Waimea Bay Surf Season
Hawaii, USA · part of the Waimea Bay spot guide
Waimea is winter-only and big-swell-only. The prime window is November through February, driven by intense Aleutian and Gulf-of-Alaska lows that peak in the Northern Hemisphere winter; summer is flat. Even within the season a genuine Waimea day is a rare tail event, not the average — the bay needs the coast to be near maxing.
The Eddie is the ultimate expression of that: it needs sustained 20-foot Hawaiian swell (around 40-foot faces) and has run only about a dozen times in four decades, each one a marker that the North Shore has reached the very top of its range.
Where the swell comes from
The engine is the North Pacific storm track — intense Aleutian and Gulf-of-Alaska lows sending long-period swell down to Hawaii. Only the largest, best-aimed of those systems produce a swell big enough to break the deep bay with size.
Historic swells at Waimea Bay
The "greatest swell of the century"
A giant December swell turned Waimea into a washing machine, too big to ride — the benchmark against which maxing North Shore days are still measured.
"Biggest Wednesday"
An El Niño swell maxed the entire coast under the first "Condition Black," too big even for The Eddie, with tow surfers riding giant faces at the outer reefs.
The Eddie — John John Florence
The biggest Eddie ever run, with the Waimea buoy reading about 22 ft at 20 seconds and faces of 35 to 60 ft.
The Eddie — Landon McNamara
A north-northwest swell reading around 20–22 ft at 16–17 seconds on the offshore buoy produced roughly 40-foot faces for the most recent running.