New York big-wave surfer Pete “Luigi” Shaw recently headed to Jaws to catch a healthy swell gracing the famous Maui reef. It was his sixth time surfing the wave, which he calls the best, most perfectly shaped big wave in the world.
“For me personally, and most of the riders who I’ve spoken to that surf Jaws, every time you paddle out there, it’s a spiritual experience,” he said.
Shaw put together a YouTube video breaking down what it’s like to surf the spot during a session where he said he caught the best wave of his life – and also had one of his worst beatdowns.
He explains in detail why the paddle out at Jaws is regarded as one of the most difficult in surfing.
“There are giant boulders from the ‘land of the lost’ that you have to jump off of,” says Shaw. “The paddling out can be easy if you time it well – there are lulls. But we’re dealing with shorebreak here, and I’m talking 6- to 8-foot, top-to-bottom barreling shorebreak that’s breaking on these giant boulders.”
“So if you find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, you could easily have a concussion,” he added. “You’ve got to be patient. You’ve got to time it. I’ve been standing on those rocks for like 20, 30 minutes before, just waiting for the right moment.”
Shaw paddled into a monster on his first day of the swell. Even though he had to straighten out after the drop as the lip ran away from him, he called it the best big wave of his life. The following day, he paddled for a wave that Kai Lenny passed on and had the opposite experience.
He says the board hit a series of chops, he went airborne, and when his weight came down on the board his feet slipped – the board had been sitting under a deck for two years and had accumulated tough-to-remove mud that cost him his footing. He fell, the lip came down on his board and snapped it in two.
“I’ve just been tired for the whole week,” Shaw said after that wipeout. “I don’t feel like I’m concussed, but I definitely feel like I had a serious beatdown. Jaws is one of the heaviest waves in the world. Jaws and Maverick’s, I think, beat you down the most of anything I’ve experienced.
Shaw said it wasn’t his worst wipeout ever, but definitely in the top 10 that he’s gone through. Give a watch to his vlog to hear him recount the full session.
