Watch: Surfers Ride Flash Flood River Wave in Hawaii

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Feb 26, 2024 6:00 PM ET

Waimea Bay, on Oahu’s North Shore, is one of the world’s most famed big wave surf spots in existence, garnering international attention every time it breaks.

It’s steeped in history. It’s where early pioneers of heavy water surfing, like Greg Noll, tested the limits of human ability in big waves. It’s where, arguably, the world’s most iconic surfing event, the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, is held.

Besides the big waves in the ocean, however, it’s also home to one of the world’s most celebrated novelty wave surf spots – the Waimea Bay river wave.

And few surfers are as dedicated to scoring the river wave every time it breaks than Jamie O’Brien. He’s pretty much the resident Waimea Bay river wave guru.

His latest bout with the freshwater standing wave? JOB, and hordes of other surfers, tackled raging, overflowing or, as he called it, “flash flood” conditions.

“We are not going to be able to stop this, unfortunately,” JOB described.

He continued, giggling maniacally:

“Straight flash flood! Look at this! The water just broke over. This is radical. This is going to be the biggest Waimea river ever. We’re digging this trench out. There’s a river here, a river here, there’s more rivers over there.

“This thing is completely blown out. It’s going to get huge. Remember what that little trench looked like? Now this is what it turned into. Crazy beach erosion. Millions of gallons of freshwater sucked out to sea.”

How’d it stack up to JOB’s previous river wave sessions? Not the best, not the worst. This is, after all, the same spot that he "almost died" a while back. And more recently, he scored rare, very glassy conditions in which the waves looked like Jell-o.

You just never know what you’re gonna get.

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

More must-reads: