December 2024 (ROTM#192) Ehukai Beach Park, Hawaii, USA

Banzai Pipeline flash rip!

You probably haven’t heard of Ehukai Beach Park in Hawaii, but you’ve probably heard of the Banzai Pipeline, or ‘Pipe’ – one of the world’s most famous and dangerous surf breaks. Well, here it is albeit in fairly small waves. I was in Hawaii in early November for the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) conference and a few of us drove to Oahu’s North Shore to have a look and talk with the lifeguards (there’s one driving the quad bike). Although the waves weren’t that big and Pipe wasn’t firing, the odd large wave set came through that made things interesting – like creating a flash rip.

 If you can’t see the flash rip, it’s the turbulent green and white water pushing out the back opposite the person holding the yellow board. It lasted about five minutes and travelled up the beach a little bit and became a big problem for the surfers who were trying to stay in the line up. Then it dissipated and disappeared. Most flash rips are dynamic in their behaviour and are generated by the extra water built up by the large waves in the wave set breaking.

 If you look closely you can see there’s a ‘no swimming’ sign next to the lifeguard. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s Pipe, where even the small breaking waves can pound you into the volcanic rock reef on the bottom, or because of flash rips. It’s probably a mix of both. The next day was supposed to see the arrival of the first big winter swell of the year with 10-12 ft waves in Hawaii-surf speak. That would have been something to see for sure. Next time!