Semifinal 2 at the 2017/2018 Pe'ahi Challenge will go down as one of the greatest Big Wave Tour heats ever surfed. Period. In the history of the sport. It only seems appropriate that Maui legend Ian Walsh, one of the first surfers to paddle into huge waves at Jaws under his own power, dominated and yet still did not win the heat, such was the level of competition in an hour chock full of epic rides.
Walsh's perfect 10-point ride -- a giant double chambered/double spitting monster -- will surely go down as one of the best tube rides ever at Jaws and justly earn a Big Wave Awards Ride of the Year nomination. Just moments prior to Walsh's landmark ride, Australian Ryan Hipwood earned the first perfect 10 of the heat with a deep tube of his own, a wave precluded by heat winner Kai Lenny's own stand-up, hand-thrust-over-his-head barrel ride. What a show it was.