By Jake Howard
In December of 2019, with the awards ceremony for the Pipe Masters taking place on the beach, 14-year-old San Clemente grom Hayden Rodgers suffered a wipeout that nearly took his life.
Three years later, Rodgers is ripping and charging harder than ever. With the late-season swell pumping along Oahu’s legendary North Shore, Rodgers most recently has been packing bombs at Pipe.
Rodgers, who’s unafraid to go big, deserves huge props for the Second Reef roll-in that ultimately closed out on the inside and hammered him. Check out the wipeout on his Instagram feed.
Rodgers is a full-on barrel hunter. Over the past year or so, he’s logged water time on Bali and through the Indonesian archipelago. Making a trip to the magical G-Land way down deep in Java, he’s definitely not afraid to go over a shallow, unforgiving reef.
He also put some time in down south in Central America. And while El Salvador is known mostly for its right-hand point surf, the goofy-footer got down to business in the warm, equatorial waters.
Of course, most of the time, you’ll find Rodgers tearing the bag out of the Lowers Left. It may not be the best tube in town, but it does have a heck of an air section, and Rodgers is no slouch above the lip, either.
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