At the end of April, Teahupo’o was hit by a massive southwest swell and a slew of surfers and jet skis immediately materialized to tackle the resulting insanity. However, the gleeful chaos of chargers taking on the fabled break was tempered by a sobering followup in the form of a devastating flash flood that hit the area immediately after.
The rumbling of that south swell didn’t stop there, though. Four days later, it finally landed on the Waikiki side of Oahu. Surfline reported that, “Widespread head-high to overhead surf is already on tap with some well overhead sets rolling in at standout spots. Select reefs will occasionally push up to double overhead as this swell tops out.” Not quite the extreme conditions witnessed at Teahupo’o, but promising nonetheless.
However, things got off to a rough start. “Even though Waikiki was firing by afternoon, bowls was a blown out mess!” Eimy’s Hawaii Happy life channel wrote on YouTube. However “All of that started to change around 5:30 p.m. as the wind died down giving Bowls a smoother shape.” The result is drone footage of spray being wildly pushed out the back, the barrels, and airs – and the obligatory ripping grom – to make you rethink your life choices.
Over the weekend, the swell finally met its end on the West Coast, according to Surfline. Northern and Central California saw the most benefit, while Southern California got a slight bump in quality that was tempered by island shadowing from French Polynesia and the Channel Islands.
