Just amazing!
NOOSA: While the biggest swell in years hit Oahu’s North Shore on the weekend, with Joel Parkinson winning the O’Neill Pro WQS in absolutely maxed out Sunset, the tow-in crew made straight for Maui, where Jaws was going off.
Out there in the line-up with the legends of tow, like Buzzy Kerbox, Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama, Derek Doehner and the rest, was a diminutive little lady from Hanalei Bay, Kauai. Now Bethany Hamilton is not the first girl to tow into monster waves there are actually a few these days, with our own Layne Beachley one of the best but she would have to be the gutsiest in my estimation.
You are really putting your life on the line out there, but Beth is used to that. You might recall that her life was in the balance a few years back when she was attacked by a shark while surfing her backyard break, Pine Trees. She survived, but lost her right arm at the shoulder.
That would have been enough of the surfing caper for most, but Bethany recuperated, learnt to paddle into waves with one arm, and resumed her fledgling pro career, where amazingly, she is a real threat. But towing in! Words fail me, and they failed most who saw Buzzy Kerbox’s Facebook post on Monday.
Buzz shot this picture of Bethany taking a ballsy drop after veteran big wave rider Archie Kalepa towed her in last Saturday. It’s a word that gets bandied around too often these days, but what else can you say? Awesome, Beth, totally awesome.
Phill
