PIPELINE GEOGRAPHY PIPELINE NOTABLES SURFING

It’s one of the deadliest, heaviest, and gnarliest waves on Earth.
The world famous Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu is center
stage as the top surfers perform at the Billabong Pipe Masters. The
contest, the last ASP World Tour event and the final leg of the Vans
Triple Crown, kicked off last weekend and is on hold until a new
swell arrives later this week.
The first two days of the contest produced nail-biting action, especially as Orange County surfers took to the water. As end-of-theyear results are tallied, it looks like Huntington Beach’s Brett Simp-
son and San Clemente’s Kolohe Andino will continue on the 2013
World Tour, but San Clemente’s Patrick Gudauskas has been
knocked off.
Hawaii’s Sebastian Zietz has already been crowned the Vans Triple Crown winner, so now many eyes will be on the two surfers in
contention to take home the 2012 ASP World Title. Will 11-time
World Champ Kelly Slater continue his reign, or will Australian Joel
Parkinson be crowned this year’s champ?
A call is made each morning on whether the contest will run.
Catch it live at vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com
Reef
HOW WAVES FORM
Choppy stormy seas become more organized as
A storm develops in the north Pacific Ocean
producing strong, long-lasting winds. The wind
friction against the surface of the water produces
chop and stormy seas.
swells build far beyond the storm. The swell energy can
extend to hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean.
Swells grow larger as they encounter the
shallower ocean floor near shore. The ocean floor
forces the swell to rise upward.
PIPELINE GEOGRAPHY
Close out: Wave
breaks at once making
it impossible to surf.
Back door: Breaks from right
to left when watching from
the beach. This is good for
left-foot-forward surfers, who
face the wave when it breaks.
Left break: Pipe breaks from
left to right when watching it
from the beach. This is good for
right-foot-forward surfers, who
face the wave when it breaks.
There are three notorious reefs at
Pipeline. The deeper the reef, the larger
the surge needed to produce waves:
First reef
Depth: 4 feet
Wave height: up to 12 feet
Most of the competition will be surfed at the first reef,
where the waves break left and the barrels are the most
pronounced. The majority of the scoring is based on how
well the surfer rides inside the barrel.
Oahu
500 ft.
Trough
Second reef
Depth: 8-10 feet
Wave height: 12-20 feet
SURFING PIPELINE
Swells become breaking waves when they encounter
the shallow reefs of the North Shore. The swell energy is pushed
progressively farther up by the shallow bottom until it becomes
top heavy and is forced to topple over as a breaking wave.
Trough
3rd reef
HAWAII
Banzai
Beach
2nd reef
Oahu
1st reef
Banzai Beach
Fresh water
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTE R
OC OUTDOORS
Swell energy
The world famous break showcases the best surfers on the planet.
Fresh water
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12, 2012
SPORTS 8
Pipeline 1 0 1
Wind
Third reef
Depth: 20 feet
Wave height: More than 20 feet
Deep troughs at both ends of
the Pipeline have formed
because fresh-water runoffs
prohibit coral from growing.
This created a unique
underwater terrain which plays
an important role in forming the
best tubular waves in the world.
the surfer has descended the wave, he
1 Once
positions himself inside the cascading “lip” of
the wave, adjusting his speed to get as deep
into the barrel as possible.
2
extra points, the suffer can
4 For
work the open face of the wave
If the surfer gets ahead of the break
(outside the barrel), he can slow down
by "pig dogging," kneeling down on
the board and dragging the hand and
buttocks in the face of the wave.
toward the end of the ride.
accelerate, the surfer pumps his
3 Toboard
up and down on the face of
the wave in hopes of exiting the
barrel at the last possible minute.
Coral reef at Pipeline has built up over the volcanic
rock, making it as shallow as 4 feet. More surfers have
died here than any other surf location in the world.
PIPELINE NOTABLES
Phil Edwards is
noted as the first
to ride Pipeline
successfully in 1961.
Gerry Lopez (1970s) was
notorious for casually
sliding through gaping
barrels and elevating it
to an art form.
Derek Ho (1980s),
Hawaii’s first world
champion, emerged
from deeper in the tube
than people thought
imaginable.
Kelly Slater (1990s) turned Pipe
into his public playground with his
backside pig-dog barrels, setting a
new standard in tube-riding. He has
won six masters.
Andy Irons (2000s), learned to surf
on the North Shore. In his career, he
won three world titles and is the only
surfer to have won a title at every
venue on the ASP calendar. He died
on November 2, 2010.
Sources: Surfline; citizenside; surfermag;
Star-Bulletin; surfculture
Sand
Coral
Lava rock
Sand fills in over the reef during
the summer months. This causes
the waves to close out and be
unsurfable during the first couple
swell events of the fall/winter
season. However, these same
swells events also help to clear
the sand off the reef and by the
third or fourth swell, Pipe is back
to seeing some of the best waves
in the world.
Jeff Goertzen / The Register