NORTH SHORE

Executive summary by darmansjah

A 50-foot (15 m) wave is as high as a five-story building.

HAWAII There are modest waves that lap at a toddler' ankles; angry, white-capped waves that keep small boats in a harbor-and there are the colossal breakers of Oahu’s North Shore. Located smack in the middle of the Pacific, Oahu sits at the end of an eastward-moving storm track. Over thousands of miles, storms from Japan build a swell that, in ideal conditions, will top out just short of the island's coast. The coastal shelf off the North Shore rises steeply, allowing waves to build rapidly without losing much energy. The waves that create the Banzai Pipeline on Ehukai Beach can present a face 50 feet (15 m) or higher, the height of a five-story building, to give a surfer the ride of a lifetime.

Surf’s Down Two women surf the underside of a wave along the famed Banzai Pipeline, on Oahu’s North Shore. The island’s sharply sloping coastal shelf helps the big waves build quickly.

Getting Tubed A surfer rides the sweet spot in a wave’s barrel at the Banzai Pipeline. Wave height of 50 feet (15 m) are not unknown along the North Shore, and surfing the giant waves can be as dangerous as it is exciting.