Jade Darmawangsa Documents Journey From Beginner to Surfing Pipeline
Jade Darmawangsa decided three and a half years ago that she wanted to surf Pipeline. Along the way, the YouTuber has been documenting every step of the journey, from wobbling on a foam board as a rank beginner to finally paddling out at the famed break. Recently, she published an edit outlining the entire journey from start to finish.
Though the slightly clickbaity title of her video (I Try Surfing the Most Dangerous Wave With No Experience) makes it sound like she was an adult learner who blindly wandered into the world’s most dangerous lineup, Darmawangsa began the venture fully aware of the risks. “Pipeline’s one of, if not the, deadliest waves in the world,” she says at the top of the edit. “It has a lot of power and if you’re not skilled, you should not be out there, but I was determined to make it happen. No matter how long it took, no matter how hard it was, I wanted to surf Pipeline.”
For the then 19-year-old YouTuber, this meant moving from Portland to San Luis Obispo and getting to work. Then, after one of her videos of the process went viral, she landed a sponsor and some money to take the show on the road to Hawaii. Over the next three years, Darmawangsa went through an extremely well-documented journey, the highs and lows of which should feel familiar for anyone who’s attempted to learn the art of wave riding (although perhaps less relatable is the fact she was able to use social media sponsor money to fund the whole thing, including a surf camp in Portugal).
Fast forward to April of this year, when Darmawangsa went to Oahu and found herself actually at Pipe, contemplating the paddle out. The conditions weren’t maxing, but even small Pipe is anything but friendly. After a daunting discussion with a few locals, she threw caution to the wind and went for it. In the end, she was rewarded with a respectable left-hander and the satisfaction of actually following through on a seemingly impossible dream.
The post Jade Darmawangsa Documents Journey From Beginner to Surfing Pipeline first appeared on The Inertia.
