Watch legendary surfer Laird Hamilton 'shoot the pier' — twice

Watch legendary surfer Laird Hamilton &#039;shoot the pier&#039; &amp;mdash; twice

(Image credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Intense waves caused by Hurricane Marie continue to pound parts of the Southern California coastline. That might scare off the average surfer — but of course, pro Laird Hamilton is anything but average, and he has been putting on a show for beach dwellers in Malibu.

On Wednesday, Hamilton started his day by helping rescue a surfer who was swept down toward the rocks. "Oh, he was happy, he was thankful," Hamilton told ABC7. "His eyes were big and he was appreciative that he was back on the land." Sufficiently warmed up, Hamilton then took to the waves himself, and was captured on camera "shooting the pier," or maneuvering through the pilings of the pier. This is hard enough to do once, let alone twice, but Hamilton did it while making it look easy. Watch the video below, but kids, leave it to the professionals. --Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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