Pohnpei Surf Club – Seriously huge surf

Pohnpei Surf Club.  The surf here reaches epic proportions!!!!!!

I could write a poem or something dramatic about this giant swell but I will just leave it to Ted Grambeau.

Here is a quick run on February 10^th, 2010, the biggest surf in Pohnpei in recent history.

The swell hit a little later then forecasted overnight. The morning of the 10^th had big and messy 15 ft swell at Palikir.

The channel at Palikir was a mess with white whash all over the place and trades gusting at 25 mph.

I got the ski and headed toward Palang pass on the west side. A friend of my, Fred Mendiola, the best surfer to ever come out of Pohnpei and now living in Guam told me about surfing that pass on a giant typhoon swell years ago.I had also checked that pass during two of the last big swells.

The two boats with guests followed me a few miles behind. Around 8:00am I was calling them from Palang. The surf was 5 to 6 feet and as perfect as it gets. Beautiful set up. Not a soul in sight. Straight off shores, sunny skies, blue water and some really nice rights.

One nice fact about surfing these other passes in Pohnpei. This is wave number 18 we have surfed in Pohnpei under perfect conditions and the only people I have seen in any wave but Palikir were the ones that came with us or the ones I told about the wave. Besides that 99% of the time we are on our own….

Around 11:00am four surfers wanted a taste of the size and power at Palikir but that was not what most guests wanted so most stayed at Palang and a few headed back to Palikir.

Around 12:00pm a third boat delivered teriyaki chicken, tuna and the afternoon beer to the guests at Palang. At the same time four surfers stated to ride with confidence the biggest waves ever surfed in Pohnpei and probably in Micronesia.

It was still really windy but that magic corner of Palikir did its thing. The inside was straight off shore and 12 ft Hawaiian size!

There was not a soul around but Laurie, Stephen, Jay Bottle and Heath in the water and a few shooting the pictures on the boat. No one showed up until we left an empty line up behind us.

So many good surfers have been chasing this swell for years and when the day came, there was hardly anyone around. A few canceled right before the trip because of the forecasted winds but in the end it paid off for those who took the chances…

All pictures here by Ian Powell.