:34:02
On December 4th, 1969...
:34:04
... big-wave surfing was hit
with what would become known...
:34:08
... as the greatest swell
of the 20th century.
:34:15
A massive low-pressure system
metastasized...
:34:18
... into one colossal storm system...
:34:20
... that consumed
the North Pacific Ocean basin...
:34:23
... resulting in the largest waves
ever recorded.
:34:29
The super-size storm
uprooted trees...
:34:32
... dislodged boats
onto Oahu's Kam Highway...
:34:35
... and blew houses
right off their foundations.
:34:38
Oahu's 13-mile stretch of stunning,
world-class surf breaks...
:34:42
... became a morass of turbulent,
six-story storm surf.
:34:52
At first light,
I was sitting at Waimea...
:34:54
...Iooking in disbelief
at what I was seeing.
:34:57
It was breaking so big that Waimea
was just full of white water.
:35:05
So I decided to go around
Ka'ena Point and look at Makaha...
:35:09
...because that would be
the last spot...
:35:12
...that would still have
some chance of holding up.
:35:16
Noll set off west to Makaha...
:35:18
... the birthplace of modern
big-wave surfing...
:35:21
... thinking the huge swells
slamming into the North Shore...
:35:24
... would be tempered...
:35:25
... as they wrapped around
the island's far western bend.
:35:30
On the drive west, he stopped briefly
at Ka'ena Point to snap this picture...
:35:34
... which Surfer Magazine
later claimed...
:35:36
... was the largest wave
ever photographed.
:35:42
When we got to Makaha,
the cops were going around...
:35:45
...with blare horns on their cars
telling people to evacuate...
:35:49
...the homes on the point.
:35:51
Makaha was the only big-wave break
on Oahu considered ridable...
:35:56
... as Noll and a handful of daring
surfers attempted the huge swells.