Big waves drew a crowd at Oahu's North Shore Wednesday. The northwest swell provided quite a show for the spectators, but it also kept rescue workers on their toes.
Waimea Bay drew the biggest crowd as about 30 to 40 surfers braved the conditions. Only the really experienced wave riders would dare surf these heights which were estimated to reach about 30 feet.
"It was pretty fun, enough to get the blood pumping for sure, nice early morning wake up," said surfer Mikey Bruneau.
For many others who made it to the North Shore though, it was enough just to watch the waves from the beach.
"We were here yesterday and we kept saying it was gonna build so we had to come back this morning to see and unbelievable from just yesterday, said Ruth Olson, who is visiting from Utah.
Just before 9 a.m. though, rescue workers were called in. A body surfer, which our camera caught going in the water, ran into trouble as a powerful wave knocked his fins off.
"We saw him swimming and everyone standing kind of watching him, and all we saw was his fins go up and a huge wave was coming and dove under and we didn't see him come back up so everyone started to get worried," said Amber Kealoha, who witnessed the rescue.
Rescue workers with the Honolulu Fire Department quickly assembled a search party as city lifeguards patrolled the water on jet skis. The body surfer was found about 20 minutes after he jumped in, grateful and unharmed.
"I was gonna make it in, but I didn't know they were gonna come sooner or later," he says.
A happy ending for this incident and everyone turned to watching the waves again. For surfers, this winter has not produced a lot of swells. There's optimism that there'll be more on the way.
"Hopefully it can get going, it's been a really late season so just to see a big swell is pretty exciting," said surfer Lane Davey.
