Hookipa Beach(Maui)...Massive Monday...November 3, 1986. Dave Terry reporting after riding what many consider one of the largest waves ever ridden in a surfsailing contest. Four minutes ago, I saw my life pass before my eyes while nearly drowning. Two minutes ago, I hung at the top of a 15-foot Hawaiian Island wave, looking down some 30 feet at another contestant screaming something about the biggest wave he'd ever seen...and as I dropped in, I realized this day would go down in surfsailing history.

Later in the afternoon of this gigantic day, I talked with Robby Naish about the conditions-"the highest jumps I've ever experienced"_ and then Mike Waltze, the king of Hookipa, who took second to Robby after grueling through five heats on Saturday and sending chills down the spines of most of us by terrorizing the outside waves when most guys couldn't even make it out. Said Waltze, "These swells are without a doubt the largest waves that have ever been ridden in any surfsailing contest." Then Rich Myers, just after he won the masters' class(he too, nearly drowned while being absorbed by 30 feet of pummeling whitewater)-his only statement being, "Thank God I'm alive." With quotes like these from my most respected peers, I asked myself, "Why do I want to go back out there?"
It must be love....

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