20-foot surf expected along the North Shore

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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM

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BRUCE ASATO
2012 January 30 WDA - High Surf - Brad Hiemenz takes a self portrait of he and his wife, Pam, as the surf breaks at Sunset Beach on the North Shore of Oahu, where the wave faces are expected to build to 20-25 feet, prompting a high surf warning for north shores of Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Niihau. Pam and Brad Hiemenz are visiting from Big Falls, Minnesota, where the temperature when they left was down to -27 degrees below 0, they said. HSA photo by Bruce Asato

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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
2012 January 30 WDA - High Surf - Almost 50 surfers join the lineup at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu, where the wave faces are expected to build to 20-25 feet, prompting a high surf warning for north shores of Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Niihau. HSA photo by Bruce Asato

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BRUCE ASATO / basato@staradvertiser.com

Above, a beachgoer perched on the rocks at Waimea Bay on Monday as a large wave crashed on the rocks at Pupukea in the background. Below, Brad Hiemenz took a picture of himself and his wife, Pam, as the surf broke at Sunset Beach on the North Shore. High-surf warnings didn't deter surfers, who came out in droves, bottom picture. Wave faces are expected to build to 20 to 30 feet today.

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Photo Gallery: High Surf

Surf today could be too big for the Volcom Pipe Pro and too small for the Eddie Aikau Quiksilver but should remain at warning levels along the North Shore, forecasters said.

Wave heights are expected to be 20 to 30 feet on the North Shore today and 12 to 18 feet along the Waianae Coast.

The Volcom, held at the Banzai Pipeline, was postponed Monday and Saturday, and is in a holding pattern for today.

"It was ridable at 8 a.m., but by 8:30 a.m. there were big wash-through sets that were just unridable," said Jodi Wilmott, spokeswoman for the big surf events, on Monday.

"Pipeline is about tube-riding," she said. "What we saw coming through was definitely not for tube-riding."

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She said the surf was breaking 500 or more yards out and came in as "rolling white water."

The National Weather Service issued a high-surf warning for north- and west-facing shores on the smaller Hawaiian Islands through 6 p.m. today and an advisory for Hawaii island’s leeward coast.

National Weather Service lead forecaster Sam Houston said surf so far this winter has been small.

"Typically we would have had more high-surf warning events," he said. "There’ve been fewer than last year. We did have warning-level surf Saturday. That was kind of a surprise."

The current swell, which arrived late Sunday, was generated by a winter storm that developed east of Japan and crossed the date line Saturday night, Houston said.

Wilmott said January and February seem to have a higher incidence of large to extra-large swells.

"We’re pretty much right in the thick of winter," she said.

Big-wave riders enjoyed outer-reef surf spots Monday, including Himalayas and spots outside Haleiwa, as well as Waimea Bay, Wilmott said.

She said the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau requires 20-foot Hawaiian-scale surf, which translates to between 35- and 40-foot faces, and is unlikely to happen today.