The Rearview Mirror Brock Little - January 21st 1990

In: The Rearview Mirror by Stu Nettle 1 Comments Tue 3rd Aug '10

Tags: eddie aikau , brock little , shipsterns bluff , waimea bay , big waves , Teahupoo

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In surfing, as in most physical endeavours, the boundaries of performance creep, rather than rush, forward. Just as Olympic world records are ticked off by mere hundredths of a second, so too are the criteria for surfing - higher, faster, deeper - broken in increments.

The exception to this rule occurred over the course of one hour in January 1990.

The second instalment of the Eddie Aikau Invitational had been waiting for three years to run. Poor North Shore seasons meant the swell stayed below the minimum size requirements during the allotted waiting periods for the competition. On the 21st January, however, a huge low pressure system in the north-west Pacific generated waves of a size not seen in many years - the Eddie was on.

During his second heat of the day, Brock Little, just 21 years old and already one of the best at Waimea, caught two waves that blew the ceiling off big wave surfing performance. Five minutes after the heat began he paddled into what was considered the largest wave ever attempted (although he didn't make it) and thirty minutes later he caught the largest barrel ever ridden.

That it happened at the most famous big wave spot in Hawaii, during the most anticipated contest in the world and in full view of his peers meant that there was no argument or conjecture. The consensus was unanimous, Little had done what no person had yet done, and his reputation as a big wave hellman went through the stratosphere (despite the impact of those two waves Little didn't win the contest, coming second to Keone Downing).

It was Little's second wave, the barrel, that was considered his major achievement from that day. However, it wasn't long before far larger barrels were getting ridden on a regular basis.

Just one year later Laird Hamilton, Buzzy Kerbox and Darrick Doerner began towing each other behind a rubber ducky at Backyards, outside of Sunset Beach. Their experiment would lead them to tow surfing and it would allow huge waves to be ridden - far bigger than ever thought possible. Within ten years Little's two waves - the largest wave attempted and the largest barrel ridden - were eclipsed. Albeit with the aide of tow rope and engine.

With tow surfing came shorter boards and a whole new mindset: new thoughts on board design, new waves to seek out, and new ways to ride them. The influx of ideas began flowing backward and influencing paddle surfing as waves such as Shipstern Bluff and Teahupoo were paddled into and huge barrels ridden under human steam. The dimensions of Little's Waimea barrel no longer seemed so extraordinary.

When it comes to height, however, Little's first wave in that monumental heat stands tall even now, twenty years on. It is a wave that is still considered a genuine contender when discussion of the largest wave ever paddled into comes up. And it is evidence also that the drop is the great leveller of big wave paddle surfing.

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