Road Blockage
As of 2006, the road to "Jaws" had been intentionally blocked by placing derelict vehicles across the road, and setting them on fire. In addition to the vehicles, there are tank trap-style cuts into the roads, preventing all but small, ATV-style vehicles from approaching from the highway.
The reason for the blockage is related to the December 15, 2004 crowding of the lookout. Surfers who were not competing, tourists, and many others showed up to the lookout to observe the massive surf. People were injured, and veteran big wave riders Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama protested that the congestion on the waves made it more difficult and dangerous than otherwise to surf the Peahi reef. It is suggested that one surfs at "Jaws" "by invitation" from a veteran tow-in surfer only, despite absence of any legal basis for such a suggestion regarding public territory. Non-expert big wave surfers are discouraged.
The only practical way to approach "Jaws" at the surf level is from another launch on the coast, by boat or jet ski. Tow-in wave riders can be observed by viewers from the high cliff overhead, though the space is limited. Use extreme caution, not recommended with young children; there are no lifeguards, and EMTs must travel a long distance to respond to observer accidents.
Read more about this topic: Jaws (beach)
Famous quotes containing the word road:
“Telephone poles were matchsticks, put there to be snapped off at a whim. Dogs trotting across the road were suddenly big trucks. Old ladies turned into moving—vans. Everything was too bright, but very funny and made for my delight. And about half a mile from my long liquid breakfast I turned carefully down a side street and parked, and sat beaming happily through the tannic fog for about an hour, remembering how witty we all had been, how handsome and talented ... [ellipsis in original]”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)