My son and I live in Lodi California and we saw the weather report on Tuesday headed an hour west to half Moon Bay Everybody in our family thought we were crazy ended up being some of the best surfing in my life sometimes you have to head into the eye of the storm to see true beauty🤙☯️ get busy living

"Swells like this rearrange our relationship with where we surf. We think we know the takeoff zone at our local spot, and then all of a sudden it's 100 yards out and to the left. We think waves never break inside that cove or jetty or harbor or river, and then all of a sudden, they do." I'm not crying, you're crying. Poetry.

The Greg Long drop was pure artistry.

I'm 65 yo and it's the biggest I can recall,great video,thank you👊

Yes, 1969 is the benchmark used for the last 50 years. For us in So Cal that were there, we will always remember waves breaking over both Newport Harbor jetties. Dana Point closing out across the entire bay, and a reef breaking further out than the end of the San Clemente pier. Fun times.

I’ve lived and surfed in Hawaii for 40+ years (too old to surf now) and live near Rincon Point now. I saw the huge waves there recently and I also saw all the debris in the water and on the beach, logs, limbs etc from the storms. That’s not something I would like to be tumbling in the whitewater with, lol.

Amazing Todos and swell… props to Greg Longs wave and all that paddled out there. Yah JoJo

Resident of San Diego here. The swells at Blacks beach these past few days have been absolutely gargantuan

Among many great things, and places I've been, Surfing for over 25 years (and for 1 month a year now) is the best, most pivotal decision I ever made. Started at 29 yrs old, in cold water. Cheers.

Lot of Respect for Greg Long. He's already died once but he is Such a Warrior and Great Surfer he wants to Always Take off on the Biggest Wave! Mahalo Greg for your Spirit

This particular swell was legendary for sure, but nothing compares to the destruction of the El Nino storms of 1982-83.

Hi Kevin!! I miss your folks.. hug your Mama for me.🌴🌊 Thanks for the epic surf reports. You know if the Goat rerouted his travel path for the year, for this, it's gotta be epic, as well.

I love Surfline! I love being a Californian. Thank you for such a beautiful piece. 🔥💕🤙🏼

64 year old Westcoaster here and have seen waves breaking on top of HB pier in the 70s. Never seen Todos that big before 🍻

OH WOOOOW very adventurous people,lovers of the ocean...great view thank you all!

Wow Thanks for documenting one of the biggest swells of our lifetime Really appreciate what you do Thanks again guys👍🤙

Todos looking like huge Mavericks.. That big take-off from Greg Long over that warping face must have been done in faith.

Woohoo!!! That is awesome! I saw massive waves twice when I went to Waimea Bay to watch the first two Eddie Aikau surf contests back in the day. I also saw epic waves at Sandy Beach and Makapuu before in the 1980s where it was breaking way outside and massive. I was so happy to see a picture of the huge waves in one video of Sandy Beach and there is a video at Makapuu not long ago where it got epic. I first learned it could get that big when my college professor in Oceanography at the University of Hawaii told us in class about how Makapuu could get epic on extremely rare conditions. He used to go bodysurfing after class at Makapuu and I would see him gliding along the waves in the water when I was swimming back out from the waves I caught. I used to go bodysurfing almost every day for years when I was younger but now I am an old man living on the Mainland. :)

Back in the late 1970's I remember going with a few friends down to the Seal Beach Pier. We were in High School and I rode my bike down there from my parents house near Recreation Park golf course and Wilson High. I would cut through the marina to shorten bike ride there, but it was a pretty long ride none-the-less. The waves were the same height as the pier. I had my Boogie Board and I managed to drop in on a few of them. The water was really nasty from all the sea debris being churned up. But it was an awesome day in the waves and I will never forget it.

Thanks from NZ for your comprehensive reportage. Stoked for Long.

Great job team 🙌 Epic coverage and beautiful production. Shoutout the homies Marcus, Kevin, Marc, Jake 🤙

I live in Mendocino. The waves were large but so messy and undefined that it didn’t look majestic. The waves did not look as big as they were because that ocean was just so rough. I’ve seen waves LOOK much bigger here. They just actually weren’t. PS: they ended up damaging the Pt. Cabrillo lighthouse in Caspar. That thing is on a cliff 50’ above sea level.

Almost been surfing for 60 years grew up in Pacifica Cal! I rode 55 ft North Bird Rock in1975! The monster from New Zealand! I ride a Mike Eaton bonzer! God bless all my surfing Brothers!

All of Los Angeles came to our little town when they missed the best barrels of all time in LA! They didn't even know where to go in their own town!

I'm from Ensenada which faces Isla de Todos Santos. And I'd heard about how insane the waves can get on the island. It's so cool to have seen it in this video even if I've never seen it in real life.

Was soul filling to watch! Thank you for sharing

love it! Good edit Surfline.

"Its the 50 year storm everything moves in cycles so twice the century the ocean lets us know just how small we really are"

Fantastic. I can’t wait for the next episode of the 2023 Cali winter

Nice segment Epic January to remember for you guys. Enjoy.

rad, stoked for you guys. a little Waimea out in Cali! woot! 🤙🏄‍♂

Wow amazing footage of the 🌊. Looks like everyone had a great day.

Amazing. Those people are really brave. I used to boogie board when I was a kid. There were huge waves in 1982-83, does anyone remember this? That was the year a lot of piers were damaged. I was there the day the west end of the Santa Monica pier was severely damaged. There were pieces of wood and debris all over the beach. It was something I will never forget.

Awesome watch thanks for sharing..

Greg long is animal and to be able to still be doing it at his age mad respect to him and the big wave boys

Anyone recall the article in Surfer in the late 60's titled "The Day the Islands Came to Newport"? A couple of years later, the City of Huntington was allowing riders to run out the pier and jump onto the top of the swell (just a few feet below the bottom of the pier)

Blessed to be able to surf this swell - Seal Beach 🤙🏽

Mid 80s I ran into some big ones one fall day in HB at Bolsa Chica State beach. Normally blown out and high tide slop. That day I dropped in on a 25' face and made it. Speed so fast the rail was humming. Riding a 5'10" Randy Lewis tri fin. I was maybe 16. 57 now, and will never forget it

Superb presentation

Thanks for putting this video together.

Now you can ride it in all the way to the parking lot!

Edwards point right below El Cap had some insane action

I’m so stoked

Awesome ! Thank you

Thank you Jeff Specolli I just looked at that wave and said hey dud let’s party😆

Crazy. Big waves this season

I remember the 1969 swell well. We surfed "off the end" at Big Corona, then actually in the channel between the jetties because they were more ride-able. I remember the storms that destroyed the HB pier in 1988, Balboa Pier in 1998, but I have never, even seen Black's so big or Todos Santos so big. This has been epic.

epic swell and so fun to see everyone frothing

Baja Waimea

Good God! That swell... I'm speechless.

Proud to say I was out there

Jonah Carter on the wave at 1:48 ! Amazing to watch the ocean those days!

What was the stirring sound byte playing during Greg Long’s big wave?

Nice video👍

Mother nature is so powerful. Amazing waves all over West Coast making thousands very happy.

Greg Long is a living legend

that was great! I used to surf C Street and The Peer. I'd be scared of the size of the waves in this vid.

Every swell is different, and in So Cal the angle is the key. The Channel & Offshore islands make a huge difference in where these swells will hit. I would say this wasn’t the biggest we’ve seen in San Diego, but up north it looks like the swell snuck through the shadow of the islands better. Winds were also a factor - never got right in a lot of spots, but The Cove & Blacks were pretty good! I did my thing at Blacks & The Cove & The Cliffs & Mexico (Todos & other unnamed spots) in the 80’s, 90’s I'm like that grumpy old man now - mid-60’s & too beaten up to do this any longer. I’d like to say "…it was definitely bigger in my day, sonny-boy!...” Well, maybe it was & maybe it wasn’t… We didn’t have digital cameras back then, or digital video. Only some grainy old pictures… And the memories of lifting 20’ to 30’ off the ocean’s surface, and taking that massive drop! So here’s to today’s young-turk chargers. Thanks for allowing us to re-live the moments through your exploits! It was definitely bigger in years past! And the fish are always bigger at the bar! Same thing you’ll say to the new guard in 30 years!

I’m not a surfer but I enjoy the video.

I remember going out one day back in the 70s when we had a massive swell hit Southern California, the waves were crashing over the end of the Hermosa pier, my buddy and I were just teenagers and had no business going out in that surf but we did anyways.Once I got in the water fear starting setting in but I didn’t want to admit it, I was actually very relieved when the Coast Guard helicopter flew over and ordered us out of the water lol. I didn’t catch a wave that day unfortunately or maybe fortunately but at least I can say I paddled out in one of the epic swells of my lifetime.

Would have loved to see this in real life. Great video I'm sure there's probably 100+ stories from this

Any report about Salt Creek (just south of South Laguna)? Did it break in this swell? In the early seventies I remember a couple days with a big well ordered winter west swell it broke about 1.5 miles off the point in a pretty good left. Hard to get past the shore break and there were only a few of us out there (scared), it was epic.

Watching from Australia.

very cool surfline thnk yuo

Well done guys

Cheers from Cali !🤙✌️💚🌲🌏☮️

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing!

This is a good video.

So they got on a boat at 2:30 am from San Diego and reached Todos Santos, which is 1000 miles away, by sunrise?

So good.

How did the boat get on the beach? Navigator error?

Epic!!

3:04 Todos Santos MX is 1,000 miles south of San Diego (same todos Santos? ). It would have been nice, for curiosity sake to say how they got down there and how long it took them. That little trawler is not going 1000 miles very fast.

That is crazy.

Awesome.

Blessed 🙏🏼🤙🏽

Yeah I was in Hawaii last weak and Waimea bay was pumping super hard

Darn, I haven't seen Jojo since he was a teenager, he's the spitting image of his Dad!

Remember Jeff Parker surfing maxing Todos in 1983, on a short board.

It's been slamming here in Santa Barbara, unbelievable!!!

Beautiful

Yesterday on Oahu, Da Eddie would go was ON. I is from Hawaii 😎 the island of Oahu and size of The Waves was 30-35 ft. 🌊🏄👣🤙

Very nice,lived so cal 61 years .yes this is top 3 depending where u are at up north I heard was massive but unrideable

I am in awe of these people. It just looks terrifying to me!

Who charged Fish 🐟 Taco 🌮 Island? I got my @ the 7:15 mark 🤙

I've never been on a surfboard. But I'm a long-time body-surfer who remembers the swells off Santa Monica in late August of 1973. The waves were nothing like what you see here - I wouldn't have been out there if they had been - but they were much better than anything I'd seen on the Maryland and Jersey shores, and I couldn't get off the beach. They were perfect for body-surfing, not monstrously big, but powerful, shaped just right and breaking far enough from shore where you wouldn't break your neck in a wipe-out. I was disappointed when I returned to California in 1975 (at Zuma Beach), expecting a similar experience I had enjoyed two years earlier. But it was not to be. The waves were anemic, the surf relatively placid. Nature moves on its own time, not ours.

Holy moly, Greg is gonna be up for an XXL!

Winter 1988 at El Porto, Manhattan Beach ca. was Waimea bay at its best day, and I’ve got dozens of pictures to prove it, 50ft 60ft at peak faces, only just a few were brave enough to try, it was huge! It was epic a couple of weeks ago as I compare it to the photos I have, winter 1988 in SoCal was epic, I was down in Todos santos a month ago and only wish I had planned it a month later.

I’ve been in the NICU with my daughter over the past month and have ridden zero waves. I hope to hear some epic stories after we are out of here.

So sad i got injured omw to surf. Let's hope more big waves coming soon

I surfed todos at 20’ and perfect. I think the big drop is great and scary but I prefer a waves with shape . I just go to Porto Escondido now it must be huge now . I still remember my best wave of my life. Jumped off the pier in Oceanside California because the paddle out was horrendous 15 to 20 foot riding a 6’8 sunset swallow tail single fin . Me and my partner just looked at each other a huge set was looking right at us everyone was tired from paddling out, we were scratching hard I turned around took a steep drop into to a 15 foot barrel I must’ve been in there for 10 seconds came out made the inside section all the way to the life Gaurd tower . I just sat on the bench smiling watching this massive swell

I can’t believe guys paddle out in this surf. 40 feet and 56 degree water? I’m happy to watch

All I need is some tasty waves, cool buds, and I'm fine. -Jeff Spicoli

Them guys are crazy

so january 18th 2018 just wasn't that big of a swell to you guys at surfline?

If you are looking for big swells, move to Okinawa southern outer islands. Here we have an average of 2 to 3 typhoons a month, from July to end of October.

Cool, no tow in footage 😎

Even those small waved have a lot of power

DUDE, I'M TOTALLY GRATEFUL AND BLESSED TO SEE THE OCEAN ON SUCH A BENDER IN THE ZONE, DUDE. DUDE, IT'S TOTALLY TODOS. OUT.

I saw this once in Barbados , the waves trashed beach houses and i got munched by the biggest wave i ve ever seen