Banzai Pipeline

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Image:Oahu North Shore surfing watchers.jpg

The Banzai Pipeline, or simply "Pipeline" or "Pipe", is a surf reef break located off Ehukai Beach Park in Pupukea of O`ahu's North Shore. There are at least three reefs here in progressively deeper water further out to sea that activate at various power levels applied by the swell.

Pipline is best on a strong West swell, to clear out the sand that closes it out on strong North swells. It is a flat tabletop reef, with several caverns on the inside, creating an unmistakable boil on the face when it jacks up. There are also several jagged lava spires that can cut fallen surfers up fairly badly. There are in actuality four waves associated with Pipe. There's the Left, or First reef known as Pipeline that is the most commonly surfed and photographed. When hit by a North swell, the peak becomes a true A-frame, with Pipe closing out a bit and peeling off left, and the just-as-famous Backdoor going right. As the size at Pipe increases, over 12' usually, Second Reef starts cracking, with longer walls, and more size, and at an extreme size Third Reef starts to bomb out.

The extreme challenge posed by Pipeline at size to even the best watermen cannot be overstated. Numerous surfers and photographers have been killed at Pipe, including Jon Mozo and Tahitian superstar Malik Joyeux, who was famous for his heavy charging at Teahupo'o. Pipeline is often called the world's deadliest wave, since more people have died there, or have been seriously injured, than at any other surf spot.

Among the many famous surfers to earn a reputation surfing the Pipeline are Butch Van Artsdalen, Gerry Lopez, Rory Russell, Shaun Tomson,Kane Quinn, Mark Richards, Michael Ho, Simon Anderson, Dane Kealoha, Tom Carroll, Gary Elkerton, Sunny Garcia, Kelly Slater and bodyboarder Mike Stewart.

The top Surfing competitions at this spot are the Pipeline Masters (Board Surfing), the IBA Pipeline Pro (Bodyboarding) and the Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic.

[edit] Trivia

It is a common misconception that the word pipleine is derived from the round shape of the wave, when infact it originated from a japanese man standing on the beach exclaiming the war cry "BANZAI!" when the wave was first ridden. While "Pipeline" is derived from a road work sign "PIPELINE" which over looked the break when it was first ridden.