Watch: Pipe Pro // The Best Rides From Day 1

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Reels

Pipeline was far from classic on Day 1 of the Pipe Pro. Though the surface conditions were clean, a short-period swell and residual lump made for unpredictable sections; sometimes steep and focussing hard, other times falling away and offering respite.

Those who surfed well put themselves right on the apex, even on the opposite side at times, to maximise barrel time in peaky conditions.

If this video only had the excellent rides it'd be just 90 seconds long - there were just seven 8-plus rides all day - but fortunately it features other highlights too.

Comments

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 10:13am

I used this image as homepage thumbnail. Anyone wanna have a swing at the wave size?

Stamos's picture
Stamos's picture
Stamos Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 1:27pm

10'

Solitude's picture
Solitude's picture
Solitude Monday, 5 Feb 2024 at 2:46pm

That’s a 9 foot wave

FrazP's picture
FrazP's picture
FrazP Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 10:18am

Not sure if it is angle on the photo but stand him up that is 4 x overhead. 12ft +

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 10:24am

Knees are slightly bent, and he's leaning a little.

~10ft for me.

atticus's picture
atticus's picture
atticus Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 10:29am

Looks like Slater. Not quite at the bottom of the wave, but knees bent and slightly bent over so 4ft high as is and fits four times into the wave = 16ft.

I'd say 8-10.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 10:31am

Yep, it's KS. See 2:53 above for the ride.

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 10:38am

When I was watching I thought I was watching 6-8ft Pipe, but when Dorian called it 10-12ft and I saw some of the stills, I upgraded my outlook.

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 10:44am

8-10ft.

Hawaiian.

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 10:58am

18-20 gold coast
10 vic
8 wa
3-4 Hawaiian bra

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 11:05am

Nah...the Hawaiian scale has changed, GF.

Koa Rothman and JOB - two of Hawaii's leading surfers and vloggers - would have no shame calling that 20 feet in their YouToob clips.

Clicks, bra.

velocityjohnno's picture
velocityjohnno's picture
velocityjohnno Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 11:11am

Beat me to the 4ft Hawaiian!

Surfalot67's picture
Surfalot67's picture
Surfalot67 Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 11:22am

Haha GF, well played :)

Surfalot67's picture
Surfalot67's picture
Surfalot67 Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 11:04am

Watched the Post Show last night - not a single mention of Filly, Medina or Italo. Are the Wozzle finally as over them and their constant sooking/victim game as the rest of us I wonder? Or is the narrative of piking, burning and whining just too much?

Vince Neil's picture
Vince Neil's picture
Vince Neil Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 11:31am

Pro surfer - so barely 5ft in height in that pose.
4 times overhead so 3-4ft Hawaiian

Vince Neil's picture
Vince Neil's picture
Vince Neil Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 11:34am

i reckon Robbo got an extra point on his next ride

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 11:47am

10ft for me.

flow's picture
flow's picture
flow Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 11:58am

I'd say 10 foot.

velocityjohnno's picture
velocityjohnno's picture
velocityjohnno Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 12:01pm

Imagine ordering a Hawaiian pizza and what comes out is twice the size of all the other pizzas

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 12:16pm

Ha

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 12:27pm

Hahaha.

WaffleStomp's picture
WaffleStomp's picture
WaffleStomp Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 12:42pm

As opposed to the surf I can say from recent experience it'll likely come out no bigger (maybe even smaller) but it'll definitely be twice the price - Hawaiian cost of living through the roof!

velocityjohnno's picture
velocityjohnno's picture
velocityjohnno Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 3:45pm

Given your name, I'm definitely trusting you on food!

Much would be imported to Hawaii?

basesix's picture
basesix's picture
basesix Saturday, 3 Feb 2024 at 12:41pm

nice VJ, the raglan report '12-inch Hawaiian' skit writes itself!
('solid 10 ft' for me from that angle, bee's dick from 10+ or 10-12)

pjbyron's picture
pjbyron's picture
pjbyron Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 12:26pm

I'd say too big

scrotina's picture
scrotina's picture
scrotina Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 12:53pm

i hate surf measuring. if i call that wave 18ft then everyone laughs at me, but there is no objective scale that can reasonably be used to measure waves which equates to that being 10+. i only know to call it 10+ because of what ive heard everyone else say when describing wave heights. i wish we could just call it for what it is. yet you move up a few notches into the big wave tour, and they call it for how it is - eg 60 - 100 foot faces at nazare. so if the big wave chargers can call it for what it is, why cant the rest of us? ego? embarassment? its like those canadian club ads, where the implication is we all drink beer just because everyone else does. we all measure waves that way too. 4 times overhead for a 6ft tall person does not logically equate to 10-12ft

pjbyron's picture
pjbyron's picture
pjbyron Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 5:44pm

scrotina, couldn't agree more. 100%... I mean, we don't surf the "back of the wave" FFS. So if it's 2 times over head and I'm 6ft then I'm looking at a 12ft wave when doing a bottom hand turn. (I know I'm going to get lectured about this! lol)
I've surfed Greenbush many times at around 1.5 times over head, so for me 8ft... the back of the wave would have been lucky to be 1.5ft... so where to now?

conrico's picture
conrico's picture
conrico Saturday, 3 Feb 2024 at 12:36am

anyone who claims that 12ft waves are 4x overheated based on the ”back of the wave” is kidding themselves. Trying to rationalise their ego. Explain the unexplainable

flow's picture
flow's picture
flow Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 12:58pm

Increments of fear.

Pops's picture
Pops's picture
Pops Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 1:21pm

Grif overscored @ ~0:35? Didn't look as deep as the others.

Mexican's picture
Mexican's picture
Mexican Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 3:18pm

I’d call it three pairs of new undies.

nolocal's picture
nolocal's picture
nolocal Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 3:26pm

not perfect pipe or back door, but still better than nearly anything I saw all last year. Or is my memory fcked?

soggydog's picture
soggydog's picture
soggydog Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 3:37pm

Eleventeen feet?

dawnperiscope's picture
dawnperiscope's picture
dawnperiscope Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 4:48pm

"Tall" seemed to be the word of the day from KS
Loved Baron's effort

Standingleft's picture
Standingleft's picture
Standingleft Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 6:33pm

The crazy thing about Pipe it looks 10-12' at the apex 6' in the middle and 3-4' on the end section.
Why is it so? Its not like it's reflecting off a rock wall or anything ?
Is it two 6' swells doubling up?

blow-in-9999's picture
blow-in-9999's picture
blow-in-9999 Saturday, 3 Feb 2024 at 9:03pm

More of a focusing of the swell than a true double up. It varies on swell angle. Socials in the Cooks does it to a bigger extent. The following shows a good example of the bathymetry . https://www.google.com/maps/place/21%C2%B012'08.6%22S+159%C2%B049'16.2%22W/@-21.202601,-159.8231721,348m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d-21.2023991!4d-159.8211605?entry=ttu.

Its literally at the end of the airport runway before anyone wants to talk about spot sharing ethics.

Standingleft's picture
Standingleft's picture
Standingleft Sunday, 4 Feb 2024 at 4:46pm

Very interesting BI. Was looking to go with brother for a surf trip there. Is it easy enough to get to the breaks?
The bathymetry, socials looks nice and uniform, not sure about pipe. Swellnet and WSL have taken us through it, eg the underwater canyon at Nazare, must be something similar.
These spots exaggerate the swell height, makes it hard to measure but it always blows my mind how gnarly big and wide open it is at the peak and then have to tuck up so tight to get inside the end section 50 metres away

southernraw's picture
southernraw's picture
southernraw Sunday, 4 Feb 2024 at 5:00pm

Always trips me out how much Pipe rears on that inside reef. Never been there but I still have never seen a wave as unmistakeable as that first reef Pipe wave that jacks up an extra few feet as the lip is about to pitch and the wave just goes beyond vert and bottoms out.
A proper Pipe heaver looks absolutely terrifying. Have tried to visualise a takeoff into the barrel on a proper one there but damn....everytime i do, i end up in Bedes position! haha. So much vertical speed and g forces off the bottom to control when it's doing it's thing.
And then you watch a John John surf it with so much finesse and playfulness.....you gotta wonder what planet he's from.

blow-in-9999's picture
blow-in-9999's picture
blow-in-9999 Sunday, 4 Feb 2024 at 5:11pm

Current can be difficult for some of the southern passes at mid tide otherwise super easy. The island is large to require transport (car, bike). Note the trade wind directions and break locations before you go. Sticks can find the waves challenging.

See https://imgur.com/a/7qYgqtd for a more marked up version of the Socials reef. Also note that local swell direction can be more east than expected for south swells after coming around edgewater.

See https://briantissot.com/2020/04/13/what-lies-beneath-conquering-fear-at-... for a good discussion on pipe. (2nd half is the more relevant part)

southernraw's picture
southernraw's picture
southernraw Sunday, 4 Feb 2024 at 5:16pm

That last one about Pipe was a bloody awesome read @blow-in-9999.
Thanks so much. Made my day!

Standingleft's picture
Standingleft's picture
Standingleft Monday, 5 Feb 2024 at 7:52am

Excellent Intel thx BI

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Sunday, 4 Feb 2024 at 5:21pm

It's a big topic, but I've only got time for a short answer.

It's important to understand that most swell energy - particularly for groundswells - is carried deep in the water column. And though the ocean surface is flat the ocean floor isn't: even as it shallows towards land, there are irregularities such as mounts and canyons.

When swell energy begins feeling those shallower peaks and mounts it's forced upwards, meaning energy is forced higher in the water column than where the same swell line is travelling over a deeper section of seafloor.

Also, the swell line will refract ever so slightly around shallower mounts as it feels the friction of the (relatively) shallower bottom.

Generally these effects are not noticeable from land. What we see is the swell line approaching as a uniform vector of energy.

However, when the wave moves into water that's shallow enough to make it break, that shifting of sub-surface energy - both upwards and laterally - becomes apparent in how the wave breaks. That long line of swell will sometimes stand taller in particular areas, it can break harder, bend in unusual ways, and it can even carry abnormalities not desired by surfers.

At Pipeline, the shape is governed by the series of outside reefs that begin near Outside Log Cabins, and which bend the swell lines towards Pipe's inner reefs. Third Reef Pipe and Second Reef Pipe force swell energy upwards so it's riding high in the water column - but only for that forty or fifty metre wide peak, Pipe's channel rarely ever closes out - then by the time it hits Pipeline proper it's a top heavy conveyor that breaks faster than physics would seem to allow.

Similar dynamics present themselves just down the highway where Sunset Beach can be 12'-15', yet the channel next to it won't be breaking, with Kammies, on the other side of the channel, maybe 6'. Ostensibly, all are exposed to the same amount of swell energy, however it's the unseen bathymetry (ocean floor topography) that dictates which breaks get the size.

southernraw's picture
southernraw's picture
southernraw Sunday, 4 Feb 2024 at 5:27pm

So good. Cheers @stu.
From a distant observation, it looks to me that a 6-8foot swell with a period greater than 15seconds (proper W/NW swell), is a whole world scarier than a 12foot swell with a period of 13 or so seconds.
Seems like those smaller longer period swells seem to swing around the outside reefs, rather than breaking on them, and focus all of that energy into first reef with way more ferocity.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Sunday, 4 Feb 2024 at 5:55pm

Hmmm...maybe. In Hawaii, they all have certain flavours. Keep in mind that Hawaii doesn't have a continental shelf to mitigate swell energy and create uniformity of the incoming swell. Even a shorter period swell will do some wild things.

But yeah, I guess those really long period swells get a bit wilder.

southernraw's picture
southernraw's picture
southernraw Sunday, 4 Feb 2024 at 6:00pm

yeah true...great point re. lack of continental shelf. Hadn't taken that into consideration on effect of wave period.
Definitely seems those outer reefs dictate alot with different size/period and angle.
And yep...that short period stuff the other day looked brutal.
Thanks Stu. Will be rereading your above post a few times to let it all sink in.

bbbird's picture
bbbird's picture
bbbird Monday, 5 Feb 2024 at 8:57pm

WNW swell bending off the reef at pipe Feb 2024

Standingleft's picture
Standingleft's picture
Standingleft Monday, 5 Feb 2024 at 7:50am

"a top heavy conveyor that breaks faster than physics would seem to allow."
Thanks for taking the time Stu, pipe is a freak of nature

southernraw's picture
southernraw's picture
southernraw Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 8:02pm

11 foot Dandenong scale.

Komodo's picture
Komodo's picture
Komodo Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 9:03pm

Big.

Coops70's picture
Coops70's picture
Coops70 Friday, 2 Feb 2024 at 10:34pm

How about f&$$jg heavy!

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Saturday, 3 Feb 2024 at 6:35am

No one judges from the back as it doesn't work for slabs as mentioned above.

It's more just half the face size to get the Aussie height.

harrycoopr's picture
harrycoopr's picture
harrycoopr Saturday, 3 Feb 2024 at 10:23am

50 ft Toledo Scale

wally's picture
wally's picture
wally Saturday, 3 Feb 2024 at 10:47am

It’s interesting to see what Surfline does with wave heights. They have 2 settings options for wave heights.

Face Height, or
Traditional (which is face height halved)

They say, “we have set Traditional as a default preference for Australian and New Zealand users, while the rest of the world defaults to Face Height.”

So, halving face height is the default Surfline setting in Australasia but not Hawaii.

CityRooster's picture
CityRooster's picture
CityRooster Saturday, 3 Feb 2024 at 11:03am

Do they get extra points for doing a nice roundhouse cutback and foam bounce manoeuvre or is it just about the tube ride? I notice quite a few guys don't bother with it as its probably not worth getting caught inside and a lot of extra work when paddling back out. For me its the perfect way to finish a pipe wave and should be scored accordingly.

I focus's picture
I focus's picture
I focus Saturday, 3 Feb 2024 at 10:14pm

Doh

lost's picture
lost's picture
lost Monday, 5 Feb 2024 at 12:20am

How big ?

Seriously bigger than what it lools like in the clips;

A bit smaller than it looks in that photo; and

Too big for the word champ

mpeachy's picture
mpeachy's picture
mpeachy Monday, 5 Feb 2024 at 2:32pm

Watched all the highlights yesterday, best wave of the day was Jackson Bunch at the end of his heat, if it was JJF he would've got a 9.5

Solitude's picture
Solitude's picture
Solitude Tuesday, 6 Feb 2024 at 12:43pm