North Shore · Oahu

Pipeline

The most photographed wave in surfing. Also the most consequential.

Buoy CDIP 106 · Waimea Bay, Oahu (shared)

The Banzai Pipeline breaks over a shallow lava-rock reef on Oahu's North Shore, about a mile down the beach from Waimea. Same buoy reading, completely different wave: where Waimea is a paddle-in mountain, Pipe is a thick-lipped barrel that breaks in chest-high water. CDIP 106 is what the locals are watching at 5am, but the swell direction matters more here than at almost any other spot in Hawaii.

PacIOOS Live spectrum + plots CDIP 106 Raw buoy data Surfline Forecast + cam

Ideal conditions for Pipeline

What you want to see on the buoy before you paddle out.

Swell direction

WNW to NW (290°–315°)

Swell period

12–17 seconds

When it breaks

First reef pumps at 4–6 ft @ 14 s. Second reef opens up beyond 8 ft.

Wind

Glassy or light SE. Trades (E/ENE) put bumps on the face.

Pipe is direction-sensitive — a 6 ft buoy reading from straight north can produce closeouts; the same height from WNW lights up perfect barrels. Always check direction before height.

Why direction matters more than size

Pipeline is one of the most direction-sensitive spots in Hawaii. The reef faces northwest. A WNW (290–315°) swell wraps cleanly into the lineup and produces the textbook A-frame. A straight-N swell hits the reef wrong and turns it into a heavy closeout. When 106 shows the right direction, even a 4 ft reading can be world-class.

First reef vs Second reef vs Third reef

First Reef breaks closest to the beach and is what you see in every video. Once 106 reads 8+ ft, the wave starts moving outside to Second Reef — bigger, more spread out, paddle-only. Beyond 12 ft it goes Third Reef, a closeout that almost nobody rides. Da Buoys' chart view shows you the swell building so you can call the size before you drive over.

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