REPORT: Swell Forecast for Billabong Pipe Masters

PIPELINE, Oahu/Hawaii (Tuesday, December 11, 2012) - The Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons began competition in firing barrels at both Pipeline and Backdoor, with the ASP World Title Race heating up between Joel Parkinson (AUS), 31, and Kelly Slater (USA), 40. While the event is expecting a short holding period, Surfline, official forecasters for the Vans Triple Crown, are calling for a solid swell to ignite the North Shore by Friday. Below is the official forecast.

Damien Hobgood (USA), 33, will surf in Round 5 of the Billabong Pipe Masters when competition resumes.

BRIEF OVERVIEW: Minor NW swell prevails for the next couple days. A good size NW swell will build in and be strongest Friday, after beginning to initially show around sundown Thursday. Strong and gusty ENE trades continue for the next several days.

TUE (11th)
SWELL/SURF: Small leftovers from the NW and basically flat at Pipe.
WIND/WEATHER: Strong and gusty ENE trades.

WED (12th)
SWELL/SURF: Small NW swell pulses up, but surf is generally shoulder high and below.
WIND/WEATHER: Strong and gusty ENE trades.

THUR (13th)
SWELL/SURF: Small NW swell continues, similar in size to Wednesday afternoon. Possible first signs of new, long period WNW swell showing around sundown.
WIND/WEATHER: Strong and gusty ENE trades.

FRI (14th)
SWELL/SURF: New, long period WNW swell builds in further with 6-10’+ faces at Pipe and some occasional larger sets if the storm continues to behave as forecast. Due to the swell period and swell direction, the vast majority of waves will show at Pipe.
WIND/WEATHER: Strong and gusty ENE trades.

SAT (15th)
SWELL/SURF: WNW swell fades through the day. Surf is in the 4-8’+ range on the face, strongest in the morning.
WIND/WEATHER: Strong and gusty ENE trades.

SWELL/SURF SUMMARY
Minor NW swell leftovers prevailTuesday, with just a slight bump up in new NW swell later Wednesday and Thursday morning.

Going further out, our next swell of consequence is lining up for Friday the 14th from a storm that we’ve been watching off Japan for the past couple days. Satellite derived wind obs of 35-45kts+ and seas of 25-30’ have been recorded roughly 2500 miles from Hawaii within this storm.

As a result we’ll start to see new, long period lines show around sundown on Thursday, with the swell building in further and peaking on Friday. Pipe will see waves in the 6-10’+ range on the face, with larger sets at times. Smaller, fading surf takes over for Saturday. We’ll be tracking this incoming swell over the next couple days and will continue to refine this forecast. Stay tuned.

Beyond that, the last few days of the waiting period look fairly slow at this time, although we could see a couple of small pulses around the 18th and 20th. Staytuned.

Beyond that, things look much slower through the end of the waiting period at this time.

WIND/WEATHER SUMMARY
Strong high pressure will be located to the north/northeast of Hawaii for the next several days. Strong and gusty ENE trades continue for the week and into the weekend. Skies are partly to mostly cloudy with occasional passing showers.

log on to www.vanstriplecrownofsurfing/billabongpipemasters2012 for updates.