pipeline, Waimea Bay, etc.––we found one where the surfing takes place in a river.
Jamie O’Brien and Ben Gravy are not only great surfers, but these two have managed to gain huge Youtube followings by documenting their surf adventures. While Ben Gravy is from the Midwest and made a name for himself surfing a wave in all 50 states, JOB is a pro surfer based on Oahu’s famed North Shore. Despite their different backgrounds, the two surfers are great ambassadors of the sport and document their surf lifestyles in an unfiltered format.
So what happens when you put two of surfing’s best vloggers together? Well, they make it a mission to surf one of Hawaii’s top novelty waves. The Waimea River wave is fickle yet rippable, and only breaks when a rainstorm has swollen the river and water goes pouring into Waimea Bay. Of course, you can’t exactly control when that happens. On this particular occasion, the Waimea River wave turned on in the middle of the night.
Not to be deterred, JOB and Gravy brought in some flood lights, flares and a whole lot of courage. Surfing this powerful river wave––which empties into punishing shorebreak––is dangerous enough during daylight hours. At night, this beast gets a whole lot scarier. Check out their chaotic session in JOB’s edit above (river surfing starts at 17:30) or Ben Gravy’s edit below (starts at 10:30).
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