Waimea Bay is home to one of the world’s most (in)famous surf spots.
It’s where modern day big-wave surfing got its start, with pioneers like Greg Noll and Eddie Aikau pushing the limits of their time, and riding waves that were once believed un-surfable. Flash forward to today and Waimea is still a beloved big-wave spot – although there’s a lot more bodies in the lineup these days, compared to those early years – and it plays host to the prestigious, yet elusive, Eddie Aikau Invitational event.
Waimea Bay is also home to one of the world’s heaviest river wave surf spots.
Above, Hawaiian surfer Koa Smith takes a go at the rushing, muddy waters of the Waimea Bay rivermouth. The water looks a bit different in these waves than it does out in the Bay. A bit more… chocolate-y.
Captioning the post, Koa wrote:
“But what if Willy Wonka was a surfer? Surley [sic] he’d have a wave pool in his chocolate factory”
Just the like chocolate river from the classic 1971 movie, but Koa doesn’t get sucked away to an untimely death like Augustus Gloop.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that Willy Wonka and surfing have been brought up in the same conversation. The same comparisons were made to Kelly Slater and his wavepool, back in 2015 when it first debuted. In that first video, the water was brown – like chocolate. And very few surfers were invited to come surf the pool – like a golden ticket.
Anyway, bring on the Oompa Loompas.
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