Report and images courtesy Jeff Rowley & Minnie Vuong

As a long-period swell registering at over 17 feet @ 19 seconds on the buoys pushed into Hawaii yesterday, big-wave specialists including Jeff Rowley, Greg Long, Shaun Walsh and Albe Layer gathered on Maui to paddle-surf giant Peahi.

After cutting his teeth at Jaws early last month, Victorian Jeff Rowley was back for another crack at paddling the notorious big-wave venue on a 10'2" quad-fin gun.

“Jaws was smoking... one of the best surfs of my life,” said Rowley via email shortly after returning ashore, “The swell angle was better than the other day, but it was super windy”.

While many waves were successfully ridden, both Rowley and Long copped “horrendous” wipeouts and were forced to activate their emergency inflatable-wetsuit systems while underwater.

With the swell expected to hold overnight, another session is likely to go down tomorrow morning.