Maui, Hawaii 6 January 2011 Big wave surfer Jeff Rowley ‘paddles-in’ to historic 50-foot plus (15m+) waves at Peahi “Jaws” and becomes the first Australian to ride the waves without Jet Ski tow-in. Rowley and his girlfriend/videographer Minnie Vuong, from Torquay Victoria, have based themselves in Hawaii for three months to catch and document the monster North Pacific winter storm surf. Rowley and Vuong flew from the island of Oahu to Maui Tuesday night, and arrived at the infamous Peahi ‘Jaws’ cliff top before sunrise to see the 50-60 foot waves (15-18m) for the first time. The surf at Peahi, aka “Jaws”, is considered the worlds biggest and most dangerous and until recently has been considered impossible to catch and ride without the use of a jet ski ‘tow-in’ and foot straps. Rowley and a small group of big wave surfers including Shane Dorian and Garret McNamara pushed the boundaries of big wave surfing by refusing to ‘tow-in’ and choosing to ‘paddle-in’ to the monster waves. “The waves were moving about 50k’s an hour and the wind was absolutely howling so every instinct is telling you it cant be done, but we did it- its unbelievable” Rowley said. In doing so Rowley became the first Australian surfer to paddle into the infamous waves at Jaws. “I’m so proud to be the first Aussie to paddle in at Jaws, it was a historic day and we pushed the limits and survived”. During the historic session Rowley rode a special 10’2″ (3m) Al Merrick quad fin surfboard designed for 30-40 …