It arrived at 3AM. I know that because I woke up to a new sound. It was the regular crashing heartbeat of swell booming over reef and I just couldn’t get back to sleep again.
I also know that because the surf report says so. And this morning the surf report said:
“WELCOME TO WINTER!! New NW swell picked up overnight and is providing great waves for the entire north shore this morning at 15-18 ft, that’s triple overhead with occasional 20 ft. and good to epic conditions. Standout spots are showing some even larger rogue sets. Buoy 1 has consistent readings of this new swell of 12ft. @ 16 seconds...so look for a peak in surf sometime today. Light winds are on tap today, so it should be an awesome day of surfing for the country today.”
By 6:30 we were watching the moon set in the dawn light over washy, huge Sunset Beach, as waves slid through the morning-sick lineup unridden. A coffee and a Ted’s Bakery egg and bacon sandwich later, we were at Pipeline.
To get to Pipeline you walk across a grassy patch that leads you to that same palm fringed golden sand beach that you have seen so many times in video’s and photos. Thing is, video and photos don’t do Pipeline any sort of justice. It’s just so big, so heavy, and so close to the beach.
This morning, as soon as we parked the car, we could hear waves slamming and booming like 200 ton doors. Second reef was exploding, and white water avalanches were rolling over the 80 or so surfers in the water, leaving broken boards and bodies in their wake. We ate our sandwiches on the beach, and it felt as if we were in the lineup. We could hear the crowd in the water hooting, and smell the salty spray of each wave’s spit. We could even just make out Tamayo Perry's voice as he shouted at the Howlie's to clear out.
It wasn’t just Pipeline that was firing on all cylinders today either. Sunset improved throughout the day, Waimea was breaking, Haleiwa was cranking, Backyards was reeling and so were the outer reefs. Everywhere you turned, there was another huge wave running along another stretch of reef.
Imagine as many warm water, powerful big waves as you can surf, now imagine all of them crammed into a beautiful seven mile stretch of shoreline with one damn fine bakery in between.
Welcome to the North Shore baby…
