Opening Day at Pipe should be an annual surfing holiday. We’ll likely never see the best wave of a season on the North Shore caught in October, but the official awakening of Pipeline before another winter begins is always reason to get festive.
Although less than stellar conditions are hitting the North Shore right now, this weekend was our first real reminder of what a stacked lineup at Pipeline looks like each winter. Names like Jamie O’Brien, Mason Ho, Eli Olson, Barron Mamiya, and Noah Beschen will appear in our feeds more from this single location than any other between now and the early months of 2021. So what did it look like? Most of the action came from Backdoor during Saturday’s session, Shannon Quirk told The Inertia.
Opening weekend also marks the start of what should be a unique winter on the North Shore. This pandemic-filled year shut Hawaii tourism down starting in March and this weekend also marked the beginning of the state’s new guidelines for allowing visitors — one that saw $1.5 billion in revenue per month before COVID-19. While the two-week quarantine that’s now lifted likely wouldn’t have kept most professional surfers away from Oahu this winter, the lingering effects of the pandemic, other travel restrictions around the world, and even global concern lingering from a virus that still has no cure or vaccine will probably add up to a North Shore winter that’s slower than most. As for the regulars who already call this place home — the crew that was in attendance this weekend — it may just mean a higher wave count this winter.
