Hawaii To Get Supersized Helping Of Surf For Thanksgiving
Turkey, football and big surf. Thanksgiving in Hawaii is something special, and more often than not, it tends to coincide with solid swell events. This Thanksgiving holiday a large northwest swell is bearing down on the North Shore of Oahu and other exposed, north-facing coastlines throughout Hawaii, and it could bring surf an upwards of 20 feet when it peaks on Thursday and Friday.
Big wave surfers have been glued to the forecast models over the last few days as the swell event continues to develop. According to weather and wave charts, the new swell begins to fill in quickly throughout the second half of the day on Thursday before potentially peaking overnight and holding through Friday. The swell is expected to be too big for most spots, including Pipeline and Haleiwa, while big-wave venues could be pumping.
“Thursday through all of Friday, this swell will have most normal spots too big and washed out, making it a big wave/offshore reef-only affair,” reports Surfline forecaster Jonathan Warren. “Those big-wave spots that can handle this swell are looking at sets running 20-35+ feet on the face, occasionally bigger for select reefs. Maui’s Pe’ahi will be strongest early Friday morning and with sets pushing up to 30-45+ feet.”
The swell is expected to be fairly consistent and enjoy clean conditions. Keep an eye on Pe'ahi, as well as Waimea Bay on the island of Oahu and less celebrated outer reefs spots that only come alive during the biggest winter swells.
This season we’ve already seen a solid session at Pe’ahi, as well as other big-wave sessions at Maverick’s on the West Coast and Ireland across the pond in Europe. As El Niño takes hold this winter, hopefully this is the start of a very fruitful big-wave season. Who knows, maybe a world record or two will be broken.
