Places to surf before you die: Pipeline

IN Hawaiian culture, where surfing is the measure of a man, Pipeline, on the North Shore of Oahu, is the measure of a surfer, writes Sean Doherty.

IN Hawaiian culture, where surfing is the measure of a man, Pipeline is the measure of a surfer. For the guys whose lives revolve around surfing Pipe, the experience is as much spiritual as it is routine, and there's a ritual element to the act of just paddling out.

To be considered a true legend of the sport, you need to have some sort of pedigree out here; Lopez, Carroll, Slater and Irons have all shot to glory from the gaping green caverns of this place.

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After years of hearing the stories, watching the movies and staring at the photos, you drive along the Kam Highway expecting Pipeline to be guarded by a bronzed statue of Gerry Lopez next to a flashing billboard with the names of the Pipe Masters winners in the carpark.

On a small day, however, you could walk right past it and not even know it was there. A nondescript peak on a stretch of beach that looks pretty much like any other. Add 12 feet of pure west swell, however, and suddenly a liquid Godzilla rises from the ocean. To sit on the beach and watch Pipeline in full cry is one thing - to surf it is another.

The reef at Pipe is actually three reefs staggered one behind the other, heading out to sea. Third Reef Pipe is the big daddy, breaking 200 metres out and only rearing its head when the swell is enormous. Third Reef refracts the lines of swell and helps create the famous Pipeline frame on the two inside reefs.

Second Reef Pipe is a big, old hydraulic peak that starts breaking at eight feet and goes up from there. This is when Pipe is at its best, as the Second Reef peak is forgiving enough to let you paddle in and sweetly set up the infamous First Reef barrel.

The Pipeline of surfing legend is First Reef. Breaking just 50 metres from shore, the rifling lefthand pit is unpredictable, deathly shallow - and downright glorious.

For the purposes of this piece, we'll include Backdoor, the righthander on the other side of the Pipeline peak. After all, if you've travelled 10,000 kilometres to surf Pipeline, we're sure the extra 10 metres to surf Backdoor isn't too much of a stretch.

While Pipe breaks around the contour of the reef and into deeper water, Backdoor breaks across a chest-deep shelf and consequently is abrupt and even more dangerous than its next-door neighbour. While it doesn't handle the same swell as Pipe, it's undoubtedly the better barrel of the two.

To properly appreciate the sketchiness of the place, don a mask and flippers on a flat day and inspect the ocean floor here. The fossilised limestone reef isn't a flat platform, but, rather, a series of craggy caves and pinnacles that look like a twisted moonscape.

You can fathom why this place has claimed more lives than any other wave on Earth. The last fatality there was on 3 December 2005, when Tahitian surfer Malik Joyeux took off an eight-foot set, hit the bottom, and never came up. His death rocked the Pipeline surf community, and the really scary thing here is that Malik was regarded as one of the world's most talented big-wave surfers.

Surfing it is an exercise in respect, even for the best guys.

You don't see too many stand-up comedians in Hawaii and, as if the wave wasn't enough, the human element at Pipe is often more dangerous than the wave itself. Pipeline is the most contested, ruthless and regulated line-up in the world. Only breaking for five months a year, you can count on one hand the classic days each season.

In November and December, when the pro tour is in town, the place is a complete basket-case, and the only semblance of order comes from the enforcing presence of the local "Wolfpak".

The world's population is divided into three categories: those who haven't surfed Pipe, those who've paddled out when it's three feet and claim they've surfed it, and those who have actually surfed it when it's real Pipe. The best way to find yourself in this last category is to make your North Shore pilgrimage post-Christmas. The pro-tour circus has left town, the local guys have chilled out, and the chickens and dogs have taken back the streets. This is when you'll see the real North Shore and, hopefully, the real Pipeline.

The Pilgrimage: 50 places to surf before you die, edited by Sean Doherty, is published by Penguin Books on the Viking Imprint and is available in all good bookshops for $49.95.