Each winter the world’s best surfers turn the North Shore of Oahu into a spectacle. Or rather, Kanaloa, the Hawaiian god of the sea does—the surfers just show up to make the most of it. Double overhead waves crash on razor sharp reef laying just a few feet below the surface, creating beautiful and fierce barrels closely guarded by locals and coveted by everyone else. Pipeline is at the center of it all, the deadliest wave on Earth. Timed perfectly with this natural phenomenon is the Vans Pipe Masters, a legendary surf contest held each December for 50 years and counting.
For the 2022 Vans Pipe Masters, I was lucky enough to be invited to join a handful of leading surf media on the remote Hawaiian island for eight days of wave chasing and community building.
On the morning of 8 December, a beautiful opening ceremony hosted by organizations Nā Kama Kai and The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and led by Kumu Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu kicked off the official two-week contest window. Excitement was high; unfortunately the waves were anything but.
Up and down the North Shore, Surfline forecasts read “flat” or “poor” at best. And remained this way for the entirety of my time on Oahu. Oddly, it was within this lack of worthwhile swell that I found opportunity—to meet the people pushing surf culture forward, in a more inclusive and diverse direction.