“No Gofundme, Just Gratitude”
Liam McNamara recalls almost losing his son, Makai, to Pipeline.
When Makai McNamara woke up from a medically induced coma, the first words out of his mouth weren’t about his injuries. They were rinsing his dad.
“Dad, you need to get healthy. Stop smoking those clove cigarettes and go surfing.”
It was the moment Liam McNamara knew his son was still all there.
“You never know how bad the damage is with head injuries. But as soon as he started giving me grief and speaking like a punk, I knew Makai was still Makai,” Liam laughs.
Makai McNamara, son of North Shore stalwart and Rip Curl Eddie Aikau director Liam McNamara, took a brutal wipeout at Pipeline last week that nearly cost him his life.
Following a fast and coordinated rescue effort led by nearby surfers and North Shore lifeguards, Makai was rushed to Queens Hospital in Honolulu, where he was placed in an induced coma for four days to allow his body to heal.
Yesterday, Makai was discharged and is now in the process of piecing together the experience and responding to the overwhelming support from the surf community.
“He remembers everything,” Liam says. “He remembers paddling out, missing the first wave, and going for the second. It was a bad wave selection, essentially.”
While bad wave selection is just part of surfing Pipeline, Liam argues that the real issue is how unprepared surfers still are when things go wrong.
The difference between survival and tragedy at Pipeline often comes down to seconds. When Makai didn’t surface, it was Hunter Rainis—a six-foot-three lifeguard from New York—who reached him first, pulling him onto his chest to keep his head above water as the current pushed them toward shore. At the same time, young North Shore charger Makana Pang spotted him, catching a small insider and using it to pump his way into the channel.
“They got to him in a minute,” Liam says. “That was the key.”
Makai was conscious but disoriented. By the time he reached the sand, he was thrashing and trying to fight off the people who had just saved his life.
“He came back angry—like, ‘Get off me!’” Liam recalls. “He was conscious but unconscious. Aware but not aware.”
Makai was rushed to the hospital with a broken eardrum, a small orbital fracture, and a laceration that required several staples in his head.
Pipeline has always over-indexed on ambulance calls, but this winter has been particularly brutal, seeing high-profile surfers like Eimeo Czermak and Lucas Godfrey sidelined with serious spinal injuries.
While Mark Healey praised local lifeguards and surfers for responding faster than ever last week, Liam still believes there’s still a massive gap in safety preparation.
“The chances of getting hurt out there are 100%,” Liam says. “If you surf Pipeline for 10 years, you’re going to have one of these injuries. You’re rolling the dice.”
And, as the nurses adage goes, ‘the best form of treatment is prevention’. But it takes some level of being proactive.
“Wearing a helmet makes you 90% less likely to die,” he says. “A good leash? 95%. A flotation suit? 99%. It’s like getting in a car—you put on your seatbelt and check your tires. Why isn’t that standard procedure at the heaviest wave in the world?”
Liam believes change is coming. This year, he’s seen more helmets at Pipe than ever before—50% of surfers, up from 20% in previous seasons. But the fact remains: The heaviest names at Pipe, the ones younger surfers look up to, still aren’t wearing them.
“Until John John puts on a helmet and joins Jamie O’Brien, people won’t take it seriously,” Liam says. “Everyone needs to drop their ego and get one. If not for their own sake, for their wives and kids.”
Beyond personal protective gear, Liam is also advocating for structural safety improvements. He’s already spoken with Honolulu’s chief of lifeguards and the mayor to ensure there’s a jet ski in the water every time Pipeline is over eight feet.
“The skis are there,” he says. “They just need to get used. We need guys showing up at 6:00 AM instead of 8:00 AM when Pipeline is pumping. The mayor has already said he’ll cover overtime to make it happen.”
One thing notably absent from Makai’s ordeal was a GoFundMe. Unlike other injured surfers who find themselves uninsured and reliant on crowdfunding, Makai had insurance—though he will have some out-of-pocket expenses for ongoing recovery.
“My son would never ask for money,” Liam says. “He’s not that guy. He’ll just do what he has to do to pay the bills.”
But Liam does take issue with visiting surfers who roll into the North Shore season without insurance, get injured, and then expect the surf community to cover their hospital bills.
“It’s selfish,” he says bluntly. “GoFundMe should be for someone like Lucas Godfrey, a lifelong Pipe surfer with no major backing. Not visiting surfers who show up, take the risk, and then ask for a handout.”
Despite everything, Liam sees his son’s accident as a wake-up call—not just for Makai, but for the entire Pipeline community.
“He’s got a second lease on life,” Liam says. “Now he knows how much people love him. The whole surfing world was praying for him. And you know what? Those prayers worked.”
And if there’s one message Liam wants every surfer to take away from this?
“Just wear a fucking helmet.”
