Surfing Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu – Why Does Anyone Ever Stop?

I first paddled out at Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu in the Winter of 1984 and surfed it almost every day it broke for years and years.  I love the place..it’s a super powerful wave, and beautiful beyond comparison.  Surfing Pipe  is  like playing in the very heart of the ocean.  Fast forward to 2011 and a great surf I had there just three days ago, my first for this Winter and one of only 10 times I’ve paddled out to Pipe in the past 3-years.  What happened, why did I stop riding my favorite wave?  Why does anyone stop riding her?  The thrill is still there, though the people have changed – most of them anyway.  We all get older, our lungs won’t let us paddle as fast or hold our breath as long as we get nailed by huge waves…But, that’s not why we stop or slow down our Pipeline addiction.  It’s more of a changing of the guard kind of like – I had my time and now it’s time to make room for the next generation.  Just imagine if no one ever stopped surfing Pipeline, we would have about 5,000 people in the water. That would be a very dangerous thing indeed.  For me it’s an accomplishment to have the physical strength to be able to paddle out after all these years.