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Pipeline set to roar for the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout surf competition
Felix Levesque, Saturday January 4, 2025 - 14:53 AEDT
The Hawaiian North Shore surf season has been active with multiple very large swells hitting the islands, allowing the Eddie, the Pipe Masters, and now, the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout to run in good and powerful surf.
Satellite loop of a powerful northwest Pacific storm on Thursday January 2, directing large waves towards Hawaii (bottom right).
A strong northwest Pacific storm that moved east of Japan in the new year has been blowing 50 to 60 knot winds. These winds directed towards the Hawaiian Islands have generated huge seas reaching around 12 to 14 metres, about 3300 kilometres away from the islands.
Image of DTN’s OneFX Significant Wave Heights (in metres) on Thursday January 2.
This swell will quickly fill into Hawaii’s North Shore on Saturday January 4 (early Sunday January 5 in Australia), possibly overpowering the inner Pipeline reefs by afternoon. Building size through the day will allow the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout to run a few heats before the safety of competitors becomes too great of a concern. As spectators, the ramping up in intense surf should make for an entertaining day, with possible chaos and mayhem to close off the day of competition.
Sunday January 5 will likely remain too big for Pipeline, but should provide some awesome visions of nearby big wave spots handling the swell. Monday and Tuesday will be more manageable as the swell fades, with a new northwest swell moving into the islands on Tuesday. These days should allow competition to run in good Pipeline waves.
Another low spinning over the northwest Pacific basin over the weekend and into early next week will bring this reinforcement in swell. While seas are only expected to reach 10-12 metres late on Sunday January 5 and early on Monday, the proximity of this system will bring the largest surf of the week. The peak sea heights are expected about 2500 kilometres away from the islands, allowing the swell to retain more of its height.
Image of DTN’s OneFX Significant Wave Heights (in metres) on Monday January 6.
The reinforcement in swell will build on Tuesday, peaking later on Wednesday, before slowly fading on Thursday. The surf should once again be too big to compete in, but there might be a window or two before and after the peak in the swell. The surf will fairly quickly fade on Friday, but organisers should have plenty of opportunity to run the contest over the coming week with these reinforcing swells.
The Da Hui Backdoor Shootout will likely start tomorrow morning (most likely around 5-6am on Sunday morning in eastern Australia) and will be streamed on YouTube. Kelly Slater is included in one of the teams, but the surfing G.O.A.T. has become more elusive since his retirement earlier this year, but tune in tomorrow for a potential sighting!
- Weatherzone
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2025
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Finally, some relief for emergency services in SA, Vic
13:58 AEDT Challenging conditions for firefighters in Vic and SA have eased as a rainband and cooler temperatures bring much-needed relief. Temperatures soared into the 40s over the weekend across the two states, with the hot, dry and windy weather causing extremely dangerous fire danger.
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