Pe'ahi (Jaws) Swell Window

Hawaii, USA · part of the Pe'ahi (Jaws) spot guide

Swell window (from): 310°–70° (NW–ENE)
Best direction: ~350° (N)
Period sweet spot: 16–22 s
Open-ocean height (Hs): 10–25 ft
Resulting faces: 15–60 ft

Open-ocean vs. the face: the heights on buoys and forecast models are significant wave height (Hs) in deep water. What you ride is the breaking face, which depends on period, direction and this break's bathymetry — that's why the two rows above differ. PierMonkey's spot ratings already do this conversion for you.

The ridge points northwest into the storm corridor, so Pe’ahi wants swell from the west-northwest through north to a touch east of north, best around 330° to 010°. Period is king: typically 15 to 20 seconds, with the giants at 18 to 22 — the Super Swell of January 2021 read about 23 ft at 20 seconds.

The numbers come off the Pauwela buoy, and the focusing multiplier is large — the wave stands up to several times the open-ocean height. Roughly 6 to 9 ft of significant height at 15 to 17 seconds is the threshold that switches it on into 10-to-18-foot faces, 10 to 14 ft is solid contest Jaws, and 18 to 25 ft at 18 to 22 seconds is XXL, 40-to-60-foot faces. The buoy height and the breaking face are very different numbers.

The storm corridor

Typical swell corridor to Pe'ahi (Jaws): strong Aleutian and Gulf-of-Alaska lows sending long-period N–NW swell to focus on the Pe’ahi ridge — Typical swell corridor (schematic straight line): strong Aleutian and Gulf-of-Alaska lows sending long-period N–NW swell to focus on the Pe’ahi ridge.