Pe'ahi (Jaws) Surf Season
Hawaii, USA · part of the Pe'ahi (Jaws) spot guide
Pe’ahi is a North Pacific winter machine — November through March, prime December and January, firing only a handful of days each year. The engine is the Aleutian and Gulf-of-Alaska storm track, whose long-fetch, long-period swell survives the crossing and refracts cleanly on the ridge; summer’s south swells miss it entirely.
It is the Maui counterpart to the Eddie-era big-wave lineage: the WSL Pe’ahi Challenge ran here in the late 2010s, Billy Kemper took multiple men’s titles, and Paige Alms won the inaugural women’s event in 2016.
Where the swell comes from
The engine is a strong, slow Aleutian or Gulf-of-Alaska low with a long fetch aimed at Hawaii from the north-northwest. Only long-period swell survives the crossing intact and refracts on the ridge; the biggest days pair that with periods of 18 seconds and up.
Historic swells at Pe'ahi (Jaws)
The birth of tow-in
Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama, Darrick Doerner and the "Strapped Crew" invented tow-in surfing here on north-northwest winter swell, redefining the limits of big-wave riding.
Aaron Gold’s paddle record
Aaron Gold paddled into a 63-foot wave, a Guinness-ratified paddle-in world record, on a giant north-northwest day.
"Super Swell Saturday"
The buoys read around 23 ft at 20 seconds and the biggest riders in the world took on giants — one of the defining modern Jaws days.
WSL Jaws Championships
The tour event ran in 30-to-50-foot faces, won by Paige Alms and Billy Kemper — the contest-documented state of a giant, makeable Pe’ahi.