On the Rocks at Point Panic

Perfect scores and an ambulance ride at Town’s premier bodysurfing wave.

by Ryan Masters, The Surfer’s Journal, 34.2

Six minutes remain in the last heat of the 2024 International Body Surfing Association World Finals at Point Panics. In third place, 17-year-old French bodysurfer Uhaina Kailani-Hegoas sits nearly five full points behind the leader, Hawaiian powerhouse De’Lori Gomes. 

The stakes are high. Their heat, the Women’s Open Finals, will bring an end to an epic contest, which has featured 82 of the world’s best bodysurfers in perfect six-to-eight-foot waves. Qualifiers have been winnowed down from more than 400 bodysurfers in five regions: Europe/Africa, North America, Australia/Asia, Latin America, and Polynesia一or granted a wildcard. The level of talent in the water is off the charts. The swell does not disappoint.

“Top three swells I’ve ever seen at Panics,” contest organizer Philip Kitamura says. ”Extremely consistent. Often offshore. Sets every 10 to 15 minutes maybe. At least five waves in a set. Eight- to 12-foot faces. Barrelling, peeling rights. A lot of waves in between the sets. An absolute dream.”

“Without a doubt, better and better over the course of the three days,” says Dan Malloy, a qualifier from the North American bracket. “And it saved the best for last. Ridiculous conditions. So much energy on day three.”

A long lull has stalled the action. The clock ticks down to five minutes. Time is running out. The four women tread water, eyes staked to the horizon. Suddenly, a big, strangely angled set. The competitors roll the dice, sprinting in wildly different directions from one another. Despite first priority, Gomes gambles on the first wave, a smaller forerunner that breaks well inside and doesn’t improve her overall score. 

Kailani-Hegoas has recognized the pack has been sitting too deep. She sprints wide to catch the second wave of the set, arriving just in time to drop into the pocket. Driven by the long-period juice, she bobs and weaves and spins across its face, stylishly rodeoing the beast. Then, to the collective amazement of the crowd, she disappears into its barrel for not one! Not two! Not three! But four full seconds! When her  yellow cap emerges from the foamy barrel, a collective roar of joy and astonishment erupts from the crowd on shore. Kailani-Hegoas is back on to the face of the wave as it pushes into the channel. She disappears from view behind the wall of lava rock. 

Within seconds, the cheers die away. Smiles turn to looks of concern. Two paramedics begin running toward the area where Kailiani-Hegoas has disappeared. “Someone is hurt,” the announcer says. ”Can someone call 911?”

“At the beginning, I was trying to stay high on the wave,” says Kailani-Hegoas. “ I did a spin and went back to the highest place that I was able to ride. After that, I started getting deep in the barrel. It was hard to stay in the right place inside because the wave was pushing me so strongly. A few seconds later, I felt powerful foam push me towards the exit. I couldn't see anything at this point, but I felt through all my body and mind that I was very close to getting out. I remembered my dad telling me, ‘You can get out of the barrel at Panics. Trust me, you can make it.’ So I opened my eyes through the foam and saw the way. The inside foam pushed me out of the barrel and then I finally saw the rocks getting too close, but it was too late to escape.”

Kailani-Hegoas tries to pull out of the wave, but she cannot break free from its grasp. The wave opihi’es her upon the lava rock like a professional wrestler. When it’s over, her back is in great pain. She can’t move her arms or legs. She can’t feel her fingers and toes. She can’t breathe. She is in shock. She is deathly afraid she might be paralyzed. Many hands help her from the water.  On shore, the paramedics set C-spine. As she is loaded into an ambulance, the crowd cheers and applauds.

Kailani-Hegoas is lucky. The feeling returns to her body parts. The x-ray comes back negative. She is diagnosed with some scratches and a nasty hematoma on her back. At the hospital, her dad tells her: The wave was a 10. The only perfect score of the contest. She has won the greatest bodysurfing contest in history. She’s the women’s world champ.

Author’s note: Less than four months after her injury and win at Point Panic, Kailani-Hegoas was crowned Grand Champion at the 47th Annual World Bodysurfing Championship in Oceanside, California.

(Originally appeared in The Surfer’s Journal, 34.2)