Film, edit and description by @InstaMauiMatt – “The biggest swell hit the island of Maui in July 2022 and what an incredible day it was of filming. I flew over to Maui with my friend and professional bodyboarder, Dave Hubbard and Kepa for the day to surf this swell. All I can say is… what the heck is this place?!?”

“I have shot massive north shore many times, we are talking 20+ ft waves that just absolutely pound and destroy everything though seeing Freight Trains at Ma’alaea was an experience I have never seen in my short time as a bodyboard photographer. We landed and headed right to the harbor to check out the conditions. Just seeing how big the waves were from the parking lot on the “medium sized sets” was incredible, but when the massive sets came rolling in, I just could not believe it – chicken skin!”

“Ma’alaea Harbor is known to be one of the windiest small boat harbors in the world, so it was no surprise that the wind was literally just whipping around the whole entire day. Conditions were all time – as Dave Hubbard said, he has not surfed it like this since about 1995 (23 year ago!).”

“While I am not a surfer or a bodyboarder, I could clearly see how insanely hard it was for even guys with surf boards to catch this wave. It’s unbelievable how fast this wave peals off the reel and goes down the line. I took several clips that easily could have been 20-30 seconds long of waves just breaking, not including when it started to break way outside at the mouth of the harbor. The guys on the boogie boards had a harder time catching waves, though for those that could score, they scored big…”

“Overall this day was incredible, I still can not stop thinking about how crazy the conditions were and people were just barrelled out of their minds this day and odds are, it will be a really long time before we see this kinda swell here again so I am so thankful to have the ability to pop over really quick to chase swells around Hawaii.”