Giant Tractor “Destroys” Waimea Bay River Wave (Video)

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated May 27, 2025 1:57 PM ET

Of all the world’s novelty river waves, none are as popular, as well-documented, as the one on the North Shore of Oahu’s Waimea Bay. Perhaps it’s because the wave breaks dead center in the most famed stretch of surfing coastline on the planet, and at the world’s most historically significant big wave arena. But also, it’s because when it’s on, the Waimea river wave is straight up gnarly.

Typically, it’s local surfers and novelty wave aficionados digging out the river with shovels, creating the wave. But this time, they got a little help from the city, who brought in a gigantic tractor to dredge the waterway – or, as Jamie O’Brien called it, “massive excavator destroys Hawaiian beach.”

“Oh my god, the river is breaching the ocean!” JOB exclaims in the video as the river starts flowing. “Are you kidding me? This is the beginning of craziness. You can see the water absolutely ripping down the river right now. You can see the tractor digging the river. River meets ocean. It’s happening right now. Can’t wait to get out there and catch some epic waves with all my friends.”

Compared to previous instances when the Waimea river broke – like the time JOB “almost died” while surfing the wave when it was probably the biggest it’s ever been – this time was pretty tame. Lots of people jumping in for a ride, multiple mini waves breaking at once. And by the end of it, like JOB described in the video title, the beach was pretty much blown out by the deluge.

“Just wrapped up an epic river session,” JOB concluded. “So psyched to finally get one during the daytime. It’s been such a weird year. Almost all the videos you’ve seen this year have been at night. So, today, we got some fun waves out here at Waimea. It just turned this day into a complete success. Everyone is psyching out their minds, getting epic waves down here at Waimea.”

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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