When a huge west swell runs into the North Shore, things happen. A little too much west and Pipeline won’t be its usual perfect self, but the outer reefs might be cranking. So when Nathan Florence woke up and checked the buoys, he knew he was about to spend a day surfing very large waves.
He didn’t think Pipe would be working all that well, so he rounded up some friends, found a Jet Ski, and headed out to on outer reef for a handful of step-offs. After about five hours, they came back in, starving and happy. With full bellies and tired shoulders, they retired to the porch to digest… and saw that Pipe was huge and completely surfable.
Massive, though. Like, MASSIVE. Wash-throughs were common. Clean ups were frequent. But in-between? Oh, that’s where the gold was. “Everything would get groomed out,” Nathan said afterwards. “And these mutant double ups would come. Unexpected, but not unwelcome.
