We had high hopes to start the contest today, but as the sun came up this morning we quickly saw that mother nature wasn’t cooperating.  The swell is still too big and junky for pipeline and it is not backing down as fast as we had hoped.  There are a few good ones coming in here and there, but not nearly enough to run a contest.  We want to throw the best event possible, and with much better conditions expected in the coming week, the team had to call it off.

To get an idea of the conditions, check out this free-surfing video from yesterday:

SWELL ANALYSIS FROM SURFLINE.com (The official forecaster of the VOlcom Pipe Pro):
The current NW swell (315-335 deg) topped out yesterday afternoon on the North Shore, and will now steadily drop off Tuesday through mid week, gradually becoming more manageable for Pipe. NOTE – Early Tuesday may still be a little unruly at Pipe, but gradually becoming more tame through the morning and into the afternoon. Wednesday will offer plenty of opportunity to hold heats, with well overhead surf and good conditions.

Thanks to a new storm that recently pushed off Japan, we’re expecting a fresh round of solid back-to-back WNW-NW swells (295-325 deg) for the North Shore over Thurs/Fri. The first pulse for Thursday is expected to be a smaller 7-8′ swell, while the second and larger pulse for Friday morning may come through around 9-11′ deepwater swell. This second pulse is still pending storm development over the next 12-24hrs, so stay posted for tomorrow’s update on this one.

Over the next several days, we’ll continue to monitor the progress of a large complex storm system that is developing over the Northwest Pacific, which holds good potential for more NW swells to spawn from it in the longer range. At this time, if everything continues to stay on track, then we may see a decent shot of NW swell (310-335 deg) for around the 4th-6th, with a possible solid WNW swell (295-315 deg) for around the 7th-9th. Again, stay tuned as these are still pending development.

WIND/WEATHER OUTLOOK:
Calm to very light/variable offshore wind and mostly cloudy skies through the morning (good chance for showers), and a light NE-ENE breeze in the afternoon with skies becoming partly cloudy. High pressure will then slowly build back over the Islands Wed-Fri. Therefore, light to moderate NE-ENE Trades will show on Wednesday, gradually becoming moderate to fairly breezy over Thurs/Fri, while veering ENE-East with partly cloudy/mostly sunny skies. At this point, another front may near the region on the weekend, decreasing the Trades a bit.

Check out these features on the Mechanics of Pipeline

ARTICLE and VIDEO