1:08:04
They were going out on days
when people were evacuating.
1:08:07
Considering his pedigree,
a traditional pro surfing career...
1:08:10
... was Laird's for the taking.
1:08:12
But from a young age,
his imagination was captured...
1:08:14
... by the mythic canvas
of riding giant waves.
1:08:18
I was young and impressionable
in 1969.
1:08:21
So I understood the volume
of what was possible.
1:08:25
I understood there was stuff
out there that hadn't been tapped...
1:08:28
...and that the ocean was capable
of producing places and things...
1:08:32
...that no one had really done.
1:08:34
What Laird and the other
big-wave riders...
1:08:37
... from as far back as the '50s knew...
1:08:39
... is that lying far beyond
the traditional breaks like Waimea...
1:08:42
... were another set of remote
offshore reefs...
1:08:45
...capable of producing waves
of unimaginable size.
1:08:51
Even before 1969...
1:08:53
... the amazing third-reef Pipeline
broke once in 1963...
1:08:58
...as a result of a freak storm
that awoke the sleeping giant.
1:09:03
It took Greg Noll and Mike Stang two
hours to make the long paddle out.
1:09:07
They waited another two hours,
until Greg finally caught...
1:09:11
... one of the most epic rides
in North Shore history.
1:09:34
Another ambitious attempt occurred
30 years later, in 1993...
1:09:38
... when North Shore surfer
Alec Cook...
1:09:40
... armed with an 11-foot board...
1:09:43
... an emergency scuba tank
and a helicopter...
1:09:45
...had himself dropped in the path
of a six-story swell...
1:09:48
...off Oahu's Ka'ena Point.
1:09:51
He made a valiant effort,
actually making the drop...
1:09:53
... on one massive wall,
before being swallowed.
1:09:57
Episodes like this made it clear
that when it came to riding...