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Wipeouts are part and parcel of surfing. They come with the territory, and you’ll never get to be a half-way decent surfer without taking a handful of serious beatings along the way. No matter how good you get, you’ll always continue wiping out. The thing about that, though, is that as you get better, you’ll likely be surfing better and better waves… which, of course, means the wipeouts will get worse as the waves get bigger and more hollow. Take Pipeline, for example.
It’s not a wave for a newcomer. It’s steep. It’s hollow. It’s shallow. It’s crowded. And it dishes out some of the worst beatings in Hawaii. Eala Stewart, a surfer who is not unacquainted with Pipeline, knows that. But if he was in danger of forgetting, he was served a good reminder. Thankfully, he decided to wear a helmet on the day it happened — for the first time ever.
“First time wearing a helmet this morning out at Pipe,” he wrote. “Stoked I had it for this one, blew out both fin boxes. Gotta pay to play. Been itching for a really special one… third time’s a charm?”
The move towards helmets in heavier waves is a smart one, and more and more surfers are opting for a brain bucket. Kai Lenny, in fact, decided he’d strap one on recently during the Backdoor Shootout, and he managed to crack his nearly in half. Better than cracking your skull in half, though, isn’t it?
