Surf Legend Laird Hamilton 'Shoots the Pier' on Huge Hurricane Wave

 By 
Sam Laird
 on 
Surf Legend Laird Hamilton 'Shoots the Pier' on Huge Hurricane Wave
Credit: Elise Amendola

Laird Hamilton is a surfing legend and legends never die -- even, apparently when they tempt fate on massive waves before a beach full of gobsmacked onlookers.

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Watch the man purported to be Hamilton -- who news reports confirm has been in the area -- catch a huge wave at Surfrider Beach in Malibu before shooting the pier like a true daredevil. "Shooting the pier," in surfing lingo, means to ride a wave through the gaps in a pier's support posts. It's dangerous. It's risky. When pulled off successfully, it's totally badass. Hamilton also appears to be riding a standup paddle-board, no less.

The video (just ignore the cameraman's leering coda, by the way) was posted to YouTube on Tuesday. Southern California beaches have drawn thrill-seeking surfers this week as huge 10- to 25-foot waves caused by Hurricane Marie pound beaches.

For a better look at what "shooting the pier" entails, check out this video shot by a drone of another surfer doing the deed in Malibu on Tuesday.

But as epic as Hamilton's apparent shooting the pier was, the story took a tragic later Tuesday when another surfer in the area died after being pulled from the water and a Malibu Pier piling was knocked loose by the violent surf.

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