Biggest Wednesday: Condition Black

Never in the history of surfing has the ocean roared as hard and as full-on as Wednesday the 28th of January 1998, creating the biggest surf ever to be ridden. The locals say Jaws has never been bigger. Outside Log Cabins on Oahu’s North Shore was surfed for the first time ever, with Ken Bradshaw claiming the biggest wave in surfing history!

The North Shore of Oahu is the mecca of the best. The surf pumps non-stop from October to May. The swells are pushed down from big northern hemisphere winter storms and come charging out of the open ocean onto Hawaii’s northern shores. But this year was like no other year, with El Nino in full swing, the northern hemisphere ocean was brewing up some of the biggest storms of the century. On January 23, the word was out that a huge storm had formed off Alaska and that a major swell was heading for the Islands. On Wednesday the 28th of January, the elements all came together- the wind was calm, the skies were clear blue, and the ocean was lined to the horizon with 30 to 50 foot walls of death and veteran cameraman Tim Bonython was there to document this momentous event on video.

The new sport of tow-in surfing was about to create history as a crew of surfers were strapped onto tiny slivered seven foot eight inch boards. Biggest Wednesday was shot at two locations. On Maui: Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama and Buzzy Kerbox took on the biggest day ever filmed at Jaws, their home big-wave break. Meanwhile on Oahus North Shore, Ross Clarke-Jones, Tony Ray, Cheyne Horan, Ken Bradshaw, Shawn Briley and Noah Johnson rode the biggest waves in the history of surfing at Outside Log Cabins.