Triple Crown at Sunset; Free Surf at Pipe

On Thursday, the 28th, the surf forecasts here in Oahu were all saying the same thing; large (15 to 20 feet) surf slamming into the north shore on Friday, the 29th. With sketchy conditions.  Coinciding with the Van's World Cup of Surfing at Sunset. Should be a mad house.  So, hey, load up the camera gear and let's go check it out! I don't really care all that much about surfing contests. I don't even know the names of the top pros (Ok, except for Slater). But I do enjoy watching the pros surf.

Conditions at Sunset were, in my opinion, kinda crazy. The waves were all over the place. And at 20+ feet that can mean a ton of water moving around.  The rip out to the line up was like a toilet bowl; swirling, gurgling and powerful. Every 30 minutes or so a huge set of about 5 waves would sweep in from the west and just close out the entire line up. It was impressive how the pros were able to make it all look so easy and chase down some choice waves and pretty much have their way with them.

After watching about 3 heats at the Sunset contest we decided to head up to Pipeline. It was big. And crowded. And big. The beach was quivering as the waves unloaded on the reef. And the surfing was unreal. It was some of the best surfing I've seen in a long, long while. Check it out:

Have a good one
Aloha
Gary

All photographs copyright Gary Erbeck 2013