Behind The Shot: Col's Wave

Earlier this year, bodysurfer Col MacLeod returned from his first trip to the North Shore. While there, Col, who's 37-years old and comes from Western Australia, focussed squarely on Pipeline. He sat deep and ingratiated himself with the Pipe locals, who were perhaps wondering about the bodybogger with the wild beard and mad grin. Maybe they sensed a kindred spirit, or perhaps someone doing it for the right reasons...whatever it was, they gave him room and some encouraging words.

On January 20th, a stout northwest swell - big enough to shutdown Backdoor - plus a clear blue sky and light trades made for sublime conditions.

There Col got the wave of his life.

It could easily have happened that Col caught the wave and the moment dispappeared into the ever-receding past. Living on only in Col's memory as a story to trot out when the mood struck, a little less accurate each time as the outlines of the wave faded with age.

...except photographer Brent Bielmann was right in the slot and shot a sequence of Col, beginning with his late drop and ending with the blaze of glory climax.

'The best bodysurfing sequence I've seen', said Bielmann, which swelled Col's chest no end, and it promptly ran in Hawaii's Freesurf magazine, and also as yesterday's Wave Of The Day on Swellnet.

Here's Col's take on the trip and the wave:

I did the trip on the bones of my arse. Worked manual labour for a couple seasons prior, training for Pipe at a left reef, which, out of respect for the locals, I won’t name. It’s no secret, they just don’t talk about it much. Mark, the local shaper who had done a bunch of seasons there in the nineties, gave me the push to go to North Shore, telling me I was ready after calling me into countless closeouts and helping me glass a couple handshaped paulownia handplanes that I made*.

I owe Mark a lot for his belief and willingness to help.

I went last minute, with just USD $860 in my pocket, and kept it budget by kipping in an old military tent on a farm. The tent was surrounded by orchard trees with a small stable next door, was within walking distance from Pipe, and I'd organised it to stay there in exchange for labour on the farm between surfs. I rode a pushbike or walked everywhere. It wasn't just to stretch the money out, I also found it grounding - made me more aware of my surroundings by doing things the slow way.

When I arrived, we had a great run of swell. The first pulse arriving on the 20th of January. All told I got 16 surfs at Pipe in 11 days. I met a ton of legends and chargers out there. Owen Schultz and Anthony Walsh were particularly helpful during my stay, and I want to acknowledge Koa Smith for calling me into the wave above. Overall I found Pipe to a wildly positive experience. Locals were mostly curious and encouraging and allowed me to sit in the pack, deep, and sometimes at the top of the lineup.

On the bigger days I even caught some second reefers but couldn't link them through. Just trying to pull that off is enough to make me go back again next winter.

Highlights of a surfing life. First trip to the North Shore, first proper Pipe wave, and Col MacLeod jags one off the pack (Bielmann)

Pipeline is what I expected...and also it wasn't. I'd put it on this pedestal, to be honest, I was expecting more power and I was expecting to be less comfortable. I guess WA has comparable power so I was prepared in that sense. Sitting deep where I was sitting, I also thought I was gonna get told to go to the shoulder, but I really have to put it back on the locals there and give my thanks to them because they were so encouraging and generous with me.

Wipeouts were not that bad, but also it’s Pipe so there’s a degree of luck involved. I hit the reef hard once the entire time which surprised me. Pipe is a wave where if I’m in my head, I go in, if I’m in flow state and just cruising around, that’s when I feel good and surf good, committing to drops and relaxing during the beatings. With most barrelling waves, I hang on as long as I can until the foamball eats me up, I end up spinning in the whitewater rather than getting dumped over the falls, that goes a long way to taking the bite out of a heavy wave.

The wave in the sequence was a dream one. I sat deep, just inside both Koa's. They paddled for it but pulled back and yelled at me to go. I did and it was just beautiful - the clearest tube I've ever seen. Reef and sky visible through the turmoil of the vortex as it folded over top.

Col's made good ground, but the wave is moving that bit much faster. Surfers of a certain age could easily picture Chappy Jennings in this shot (Bielmann)

I didn't even see Brent in the spot. Didn't know he got the shot until Walshy messaged me and sent me a screenshot of Brent’s Instagram later that night.

The funny thing about it was that earlier that morning, I had woken up at about 5am, and sat on the little deck outside my tent meditating on a thought of really accepting what comes. I had that thought because I'd gotten a sick one a few days prior and wondered about how I’d get hold of a photo of it, not knowing any of the crew on the island. I decided literally hours before the wave that I would pay more attention to what was actually happening around me, and then accepting what was offered.

This mindset calmed my nerves a lot and enabled me to have less hesitation in the water.

That single wave taught me a beautiful lesson that I still think about every day nearly six months on. It’s kinda like, by letting go of things you're more able to grab hold of the really good stuff when it comes along.

I’ve since decided to work only as much as is needed to chase swells to a few special waves and just keeping accepting what comes my way. Just got back from a trip to Tassie and I just want to give a quick shout out to JP for inviting me, and to the local fellas down there for a beautiful day at 'Stern as well.

Lastly, I wanna just quickly thank Mele and Alex for the hospitality on the shore, Beachy and Steve, Wassel and the Ehukai lifeguards, O Dog and Walshy, Kane Overall, Ned and Adele Hart, Noah Hasset, and all the Pipe locals.

//COLIN MACLEOD

*The handplane is something I came up with while trying to figure out a solid lefthander. I'd had other ones made by a great craftsman - David Archer at Garage - yet he was no longer producing handplanes.

I wanted more handplanes and to change a few things mostly as an experiment. David was very helpful, sending me leftover handstraps and plugs to make a couple when we talked about what I was doing. I used solid paulownia for its strength so I could pull most of the volume out of the shape, reducing the water displacement and making it easier to swim with. The solid construction with a glassed bottom really helps the plane avoid punctures from the reef too - it chips occasionally but is very durable.

I put a fin on it in the centre of a deep single concave right under the palm of the hand. I wanted the water to draw into the concave and for the foil to direct that draw into forward momentum, to help me maintain a line on larger waves. Fins on handplanes aren’t a new idea, but I haven’t seen a shape quite like mine yet. It’s definitely influenced by David’s work at Garage Handplanes though. The fin was made by Justin Kalish who does a lot of fins for Dale Wilson. I had used him for some Al Byrne and Col Smith foils for my channels over the years so sent him a template of what might work and he nested a bunch into his offcuts.

My friend Mark agreed to help me with the glassing. It came out really well and I think they go incredible. I may eventually make a few for others but I have ADHD that can be a bit hectic at times and right now I’m just enjoying the creative process. Knowing myself, if people were waiting for them I’d only make something sick once the angry emails come through asking where the bloody things are!