For two months every winter, when Pacific storms make landfall, swarms of mainlanders, Brazilians, Australians, and Europeans flock to Oahu’s paradisiacal North Shore in pursuit of some of the greatest waves on earth, for surfing’s Triple Crown competition.

Chas Smith reveals how this influx transforms a sleepy, laid-back strip of coast into a lawless, violent, drug-addled, and adrenaline-soaked mecca. With Hunter-esque journalist Smith throwing himself into the centre of the action, this is a sun-bleached, breakneck account of power, money, crime, and surfing