In the soft gray dawn of November 26, 2018, off the north coast of Maui, 40-foot waves rolled in off the Pacific Ocean like watery mountainsides half-visible in the mist. By 9 am, as a big-wave surfing contest called the Jaws Challenge at Pe’ahi began, waves nearing 50 feet high broke with such extreme violence that the first surfers in the water fell off their boards on almost every ride. By late morning, 70-footers formed giant aquatic walls topped by foamy cornices that leaped forward and tumbled through space, exploding onto the flat sea with enough force that two surfers were knocked unconscious and had to be rescued. Contest organizers put the event on hold in the interest of keeping athletes safe.
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