The Banzai Pipeline, or simply "Pipeline" or "Pipe," is a surf
reef break located in Hawaii, off Ehukai Beach Park in Pupukea on
O'ahu's North Shore. A reef break is an area in the ocean where
waves start to break once they reach the shallows of a reef.
Pipeline is notorious for huge waves which break in shallow water
just above a sharp and cavernous reef, forming large, hollow, thick
curls of water that surfers can tube ride. There are three reefs at
Pipeline in progressively deeper water further out to sea that
activate according to the increasing size of approaching ocean
swells.Origin of the name---,br> The location's compound name
combines the name of the surf break (Pipeline) with the name of the
beach fronting it (Banzai Beach). It got its name in December 1961,
when surfing movie producer Bruce Brown was driving the North Shore
with California surfers Phil Edwards and Mike Diffenderfer. Brown
stopped at the then-unnamed site to film Edwards catching several
waves. At the time, there was a construction project on an
underground pipeline on adjacent Kamehameha Highway, and
Diffenderfer made the suggestion to name the break "Pipeline". The
name was first used in Brown's movie Surfing Hollow Days.It also
lent its name to a 1963 hit by surf music rockers The Chantays.
Specifics of the break--
The reef at Pipe is a flat tabletop reef, with several caverns
on the inside, creating a giant air bubble that pops on the front
of the wave when the wave lurches upwards just before breaking.
There are also several jagged, underwater lava spires that can
injure fallen surfers. Sand can accumulate on the reef at Pipeline,
and that can cause waves to "close out" (meaning the hollow tube of
the wave collapses all at once and thus is impossible to surf). A
strong swell (a formation of long-wavelength surface waves) from
the west clears out the sand in the reef, and after that, a strong
north swell can give rise to the best waves.
There are four waves associated with Pipeline. The left (which
means the wave breaks from left to right from the perspective of a
watcher on shore) known as Pipeline (aka First Reef) is the most
commonly surfed and photographed. When the reef is hit by a north
swell, the peak (the highest tipping-point of the wave where it
begins to curl) becomes an A-frame shaped wave, with Pipe closing
out a bit and peeling off left, and the equally famous Backdoor
Pipeline peeling away to the right at the same time. As the size at
Pipe increases, over 12 feet usually, Second Reef on the outside
(further out into the deeper ocean waters) starts breaking, with
longer walls (the unbroken face of the wave that the surfer slides
across), and more size. At an extreme size an area called Third
Reef even further outside starts to break with giant waves.
Pipe on a small day.
The surfers---
The extreme challenge posed to even the best athletes when
Pipeline is breaking at full size cannot be overstated. Numerous
surfers and photographers have been killed at Pipe, including Jon
Mozo and Tahitian Malik Joyeux, who was famous for his heavy
charging (gutsy surfing) at Teahupo'o. Pipeline is often called the
world's deadliest wave. Its average wave is 9 feet but can get
bigger. Many more people have died or been seriously injured at
Pipeline than at any other surf spot.
The takeoff zone--
(the area in which a surfer needs to be in order to catch a wave)
at Pipeline is small, but a large number of surfers tend to
congregate there when it is breaking large. Established local
surfers consequently work together to limit outsiders' access to
the waves. The localism and occasional violence of this
self-described "Wolf Pack" (successors in this role to Da Hui) are
often criticized, but their intimidating presence provides an
indispensable degree of crowd control, and has probably prevented
some additional fatalities and injuries at Pipe.
Among the many notable surfers to earn a reputation surfing
the Pipeline are--
Butch Van Artsdalen, Gerry Lopez, Shaun Tomson, Mark Richards,
Michael Ho, Simon Anderson, Tom Carroll, Sunny Garcia, Kelly
Slater, Andy Irons, Nano Cache with log only BYOP-- its on the
metal collar on da pipe, Jamie O'Brien, Reef McIntosh, Rob Machado,
the late Sion Milosky, John John Florence and bodyboarder Mike
Stewart. Although not famous for surfing Pipeline, the musician
Jack Johnson was hoping to become a professional surfer, but after
a wipeout at Pipe that required over 150 stitches in his forehead
and knocked some of his teeth out, he decided to become a musician
instead.
The top surfing competitions at this spot are the Pipe Masters
(Board Surfing), the IBA Pipeline Pro (Bodyboarding), and the
Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic. Shaun Tomson 1977 world champion from
South Africa, Mark Richards four time 1979-1982 world champion from
Australia, Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew 1978 world champion from
Australia and Peter Townend (surfer), 1976 world champion from
Australia earned reputations surfing Off-The-Wall and Backdoor at a
time when competitive surfing was coming of age.
Here's some vid action of the pipe--LINK
The real pipe -;)
When I was there!!