The O’Neill Wave of the Winter is the pinnacle of the North Shore season. It’s the most spectacular ride from the most challenging stretch of coast on Earth over a four-month period as chosen by our elite judging panel of Gerry Lopez, Shane Dorian, Pancho Sullivan and Shawn Briley.
And yeah: this year was very, very close. Hundreds of entries. Some of the craziest Outer Reef waves we’ve ever seen, mixed in with equally intense Backdoor, Off-the-Wall and Pipe barrels. And while there is only ever one winner — who will take home $25,000 — we documented the best of these spectacular rides over the whole darn winter and packaged it into a short film that celebrates the heroes of the North Shore