Former Big Wave Tour commissioner Peter Mel and WSL commentator Kaipo Guerrero take a look back at two amazing days of big wave surfing at the 2017 Pe'ahi Challenge and Women's Pe'ahi Challenge.
In future decades, when surf historians look back at the icons of Pe'ahi, few will loom larger than Maui's Ian Walsh and Paige Alms. Walsh is the surfer largely credited with paving the way for the paddle-in movement at a wave that was once considered tow-in only. Alms, a pioneer in the women's big wave movement, may go down as the greatest female big wave surfer of her generation. And their performances at Jaws on Day 2 were as breathtaking as they were, once again, groundbreaking. Walsh, in the first Semifinal (in which he finished 3rd!), rode perhaps the best barrel ever witnessed at the wave, a driving, double barreled demon, while Alms went back-to-back in the first two Women's Pe'ahi Challenges ever contested. The waves weren't immense, but they were more than big enough and conditions were pristine. The performances were legendary.