You heard the reports in the morning. Owen Wright: “Pipeline looks like death right now.” Dustin Barca: “Way too dangerous.” With slack winds and a lot of sand, the thick, 8- to 12-foot west swell is inevitably going to lure a pack out at Pipe despite the obvious risks. And while the morning saw few takers, the crowd turned up to volume 11 in the afternoon as light offshores teased Pipe lovers like Homer’s sirens. One look at the warped but beautiful lineup, and you knew someone was going to get hurt.
The first to fall was global-minded charger Dave Rastovich, who braved one of the few Backdoor pits of the day, then got annihilated by the cascading explosion and nailed his tailbone on the reef. We’ll keep you posted on his status as we learn more.
The other, and more serious injury occurred later in the afternoon, when Aamion Goodwin (pictured above) locked into one of the heavier sets of the day. As he started driving through the barrel, longtime Pipe charger Cody Graham – who apparently didn’t see him – freefell into the pit, right in Aamion’s path, causing a brutal pileup. Goodwin nailed the reef with his knee and allegedly dislocated it. “It was ugly,” said witness Mark Healey. “It looked all out of socket and just wrong. Definitely looked like he’s out for a while.”
We wish both Rastovich and Goodwin a speedy recovery.