Jordy Smith’s Top 5 Waves On The North Shore

Interview by Craig Jarvis | All photos by Ryan Miller/redbull.com/surfing The quality and fame of Hawaii’s waves exist in a realm beyond need for reminder or explanation. You know how goddamn good the place is. Surfers of every kind are front and centre from start of winter til end, but because we’re all wonderfully individual, we all like different things. With the range between Jaws to Gums, it’s like, take your pick. And Jordy Smith is a man whose picks we like. Jordy’s #blessed with a large frame, excellent for playing dominatrix of whatever he chooses to scratch into. And while he’s in Hawaii, with no title race to worry about and nothing to do but surf, we extracted the spots he most likes to scratch into on the North Shore… “Backdoor/Pipeline is the most intense wave there is here on the North Shore. It attracts me because it’s where you get most barreled. It’s quite simply the place where everyone from all over the world comes to in order to prove themselves in the bigger barrels and to be seen. It can be quite hard to get a decent wave count out there, but the good ones are so incredible that it’s worth spending time out there to figure it all out.” Bonus shot! Jordy getting burned by sponger! “I love Sunset Beach because it has so much going for it, from big thick and heavy drops, to big open faces and huge barrels. It really suits my surfing, being a bigger guy, so I can really put some muscle into it and ride bigger boards and push harder. The best waves at Sunset are the north peaks that look like they’re going to run across the whole reef. They tend to be medium sized waves, as sometimes the really big north peaks tend to peter out in the middle of the reef leaving you kinda exposed to west peaks padding back out. There is also the inside bowl which can really turn a good wave into an absolute bomb.” “Beach Park is directly to the right of Pipe, and when the sand is right you get some of the finest beach break waves you can find. Good performance set-ups, and sometimes there are good barrel set-ups. It’s not too crowded with people, unlike the rest of that stretch, which makes it even better. It’s a place where you can really get your North Shore wave count up.” “Rocky Point is the place to go to get the job of professional surfing done. There are always photographers lining up along the beach and one good session here can really make a season. The waves actually break on a pretty shallow reef, and it swings left and right. If you’re an up-and-coming pro surfer, this is the place to spend time, grind away, and get the coverage you deserve and need. You can get totally barreled here as well.” “Haleiwa is an extremely high performance wave and it gets me amped to surf out there and also to compete out there. It works on precisely the same swell direction as Pipeline and handles up to around 10 feet. It is also really heavy water and can throw some punches. You don’t want to be caught inside on a big set as it’ll suck you dry of energy, that’s for sure. Get a good one however, and it really gives you the chance to lay some rail. Every now and then it can also give you a huge barrel. So it might be a bit of a grind at times but the rewards are worth it.” Big man like big wave! But really, Jordy looks so at home on The Rock. Get at Jordy’s Hawaiian quiver over at Red Bull Surfing South Africa.