A Season of Jaws

That was one of the most fruitful seasons we’ve seen at Jaws in a while. And we’re talking in terms of consistency and aesthetics here, not size. As Shane Dorian told Stab: “It hasn’t gotten big in three years. We haven’t had one really big swell in three years. Anyone who thinks that they’re paddling Jaws really big right now, is tripping. They’re not even scratching the surface of how big Jaws gets. It goes to a whole other category.”

Laird Hamilton agreed: “We just haven’t had a lot of big surf in the last few years. People can disagree, but the reality is that if you really look at our winters and the swells and intervals we’ve had, compared to the first 10 or 12 years of Jaws, there’s been minimal giant surf. We’ve had minimal 60-70 foot faced Jaws, it just hasn’t been happening a lot.”

Now, sitting in a chair and calling the waves in this clip small is certainly not the aim here. These waves are huge. We ain’t hating, we’re just stating. Because the way we see it, the last three years have allowed the paddle movement to fire up. And when those swells that Shane and Laird know are out there finally arrive, everyone’s gonna be way-better equipped to take em on without a tow rope. That is truly exciting.

Til then, dig on a curation of this season’s best.