The World Surf League 2023/2024 Big Wave season is officially open. This Big Wave season will feature events at two iconic locations: the TUDOR Jaws Big Wave Challenge at Peʻahi on Maui in the Hawaiian Islands; and the TUDOR Nazaré Big Wave Challenge in Nazaré, Portugal. The holding period to run the competition at Nazaré opens today, and Peʻahi starts on Nov. 10. Both events’ holding periods close on March 31, 2024.
Rodney Lash Nui Kilborn was a firefighter on Maui and had sponsored a number of amateur surfing events as a volunteer organizer on the Valley Isle, when he led a number of other watermen to help to start the first annual Peʻahi surfing contest in the mid-1990s. Maui Now writer Gary Kubota interviewed Kilborn for our People of Maui feature.
Over the years, Peahi, which is more commonly referred to as Jaws, on Maui's north shore has seen waves of epic proportions. Thanks to the spot's unique