First to Surf Pipe?

[boarderboy]

http://surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/dubious_documentation_of_surfings_first_slab/

and does it really matter?

I know some of the 'early' Hawaii riders' names pop up in the Who's Who of pioneering hardbooters. Cabell, Doyle, and, and ... (softbootsailer needs to chime in here) and slightly later Gerry Lopez. That's an awesome ancestry.

I imagine the cross-discipline list of today's surfer/boarders reads like a current roster of some of Cali's hottest wave riders (?)

I do know that surfing any size ripple or "junk" windswell at Pipeline will be high on my in-the-works Top 15 "Must Do" list. Maybe a very small shorebreak day "proning it" on my Wave Skater before any of the locals wake up...

Mahalo to all

[Gecko]

Pipe scares the crap out of me from a surfing standpoint, yes I have snorkeled there in the summer. if you absolutely have to surf the north shore go up past Sunset beach to Pupukea, though Sunset isn't too bad if its smaller.

[boarderboy]

and I'm sure the local posse would pounce on my pale tush if I even tried to paddle out on a "small" tube day. (As well they should!)

As I've written before, my sole Island surf experience during a couple days' liberty consisted of (1) bare-body surfing some Waikiki tinies one drunken night, and (2) body surfing Makapu'u on what surely must have been a small day. Those few waves left me with a huge respect for the power of raw Pacific swells and a sore head from bonking an inside spire of bare lava rock.

I've seen some bodyboard footage of what appears to be small, inside shorebreak over sand at Pipe. (Maybe in summer?) That's what made me think it might be doable...

Those earliest riders of the real Banzai Pipeline obviously had more-than-impressive cojones!

The North Shore is safe from my bungling!

cheers

BB