XL Winter Swell Hammers Hawaii With Even Bigger Surf Than Forecast
Footage from Hawaii is still incoming, but early reports from Oahu and Maui are that the northwest swell that filled in on the afternoon of Thanksgiving came in hot and heavy and was considerably bigger than forecasts indicated—which says a lot as the surf was predicted to top 20 feet. While most spots on the North Shore of Oahu were washed out, Waimea Bay saw some closeout sets with the size being compared to last January’s swell when the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational was held. There were also notable sessions at some of Oahu’s outer reefs, as well as at Pe’ahi over on Maui. Again, details are still inbound, but what’s floating around out there on social media right now shows just how serious the surf in Hawaii was today.
“Every swell has its own personality,” shared North Shore lifeguard and big-wave surfer Dave Wassel on Instagram. “Where last year’s Eddie swell had a longer interval, meaning it went deeper into the water column making waves barrel way offshore, today’s episode is a closer interval, coinciding with a full moon high tide. The result, waves doubling up and riding up on each other. Definitely bigger than expected.”
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The forecast team at Surfline crunch the numbers and deduced that the swell was close, but not quite the same size as last January’s monster.
“Our take: Not quite but close,” reported Surfline. “Very different swells. Eddie swell was a little shorter in interval and held at 20’+ for longer. This swell peaked overnight with longer interval but didn’t stay at 20’ for long. Swell from the Eddie was also much more favorable for size at Waimea with the storm being significantly closer.”
However one slices and dices it, this was a serious swell event in Hawaii and we’re still three weeks from the official first day of winter. So far El Niño has made things really interesting this big-wave season, and it feels like it’s just going to keep on rolling. This swell is now headed to California, where it will hopefully light up Maverick’s and Todos Santos.
With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.