Greg Noll, swaggering big-wave surfer known as ‘Da Bull,’ dies at 84 Harrison Smith Riding waves at Waimea Bay, the dangerous and revered surf break on Oahu’s North Shore, Greg Noll would orient himself by triangulating with two local Hawaiian landmarks, a church steeple and a cemetery. Guided by those symbols of God and death, he dropped in on enormous waves that threatened to explode on top of him, crashing down with a roar that could be heard a mile away. Mr. Noll, a former California lifeguard, was widely credited with leading the opening charge at Waimea, helping to extinguish a taboo that had persisted since 1943, when surfer Dickie Cross drowned while trying to make his way to shore. After more than a decade in which surfers avoided the break, Mr. Noll and a few others paddled out in November 1957, dropping in on 15-foot waves and showing that it was possible to ride there without being crushed to death or pulled out to sea in a riptide.