Bruce Brown's SURFING HOLLOW DAYS

In the winter of 1961, a nameless surfing spot was "checked out" frequenfly by a few surfers on the north shore of Oahu. Phil Edwards thought it might be possible to ride this new place. He talked with other expert surfers and each one looked at the surf and gave a similar answer: 'It can't be done" You can't ride a wave like that" ..."Too dangerous," etc.

In spite of these opinions, Phil kept his eye on the place and finally went out on a small day and rode a couple of waves. After riding even small waves there, he was ready to agree with the rest of the surfers. One bright, sunny morning the surf was bigger and the waves looked nearly perfect. Phil decided to paddle out beside the break and take a closer look at the waves. After just a few minutes of looking, he surprised himself and the few people watching by paddling into the break, turning around, and taking off on the first wave of a good- sized set. The resulting. fantastic tunnel ride is pictured here in sequence. In picture number 11 you can see the wave has "squirted" and actual]y blasted Phil out of the tunnel. This excellent sequence shot was taken at the "Pipeline," from Bruce Brown's film, "Surfing Hollow Days."

After Phil's ride, the group agreed that although he had made the wave, no one would want to try again. How wrong they were when just a few hours later other surfers, having heard of Phil's feat, were out riding the "Pipeline" and amazingly enough ... living.

From Surfer Magazine Dec-Jan 1962 (back to main)