Banzai Pipeline.

About

Pipeline is a shallow reef break on Oahu’s North Shore — a flat tabletop of lava punctuated by caverns that throw the lip and produce the most photographed barrel on earth. The left (Pipeline) and the right (Backdoor) form simultaneously when the swell hits the reef head-on.

It comes alive in winter on long-period WNW to NW swell. From about four feet Hawaiian upward the First Reef stands up clean; once it pushes past fifteen feet the Second Reef takes over and the inside turns into closeout violence. Best on a low to mid tide, when the wave is at its hollowest, with a light east-southeast offshore.

This is an expert-only wave. The lineup runs 30–50 deep when it’s on, hierarchy is strictly enforced by the locals, and the reef sits sub-knee at low tide with exposed lava ready to skin a fall. Watch from the sand unless you know exactly what you’re doing.