Every human on Earth deserves to experience golden hour on the North Shore at least once in their lifetime. From a surfer’s perspective, few places on the planet allow you to sink into a reality where riding waves takes true priority over all else. I’m not talking in the idealistic sense many surfers tend to spout off about — many of us see that as something to aspire to but struggle to really put into practice because, well, life has a sneaky way of raining on dreamy parades.
On the North Shore though, everything stops when waves show up. And unlike California, for example, the North Shore can go from sloppy and disorganized to a rising swell spitting perfectly manicured tubes up and down the coast in an instant. One moment Pipeline looks like a lake and an hour later you can ride your bike along Ke Nui road and see people running from their trucks towards the sand.
Somehow this all comes to a fevered pitch during golden hour. Golden hour on Oahu with waves feels like the culmination of every North Shore winter daydream. Whether you’re actually in the water yourself or just stop to watch a session from the beach, it’s a special thing to experience.
Now that all the sappy stuff is out of the way, enjoy a few minutes of that exact scenario. You’ll recognize names like Slater, O’Brien, and plenty more picking off waves at Backdoor and Pipe as the sun starts to get lower and lower. The Championship Tour had just left town on this particular day but there’s never any shortage of talent on Oahu anyway. Pipe doesn’t look like the chaotic mess people describe when you’re watching from a bird’s eye view. It looks pretty rad. It looks like all the North Shore golden-hour fuss living up to every bit of hype you’ve ever been served.
