Big Wave Info

Basic information:

The Banzai Pipeline or commonly called "Pipeline", is a surf reef break located in Hawaii, off Ehukai Beach Park in Pupukea on O'ahu's North Shore. A reef break is an area in the ocean where waves start to break once they reach the shallows of a reef. Pipeline is notorious for huge waves which break in shallow water just above a sharp and cavernous reef, forming large, hollow, thick curls of water that surfers can tube ride. There are three reefs at Pipeline in progressively deeper water further out to sea that activate according to the increasing size of approaching ocean swells. The best times to see or surf Pipeline at its best is December through March, this is when the waves are at their biggest and best.

Specifics of the wave break:

The reef at 'Pipeline' is a flat table top reef, with several ditches on the inside, creating a giant air bubble that pops on the front of the wave when the wave rises upwards just before breaking. There are also several miniature lava mountains that can injure fallen surfers. Sand can build on the reef at Pipeline and that can cause waves to "close out" (meaning the barrel of the wave collapses all at once and makes the wave impossible to surf). A strong swell from the west clears out the sand in the reef, and after that, a strong north swell can give rise to the best waves.