Done and dusted. There’s almost a sense of emptiness, post Pipemasters, around the North Shore.

Done and dusted. There’s almost a sense of emptiness, post Pipemasters, around the North Shore. The locals must love this time of the year. Christmas is just around the corner, and the blowins – Aussies and Brazillians and Seppos and the rest – are out of here like rats up drainpipes. It is very much a mass exodus. I get the feeling, too, that the season will really get going properly now, almost as if a talismanic curse will be lifted once the bulk of the tourists go.
Because really, the waves for the past month have been peculiar. Flat, then straight north swells, then flat, then straight north . . .and on and on. There has been very little west influence, which really limits the surfable waves. Sunset and Lanaiakea love that direction, but the Pipe/Backdoor/OTW stretch no likey one bit! The other negative aspect of the exclusively north swell (that is, when there is any swell at all) is the sand build up around the Pipe area. The beach is three times the size it normally is this time of year, and this is an indicator that the sand on the Pipe reef is also hanging around, which makes Pipe not Pipe. It is still crazy hollow barrel city, but it isn’t, babe, Pipe!
Which doesn’t mean the Pipe event wasn’t exciting, even though our man KP didn’t quite take it out. Damn he was close though, and what a worthy winner he’d have been. The Hawaiians have massive respect for Keiran out there, he is one of the gnarliest guys at the Triumvirate of Hollow (Pipe/BDoor/OTW), and has the patience of a bush tic, lying in wait for THAT wave. Oh well, he certainly made his mark, and god he got barreled.
And the swell? North again! And short lived. We got a day and a half, exactly what was needed to finish the contest season. So now that’s done, I’d bet my mum to a brick that the waves will now turn on for the next couple of months. Oh well, the local boys will have a ball, so get into it fellas, I’m home for Chrissy and some sick beachbreak action at my sweet, white sand local.
Aloha and Mahalo, Sparksie.