“Rockies? Nah, I’m just gonna kick it. Cruise down here,” he’d reply in a voice that led me to believe he was half asleep.
“Well, how is it?”
“Ahh, kinda shitty.”
This, along with lackluster conditions and small swells, went on for weeks and weeks: me trying to get a session in with Reef, and the stubborn Kauai boy not willing to leave his own personal slice of paradise-the strip of beach from Pipeline to Rockpiles.
The annual North Shore circus came and went, with the media proclaiming the winter over and setting its sights on the next big bag of hype … and yet he waited.
Then the day came: a perfect combination of size, swell, weather, and to top it off, a tow-in contest that had most of the Pipeline regulars whipping in at Puena Point-on the day of the year at Pipe. Finally, it had all come together, and Reef McIntosh was on it. His dedication paid off in a big way, too, for he snagged what we’re calling “the wave of the winter” at Pipeline.-Justin Cotà‡
Justin Cote: So you first posted up at the Quiksilver Pipe house in the beginning of October?
Reef McIntosh: Yep
And you didn’t get this particular wave until mid February?
February 15, 2007, at 11:01 a.m.
That’s nearly five months! What did you do in the meantime?
I washed my car a lot, ate a lot of food, drank a lot of beer, and didn’t surf much-it really kind of sucked this winter. I make a living at Pipeline, so I was just waiting for it. It’s all about patience … if you wait long enough, it’ll happen-so I waited and waited and waited.
Speaking of waiting, how many closed-out or marginal days are there for every “day of the year”?
Well, there were five months and fifteen days of marginal and closed-out days-all of those Jamie O’Brien cover shots were from one morning early in the season. A lot of people were sitting on the beach that day saying, “Ahh, beginning of the year, I can wait, it’s going to get so good!” But then it didn’t get good and then the thinking was, “I should’ve went out those days!” We get paid for photos, so when we don’t get photos, we don’t get paid.
What was your approach when everything came together and it finally did get all-time?
I didn’t drink coffee that morning-I didn’t want to make an irrational decision out there. It was small a couple days before, but the conditions were so crip-no sand on the reef and perfect weather. I was sitting out on the beach with Derek Ho and everyone was saying, “It’s going to be so good!” But I don’t get all hyped up because a lot of the time it doesn’t work out. So I said to Derek, “What do you think? C’mon, guru!” He’s like, “It’s going to get really good,” and I was like, “Okay, it’s on!”
So your patience paid off?
Yeah, like a little chess match.
What if somewhere besides Pipe is going off?
I don’t really care if I hear Rockies or V-Land is going off-I’m dedicated to Pipe. If I were to go surf Rockies and twisted my knee out there, I’d be like, “Why’d the f-k did I surf there? I’m not getting paid to surf Rockies!” So I pretty much just base myself from Rockpiles to Pipeline-anywhere within walking distance.
So are you lazy or are you dedicated?
Dedicated. When it’s good, I’m out there all day-sunscreen, outfit changes, switching boards. Yeah … I’m dedicated.
Why just that area? Why are you so specifically dedicated to Pipeline?
Because that’s the biggest high you can get on the North Shore. You can get a bigger wave at Phantoms or Waimea, but Pipeline is so close to the beach-you can throw a rock at the surfers. And it’s so intense, there’s so much power just right there. It’s like an aphrodisiac. It’s such a turn on, such a high-it’s indescribable.
Do you get impatient after waiting that long for the waves to get good?
You know, it’s so dangerous out there-guys die making wrong decisions, so you don’t want to make the wrong decision out there. I’m not saying I’m picky, but once you get one wave, you kinda get on a roll. I like to troll around-paddle over there, in there, out there, look where so-and-so is sitting, maybe get on the other side of that guy. Doing that, sometimes you just get flogged, but if you get flogged immediately, it kind of loosens you up. I’m different than guys like Randall (Paulson) and Tamayo (Perry), those guys can sit for hours and hours. I don’t like to sit, I like to get busy.
You were telling me a story how Randall was paddling for this same wave you got.
That morning he called and said, “Hey, it’s going to be good. When are you going out?” and I’m all, “Oh, I don’t know, whenever it gets good. You’ll see me.” Sure enough, the time came and I said to myself, “Okay, it’s on!”
Did you call him?
No, of course not (laughs)! I knew he was nearby and of course he saw me go out and was right behind me. We sat pretty close together, but I was about ten yards further in and not as deep. If he was in a couple more strokes, he would have got it, but I was on a little bigger board than him-he was on a 7’4”, I was running a 7’8” from Steve Boysen that I hadn’t ridden yet. I wanted to try it because I knew the season was going to be over soon. It was funny, as soon as I kicked out, Tamayo was right there and freaking out. I was like, “Settle down, settle down,” but I know Tamayo went right out the back to Randall and told him the whole story because he (Randall) called me that night and said, “Let’s hear it.” I was like, “Hear what?” totally playing it off, “What do you want to hear?” “I want to hear about the wave,” he said. I finally said, “It was probably the second best wave I’ve ever caught at Pipe.”
It seems to me that you have to be super dedicated to really nail a big one at Pipe. You can’t just show up and expect to get wave of the day-or year for that matter.
It’s the guys who put in years and years. It’s not the twenty-year-old kids-unless you’re Laurie Towner.
How has your dedication to Pipeline paid off?
It’s given me everything I have ever dreamed of and more. If I didn’t surf Pipeline for a living, and if I didn’t have that wave, I’d just be cooking at Wake Up Cafà‡ on Kauai-it’s given me my life.
