During the last major swell that hit the North Shore I got out to surf Waimea Bay for the first time. There is a lot I could say about surfing it for the first time, and I plan on it during a future post. For now I want to talk briefly about the Robert August surfboard I used. I’ll do so through the captions on these pictures. This turned out to be a perfect board for 15-20 foot Waimea (wave faces). Check out the full review of this board at thesurfingblog.com.

I took out a borrowed 7'7" Robert August big wave gun to Waimea on Thursday evening, right as the swell was really starting to show.

I was nervous that the board would be too small, since a lot of guys out at Waimea ride 9-12 foot guns. Paddling out there I was thinking the board would probably work fine, because it paddled like a long board.

The board is pretty thick, so it floated me really well helping me to get a lot of speed just paddling out to the waves. When I got out there I caught a few waves, quickly figuring out how the board responds while surfing it. I'm glad I had a smaller board, because it made it really fun once I got up on a wave.

The board was pretty maneuverable, but still had enough length to get into waves early. There is very little rocker throughout most of the board so it can get into waves well and get moving really fast, but there is a ton of rocker in the nose so that you don't dig it in on the drop.

Overall, I loved this board out there. I was definitely grateful to have it since I don't even have my own. Although it worked well, I am looking to purchase a bigger one so I can surf even bigger Waimea!

Sorry it took me so long to get the video up of the big swell that hit on Sept 25th. The beautiful thing about a video is I don’t have to say much else besides… ENJOY !!

Yesterday, Sept. 29th, 2009 a 8.3 magnitude earthquake occurred near the islands of Samoa and Tonga in the South Pacific. After reports of a tsunami hitting Samoa and other islands near the earthquake, tsunami warnings were quickly put in effect for Hawaii. As the news buzzed with the idea of large waves marching towards the island, surfers eyes got large and all they could think about was Patrick Swayze in the movie Point Break and the large wave he wanted to surf in Australia.

I spent the day at Sunset Beach and everyone on the North Shore seemed to stay pretty calm. The lifeguards and policemen were telling people of the tsunami advisory (it was downgraded from a warning to advisory by 10:00am in Hawaii) and that they should use caution while on the beach. Tourists were buzzing with the news and seemed to be more excited than worried. Surfers kept surfing and people were playing in the water even with the strong currents. You would see someone get in the water and within 30 seconds they were 200 feet down the beach. Kammies and Vals reef had some really fun waves in the waist to shoulder high range, but were all these conditions due to the tsunami?

I surf Vals reef and Kammies a lot and the conditions I saw yesterday with the strong currents and random sets were nothing new. Fellow Big Wave Blog writer Tim surfed Log Cabins and said the conditions were similar, with sets being a bit larger, and that nothing seemed to be out of ordinary either. As I watched the ocean all day, (I was there from 10am-6:30pm) I didn’t see any signs of a tsunami type surge of water. Some reports say a surge happened around 3:00pm but it was minor and if it was noticeable it would have been on the South Shore. I could not find any reports about it’s effects in California.

But what do tsunami warnings mean for surfers?

We would all love to think that this is what is created by a tsunami, but in reality it isn’t. However this is what happens.

Tsunamis are commonly known as tidal waves. They involve long period ocean waves caused by earthquakes and other below ocean disturbances. Tsunamis travel at speeds of up to 500 knots. The surges they create can be walls of water from anywhere between 3-30 feet. The waves or surges caused by tsunamis are not surfable. They are quite the opposite. Instead of creating a joyous occasion of big wave surfing, they create chaos and mass destruction.

This past Friday, Pipeline and Sunset were going off during an early season WNW swell. Early morning Sunset was perfect, but then got really choppy as the winds set in. Pipe was epic all day long, peaking and becoming cleanest around mid-day.

Waimea Bay had its fair share of bomb sets as well. There were a lot of broken boards and a few injuries. I’ve been talking with a lot of people down on the beach and everyone is tripping out over the size of the waves for this time of year. I got out to surf Waimea Thursday night and it was amazing, and I can’t wait to get some more of it as this season continues. Check back again for video of Friday’s waves!

This is not the image you expect to see when looking at Pipeline this time of year.

Pig-dogging it at Pipe.

One of the most spectacular sights at Pipeline is watching it spit.

Backdoor was dangerous, as most waves were closing out on the inside with big sets out the back.

Second Reef was firing during the big sets, but there weren't too many takers.

The shifting peaks at Sunset really lit up as the swell filled in.

This guy's hoping he can race through this section without getting smashed.

You don't want to be in this guy's situation...pulling out straight with endless lines of waves coming in behind you.

There is a lot of talk out there of an El Niño winter. For those of you who don’t know what that means, then you’re going to have to read about it somewhere else, because I am not a weatherman. What I can tell you, is what El Niño means from a surfer’s point of view. It means get ready for consistent big waves for this winter season.

Basically, what happens during an El Niño year is that the wind directions and speeds change, causing the water temperatures to be thrown off in a variety of places. This makes for an abnormal amount of storms that are situated perfectly to throw large surf at the North Shore of Oahu and California. The North Shore will most likely be slammed by large swells from these storms frequently this year if this El Niño continues to develop the way it is.

One thing to be aware of is that constant big swell doesn’t always mean clean surf, and during an El Niño year the surf can be extra stormy, making for some not-so-good conditions for surfing. Regardless of what the conditions are like, I think it’s safe to say we’ll see some big waves this winter. Maybe this explains the consistent surf we’ve had early this season.

For more information about what is going on, check out Surfline’s feature on the developing situation.