SUP: Pound for pound, does any other wave on the planet compare to Jaws?
Kai: There are some really gnarly waves out there in the world, But Jaws is, to me the gnarliest wave I’ve ever surfed. It combines all the heaviest waves in the world into basically Backdoor Pipeline. The place is so special, but man it’ll pound you to the ground! I have experienced multiple one minute hold downs as well as two wave hold downs out at Jaws. It doesn’t even have to be the biggest one; it literally could be a 12ft wave that will pound as if it’s a 25ft wave!
If you had to describe the feeling of surfing a flawless freight-train to someone who had never surfed before, what would you say?
There’s no way to properly describe what it feels like to surf that wave. But if I tried my best I would tell you there is no other feeling on earth that compares. You are intertwined with Mother Nature at her most incredible, and the speed you’re reaching is unlike any other wave you’ll ever ride anywhere else. Sometimes it just feels like a cartoon because of the way it is so perfect and you have so much speed and power to deal with that when you connect the dots it literally feels like you’re flying, almost like a pelican flying across a wave.
The images don’t do it justice; when you’re there in person, some of the waves people are going on you literally think are impossible until it’s done right before your eyes. Once you figure out how to find control and send yourself amongst the chaos, everything fades away and nothing else exists. Any problems you have on land melt away as you are living so much in the moment. That’s what keeps me coming back, the sensation of flight!
