Ken Bradshaw
Ken is credited with riding a taller wave than any one else ever in the history of surfing.
(Stories) SURFER MAGAZINE, JUNE ’98, VOL. 39, NO. 6
Condition Black, Excerpts :
“There’s only one place to surf
today,” said Bradshaw, and for a half-dozen tow-in crews, that was the call; Outside Log Cabins, a place that doesn’t begin to
break until the waves reach a Hawaiian-style 25-feet.
What Bradshaw accomplished out there, under a gorgeous blue sky with offshore winds, was beyond comprehension. At the age
of 45, he caught the biggest wave ever ridden on the North Shore. You’d think that claim would trigger a furious debate, full of
cynicism and outrage, but this time the vote seemed to be unanimous.
“I saw it with my own eyes,” said Lt. Pat Kelly, a North Shore lifeguard since 1979 and a 25-year resident. “I was up on the
substation roof at Ke Waena, and this was definitely the biggest wave I’ve seen ridden. We were calling it 30 to
35-feet. Bradshaw was just a little dot on this massive wall. It wasn’t like a Waimea wave, with a bit of a wall and then into the
channel. This thing was feathering for like 75 yards ahead of him. Unbelievable.”
Bill Ballard, maker of the sure videos Triple C and Side B, was among the few who captured Bradshaw’s wave on tape. Shot
from an ideal vantage point on Ke Iki Road, the sequence is absolutely surreal as Bradshaw comes off the bottom; the wave
looks at least 10 times overhead. He times his turn perfectly, power-drives up into the hook, pulls a cutback, then glides out the
back of a softening shoulder. Thanks to the expert timing of 41-year-old Dan Moore, Bradshaw’s tow-in partner and one of the
true underground heroes of outer-reef lore, there was no wasted motion. Bradshaw grabbed the towrope and was steaming
back to the lineup at the instant he pulled out.
“This is just the most impressive thing I’ve ever witnessed,” said Cole, one of the North Shore’s most confirmed
traditionalists. “These waves are so much larger than what we rode, and they make it look so easy…fade, turn, carve. This
tow-in-surfing has made regular surfing look like a Model T.”
Another hard-line observer, Randy Rarick, didn’t see Bradshaw’s wave, “but the claim is totally plausible. Just add it up; the
tow-in guys are riding bigger waves than anyone ever dreamed of. This was the biggest swell of the tow-in era. And Ken got the
biggest one. Bradshaw is the most dedicated and proficient of all the tow-in-surfers on the North Shore. So it makes sense that
he’d be the one.” “And that big wake you saw behind Ken’s board?” said Bernie Baker. “That was from his balls draggin’.”
When I spoke with Bradshaw that night, he had no real sense of his accomplishment. “I just know I caught a really big wave, and
I was trying to get out of it’s way,” he said. But as the days went on, he began hearing the comments. “Then I started thinking
about it. I thought I’d gotten the waves of my life in 1995, when I rode Outside Backyards with Darrick and Laird (the day the
Aikau contest was called off at the midway point), well, that place was buried on Wednesday. Sections were falling for a
quarter-mile; you couldn’t even find it. That’s when I realized how big it really was. The biggest I’ve seen since February of
1986.”
there was a program on pbs last sunday about this - amazing footage - a film crew happened to be on oahu doing work for an imax project when the storm hit. there is a contest that happens only when the waves on that particular beach reach a certain height, and the call goes out around the world for sufing the biggest wave. so here are all these big wave surfers just staring out at the water, like, no way am i going out there. worth catching if they re-run the show.
yep, that's where the idea for the post came from. I've seen that doc before. I agree, the real show has to be the imax version (the film within a film) being shot the same day. The helecopter jockey carring the i-max camera was an x-nam piolet and his flying style was pure war.
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- bill 1-20-2002 1:52 pm
Ken is credited with riding a taller wave than any one else ever in the history of surfing.
(Stories) SURFER MAGAZINE, JUNE ’98, VOL. 39, NO. 6 Condition Black, Excerpts :
“There’s only one place to surf today,” said Bradshaw, and for a half-dozen tow-in crews, that was the call; Outside Log Cabins, a place that doesn’t begin to break until the waves reach a Hawaiian-style 25-feet. What Bradshaw accomplished out there, under a gorgeous blue sky with offshore winds, was beyond comprehension. At the age of 45, he caught the biggest wave ever ridden on the North Shore. You’d think that claim would trigger a furious debate, full of cynicism and outrage, but this time the vote seemed to be unanimous. “I saw it with my own eyes,” said Lt. Pat Kelly, a North Shore lifeguard since 1979 and a 25-year resident. “I was up on the substation roof at Ke Waena, and this was definitely the biggest wave I’ve seen ridden. We were calling it 30 to 35-feet. Bradshaw was just a little dot on this massive wall. It wasn’t like a Waimea wave, with a bit of a wall and then into the channel. This thing was feathering for like 75 yards ahead of him. Unbelievable.” Bill Ballard, maker of the sure videos Triple C and Side B, was among the few who captured Bradshaw’s wave on tape. Shot from an ideal vantage point on Ke Iki Road, the sequence is absolutely surreal as Bradshaw comes off the bottom; the wave looks at least 10 times overhead. He times his turn perfectly, power-drives up into the hook, pulls a cutback, then glides out the back of a softening shoulder. Thanks to the expert timing of 41-year-old Dan Moore, Bradshaw’s tow-in partner and one of the true underground heroes of outer-reef lore, there was no wasted motion. Bradshaw grabbed the towrope and was steaming back to the lineup at the instant he pulled out. “This is just the most impressive thing I’ve ever witnessed,” said Cole, one of the North Shore’s most confirmed traditionalists. “These waves are so much larger than what we rode, and they make it look so easy…fade, turn, carve. This tow-in-surfing has made regular surfing look like a Model T.” Another hard-line observer, Randy Rarick, didn’t see Bradshaw’s wave, “but the claim is totally plausible. Just add it up; the tow-in guys are riding bigger waves than anyone ever dreamed of. This was the biggest swell of the tow-in era. And Ken got the biggest one. Bradshaw is the most dedicated and proficient of all the tow-in-surfers on the North Shore. So it makes sense that he’d be the one.” “And that big wake you saw behind Ken’s board?” said Bernie Baker. “That was from his balls draggin’.” When I spoke with Bradshaw that night, he had no real sense of his accomplishment. “I just know I caught a really big wave, and I was trying to get out of it’s way,” he said. But as the days went on, he began hearing the comments. “Then I started thinking about it. I thought I’d gotten the waves of my life in 1995, when I rode Outside Backyards with Darrick and Laird (the day the Aikau contest was called off at the midway point), well, that place was buried on Wednesday. Sections were falling for a quarter-mile; you couldn’t even find it. That’s when I realized how big it really was. The biggest I’ve seen since February of 1986.”
- bill 1-20-2002 1:57 pm [add a comment]
there was a program on pbs last sunday about this - amazing footage - a film crew happened to be on oahu doing work for an imax project when the storm hit. there is a contest that happens only when the waves on that particular beach reach a certain height, and the call goes out around the world for sufing the biggest wave. so here are all these big wave surfers just staring out at the water, like, no way am i going out there. worth catching if they re-run the show.
- linda 1-21-2002 5:13 pm [add a comment]
yep, that's where the idea for the post came from. I've seen that doc before. I agree, the real show has to be the imax version (the film within a film) being shot the same day. The helecopter jockey carring the i-max camera was an x-nam piolet and his flying style was pure war.
- bill 1-21-2002 6:45 pm [add a comment]