Pre-Game Swell Hits Hawaii; “Preheats Oven” for Saturday’s Super Swell Nathan Florence, Jaws, 01/14. “It was a good day based one what we came for — warming up for Saturday and Sunday,” Florence said. “Get on your board and get the feet in the grip. Had some fun, big, tall north ones. Almost got a really good wave but the wind was pushing lips down and I got worked. All in all, ready for the next few days!” Photo: Aaron Lynton The thing about most sports is that you can practice as much as you want. The thing about big-wave surfing is that — most years! — there are only a handful of XXL swells. And even within those swells, only a handful of actual opportunities. And while working out, breath-holding and surfing regular sizes waves are all kinda practicing for big-wave surfing, there’s nothing that really replicates hucking oneself over a 50-foot saltwatery cliff. This year has clearly been a bit different, with weeks of non-stop North Pacific swell allowing the big-wave brigade to keep their guns finely tuned. And with Saturday’s Super Swell set to hit Jaws (stay tuned here for realtime coverage, of course) Thursday’s session may have been just the lemon next to the pie — but it was still a great warmup. Plus, as Surfline co-founder Sean Collins always used to say about a storm following the track of a previous storm, “it’s like preheating the oven” — mostly ’cause the storm is blowing across an already agitated sea state and doesn’t need to start from scratch.