OMG's - This Week in Hawaii

Many surfers and surf watchers were already calling this year’s inaugural winter swells the biggest Hawaii surf they’d seen in decades.

At Maui’s north shore Peahi Beach—more ominously known as “Jaws” by big wave riders for its massive winter surf—surfers yesterday boasted of riding swells of up to 50 feet from crest to trough.

Over the weekend, weather forecasters had predicted similar wave heights for the North Shore of Oahu beginning yesterday. But by late Monday morning, wave heights at Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay—two of the most prominent surf spots along the North Shore—was peaking at 20 feet. Waimea Bay swells (pictured here) eventually climbed to 25 to 35 feet Monday afternoon, but were kept from larger heights by choppy waters and strong northerly winds, which tend to break up larger waves.
Many surfers and surf watchers were already calling this year’s inaugural winter swells the biggest Hawaii surf they’d seen in decades. At Maui’s north shore Peahi Beach—more ominously known as “Jaws” by big wave riders for its massive winter surf—surfers yesterday boasted of riding swells of up to 50 feet from crest to trough.



Over the weekend, weather forecasters had predicted similar wave heights for the North Shore of Oahu beginning yesterday. But by late Monday morning, wave heights at Sunset Beach and Waimea Bay—two of the most prominent surf spots along the North Shore—was peaking at 20 feet. Waimea Bay swells (pictured here) eventually climbed to 25 to 35 feet Monday afternoon, but were kept from larger heights by choppy waters and strong northerly winds, which tend to break up larger waves.