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Eimeo Czermak vs. XL Teahupo’o!

On Wednesday, May 7th, Teahupo'o saw the first very solid swell of the season. It was very big, right on the line between paddle and tow, with both crews giving it their collective best. Turned out local Eimeo Czermak snagged the wave of the day, paddling -- arguably one of the biggest waves ever caught without a ski. Longtime local Tikanui Smith, who watched from the channel, said, "maybe one of the best paddle waves at Teahupoo." And we believe him.

The swell itself, according to chief forecaster Kevin Wallis, was "the result of a strong but not crazy, eye-popping storm. But what it lacked in strength, it made up for in track and location. It moved almost directly at Tahiti over the last few days and the peak seas only occurred only 1000-1500 miles away. Close enough to create pumping surf, but not bad wind and weather."

Wallis offered some more telling intel: "Perhaps the most interesting thing was the swell period — not long, 15-16 seconds, with the shorter swell period, which meant that the even the largest waves were at least somewhat approachable for the paddle crew. And Eimeo paddled into one of the biggest waves I’ve ever seen at the End of the Road."

*Worth noting: Surfline's EPIC rating only happens a few times per year, when the forecast team -- not the models -- deems a swell truly special.

Filmed by: Tim Pruvost, Kim Mean, Boris Martinet
and Blaise Booth

Edited by: Nick Liotta
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Koa Rothman and Team Japan Win 2025 Da Hui Backdoor Shootout!

The thing about surfing Pipeline — as is the case with many athletic endeavors — is that you can have a team full of all-stars and the waves could be totally all-time, but if you’re not in a rhythm, none of those factors means jack-sh-t.

A rhythm, and being in one, is that semi-intangible x-factor that separates the haves from the have-nots in surfing events and Day 4 of Da Hui Backdoor Shootout was no exception.

While decent, often well-groomed 6-8-foot-Hawaiian waves graced every single heat from sun up to sun down, it was Team Japan in their second heat of the day who truly caught the beat and tuned into that systematic arrangement of aquatic high notes and found an enviable flow.

Sure, the waves absolutely pumped during that heat with surfers like Shogo Harada, Shinpei Horiguchi and Riku Matsumoto bagging bombs that secured scores which may have made up for heats the day or two prior. But as the dust settled from that monumental heat, everyone around the contest zone was whispering to each other: “Did they just get enough waves to win as a team?”

Under the This Is LIvin’ tent where Team 96712 sat, Nate Florence shook his head in disbelief and said, “We have to get sets like whatever they just got in our next heat.”

They actually would get a few in theirs — but just not quite as many. And besides Koa Rothman, who definitely found his rhythm, the team as a whole couldn’t quite lock into the melody that Team Japan did.

“I think we really found a rhythm out there during that heat with the ocean,” said Shinpei Horiguchi. Mind you, this is the same Shinpei that nearly got decapitated in front of our very eyes on Day 1, if you remember that 8-footer that unloaded all of its kilojoules onto his dome.

“But that’s really what it was: ocean rhythm,” continued Shinpei. “Once we got that rhythm, then we got plenty of waves. Back-to-back. So, really, all I can thank is the ocean.” Certainly, teams like Team Volcom, Team North Shore Boys and Team New Earth Project had their magic moments. Event runner-up Shayden Pacarro of Team New Earth, who surfed as a replacement for Kelly Slater, was surely in form all six times he surfed in the event, and never more so than today. “Every time I was out there, it felt like it was my first wave again, you know?” said Shayden. “Kelly, maybe next year, brah!”

In the end, the whispers and rumors would be realized, both for the Team and individual winners — both entities who very evidently had that flow today. Team Japan had done the impossible, while Pipeline specialist Koa Rothman did the quite-probable.

“Winning this for Team Japan is…happy…crazy…amazing…unbelievable,” said Shinpei Horiguchi searching for the right word, with tears in his eyes. “This is history for Team Japan, you know? So, we are very, very, very happy.”

Maybe finding that elusive “rhythm” gets somehow easier with reps. If so, the Backdoor Shootout gives you more than a handful of chances to find your footing over the course of 4 days. “This is honestly my favorite event because there’s no other event where you get to surf Pipeline six times with your best friends,” says Koa Rothman. “That’s so crazy that that can actually happen. Then to have my family and Da Hui o Hee Nalu there putting it on, these people that I’ve known since I was a baby…I’m kind of speechless. I just gotta thank Nathan and Ivan Florence for going on the first wave of the set [laughs]. I ended up getting a really good one and Jose Angel helped out with that too. Oh, and thank you to my brother Makua for not showing up those last few heats, so I could get more waves!”

Individual Winner: Koa Rothman
2nd Place: Shayden Pacarro
3rd Place: Jamie O’Brien
4th Place: Shogo Harada
5th Place: Nathan Florence

Team Winner: Team Japan: Shinpei Horiguchi, Riaru Ito, Riku Matsumoto, Shogo Harada, and Shohei Kato

Longboard: Kala DeSoto

SUP: Anthony Maltese

Backdoor Shootout Day 3 Highlights: On-and-Off Glorious Splendor

After a few straight days of maxed-out near-XL swell and wonky Kona winds, the ocean settled down a smidge for Day 3 of the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout. 'Settling down’ for the North Shore is relative, of course, as it was still a slabby, apexed 6-8-foot-Hawaiian in the ever-so-lightly misted morning, with just a lick of texture left over on the surface.

Two rounds of 8 heats ran the entire day and while Pipe seemed to show her glory every other heat (as opposed to every), those in teams whose heats fell in that ON category, sure saw the glory.

Shayden Pacarro of Team New Earth Project, for example, had a heat in the morning where he body-pumped through two separate Pipeline drainers to exit after the spit, while Ivan Florence was also totally in rhythm both heats, collecting high scores for Team 96712. Billy Kemper of Team North Shore Boys kick-stalled into a particular ledgy Banzai set before being blown out into the channel, as well.

While the winds got a little bitchy in the arvo (only a little, though), the every-other-heat-is-firing mood of the ocean continued with solid sets still marching in. Maikai Burdine got a particularly deep smoker (one of the waves of the day) for Team Volcom, while Clay Marzo seemed to be break-dancing inside of barrels for Team Snapt5. Usual suspects Billy Kemper, Jamie O’Brien and Barron Mamiya put in more solid work for Team North Shore Boys in their second heats, and never to be ignored, Team Peru took advantage of their “on-again” heats with epic rides by Alonso Correa and Cristobal de Col.

Tune in for Finals Day of Da Hui Backdoor Shootout on our next run of swell!

Backdoor Shootout Day 2 Highlights: Diamonds in the Rough at Pipeline.

Before a contest at Pipeline, it’s common for surfers to paddle out in the dark, eager to prove themselves worthy of competing in the main event.

But today, only two people were in the lineup. That alone was telling, as yesterday’s massive 20-second-interval swell lingered through the night. By 9 a.m., no one seemed eager to paddle out.

Contest organizer Eddie Rothman said, “I don’t see anything rideable.”

Billy Kemper countered, “Run it.”

A few other chargers agreed. Still, it was the kind of day that left many happy to stay onshore, watching from the safety of the sand. There were brief glimpses of good waves, particularly during A New Earth Project’s heat, but as forecasted, the southwest wind eventually arrived, blowing Pipe to smithereens.

Even so, Parker Coffin found moments of opportunity in the messy lineup for Snapt 5, and the North Shore Boys managed to bag a few scores as well.

At this point, any team could take the win. All we need is for the swell to settle down.

Backdoor Shootout Day 1 Highlights: Watch Pipeline Go From 2 to 20 Foot in One Day!

“Hawaiian kine kind of day. 2 feet one moment, twenty feet the next.” – Bethany Hamilton

The guarantees in life are death, taxes, and the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout scoring.

The forecast for opening day was a lifeguard’s nightmare and a surfer’s dream. Small and clean in the morning, with each set getting bigger throughout the day—a recipe for tourists losing their sandals or, worse, their lives.

The day started with the SUP and longboard divisions, which, as you’d imagine with a long-period swell at Pipe, was like trying to park a lifted Yota in a compact spot at Foodland.

Every heat had a broken board and a wipeout reel to go with it. But in the longboard final, Pipeline put on its prettiest face as Kala DeSoto packed a 9.88 in the best display of longboard tube riding I’ve ever seen personally.
The action just kept getting crazier and crazier as a twenty-second interval W swell pulsed through the afternoon. For a while, there were no second-reef roll-ins, just mutant double-ups that had Pipe’s greatest stalwarts pin-dropping from the lip. Sinpei Horiguchi for Team Japan was guillotined, and like a warrior, he paddled back out after for more.

Only one surfer would find the chip-in, and of all people, it was Bethany Hamilton. The conditions had deteriorated at that point, but the drop sent shockwaves through the crowd. The swell peaks tonight. Tomorrow will be equally as menacing.

Effortless: Men of Byron

Super skilled, some of them highly competitive, the young men of Byron Bay seem like any little pack of Australian surfers over the generations. They rip, they vibe off each other, and they live in one of the best places on earth. But as Clem captures in this very sweet piece, while their style of surfing looks as playful as anything we’ve ever seen, they take it very seriously. They’re trying to up the ante on classic style, the thing Kai Ellice-Flint calls “full of grace, hands were down … relaxed.” In other words, effortless.

It’s a style of surfing that’s always at risk of vanishing in a hectic, crowded world, but this crew is keeping it alive and thriving with the help of their friends. “We definitely bonded through surfing because we were like-minded surfers,” says Kai. “We all had an interest in riding longboards at the time, or alternative craft. We don’t get to surf enough — I wish we could surf a little more together. But having friends that surf at such a high calibre is such a treat.”

Filming, interviewing and editing by Clementine Bourke.

Featuring: Kahu Andronicus, Kai Ellice-Flint, Myles Doughman, Jack Entwhistle, Jack Lynch, Christian “Wispy” Barker, and Ryan Conklin.

Music: Habits (like glue), produced by Shane.MOV and Dnald Pump, lyrics by Serena, mastering by Suture Mastering | Space Water by Kooma | Invincible by orkas

Sound design: Steve Nossiter

Bob Evans Midget footage from “Ride A White Horse”, curated by the Surf Film Archive.
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Wave Faces: Meet San Diego Surfer, Mario Ordoñez-Calderón

"Surfing is a privilege. Surfing is a gift."

Encinitas-based Mario Ordoñez-Calderón sees surfing as a gift to be shared. He's an indigenous Mayan, Navy veteran and cofounder/executive director of the non-profit Un Mar de Colores, which means ‘an ocean of colors', which gives free surf lessons/therapy to children of color and underserved youth. "The organization was inspired by the gifts the ocean brought me," he said. "Calm, connection, community. I felt every kid should have the opportunity to experience the potential of that. We hope it ripples into their everyday life."

Given his experience with teaching, we asked Ordoñez-Calderón if he had any advice for folks learning to surf. "Slow down," he said. "It's so funny how fast a wave can seem when you're learning. You're like, 'paddle, paddle, paddle, pop-up!' And you're just on whitewash, like, 'that was so insane!' But once you actually learn how to surf, you put yourself in the right spot and ride for a lot longer. So if you can start that process of slowing down earlier, knowing that the wave's not gonna rush past you -- especially here in San Diego. Don't try to beat the wave. Work with it."

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Paddling Back Out Through The Surf Zone

You’ve ridden a wave, and now you’re paddling back out. What’s one thing you should always do — even if it means a duck-dive or two? This is one of surfing’s classic situations, and like Miguel here, if you get it right, you can turn it into one of surfing’s big yesses.

See all our guidelines for sharing the lineup here: https://www.surfline.com/lp/surf-etiquette

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Eddie 2024, Best Rides Of An Iconic Day

The Rip Curl Eddie Aikau Invitational, starring winner Landon McNamara, Luke Shepardson, Billy Kemper, Jamie O’Brien, Ian Walsh, Jake Maki, Ross Clarke-Jones and Joey Cadiz.

Riding big Waimea Bay is both a wild adrenaline rush and a quite subtle game of inches. You’re playing cat and mouse with an uneven rock ledge and a lot of swell energy, and you’re riding a board way bigger than you are. All the elements scream “CHARGE!” Yet even as you’re charging, all kinds of tiny things are happening. Little shifts of the board underfoot. Wind holding you up a fraction longer than you thought it might. You draw a simple line and it works, or it doesn’t. There’s a deep layer of grace and beauty under the wildness, and nowhere was it plainer to see than during yesterday Rip Curl Eddie Aikau Invitational, when the next generation of big wave greats showed all the skills and qualities this amazing event asks of a surfer. Here’s some of the best rides of an iconic day — and a word or two from Uncle Clyde Aikau, keeper of the flame.

West Is Best: Epic Day In Western Australia

“Everyone’s home for Christmas,” says Jerome Forrest.
Just as well. If you’re from SW WA and you weren’t home this past Tuesday, you’ll hear all about it over Christmas lunch. Or Jerome, Jacob Willcox and many others who scored it will find a way to let you know...

Filmed By Naomi Adbib & Salt Diaries