15 year old Joel Luteran charging Waimea Bay on Thursday Dec 12th. The Pipe Masters was called off for the day due to the swell washing through the Pipe lineup. Many guys were wearing impact vests or spring suits but Joel went traditional Hawaiian and “skinned it” all day. The Water Patrol and jet skis were out in full force. Water photographers dotted the crowded lineup. Drones humming overhead the Bay with coverage all over the place. The swell was biggest in the early morning and then eased off a bit later in the morning making for a really fun Waimea Bay day.
Joel was easy to pick out in the lineup as he was usually sitting deeper than everyone else and was definitely one of the only guys out skinning it. Thanks to St. Augustine transplant John Begley, Joel was able to borrow his 8’ 2” Bushman big wave gun which was perfect. Joel ended up catching about 30 plus waves sitting super deep on the peak all morning and took off on, and successfully road a ton of legit Waimea set waves! Him and his buddy Julian had a blast together. Rip Curl team rider and North Shore local Luke Swanson was also out and Joel, Julian and Luke shared some great party waves and ended up laughing and having a great time with everyone out in the lineup.
Later that day Joel from little old St. Augustine on the East Coast was one of only a handful of surfers who braved the massive sets still rolling through Pipe and paddled out at mackin’ 2nd reef Pipe and caught some death slab caverns! The swell should be backing off for the weekend and the Pipe Masters should be back on early next week so look for Joel to be out surfing Pipe before, after, and during any breaks in the action this week. You can watch him on any of the Surfline Pipeline Cameras. Go Joel!!
