Tow surfers being taken out to breaking waves off Jaws Maui Hawaii
Maui, Hawaii is home to the world's biggest wave, called Jaws. This legendary wave can be 70 feet height and comes to the North Shore of Maui a dozen times a year. Jaws has also a hawaiian name - locals call it Peahi. Its incredible power and radical, bone crushing form kept the crowds light and the action intense as the world's most accomplished windsurfers challenged by its gigantic tubes. The phenomen of Jaws can be explained by the unique shape of underwater ridge here. The height and the form of a wave depend on the sea depth and the shape of the sea bottom. Near the North Shore of Maui there is a large underwater ridge, located about 30 feet beneath the ocean's surface. As part of a storm swell passes over the ridge crest, it slows down because water travels slower in shallow water, scientists explain. Other parts of the swell travel faster in deeper water, causing the wave to focus on the ridge-a process called refraction. The reef squeezes the wave "inward and upward" to form a "peaking wave." So the monster wave Laws arises and breaks at Maui's Hookipa beach.
Size: 5129px × 3426px
Location: Jaws Beach, Maui, Hawaii
Photo credit: © Tony Harrington / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: america, american, barrel, beach, blue, breaker, breaking, channel, crest, hawaii, holiday, hookipa, jaws, maui, ocean, pacific, rip, sea, surf, surfer, surfing, towsurfer, travel, trip, tube, vacation, water, wave, waves
