Sunset Beach on Oahu's North Shore Sunset Beach is on the North Shore of

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and known for

big wave surfing Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which experienced surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves which are at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. Sizes of the board needed to successfully su ...

during the winter season. The original Hawaiian name for this place is Paumalū. It is a two-mile (3.3 km) stretch of mostly beige sand located at 59-104

Kamehameha Highway Kamehameha Highway is one of the main highways serving suburban and rural O‘ahu in the U.S. state of Hawai‘i. Informally known as Kam Highway, it begins at Nimitz Highway near Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, serves the ...

in Pupukea, 39 miles (63 km) driving distance from

Waikiki Waikiki (; haw, Waikīkī; ; also known as Waikiki Beach) is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the south shore of the island of Oahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Waikiki is most famous for Waikiki Beach, which is one of six beaches in the district ...

. Lifeguards are usually present. Like many beaches on Oahu's North Shore, Sunset Beach is considered dangerous for inexperienced surfers, due to extensive

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

formations near the surface that present the risk of serious injury. Trade winds will be an advantage and a disadvantage, at the same, as the offshore breeze will make paddling for a wave a difficult task. Conditions for swimming change depending on the particular location and season. Generally speaking, the water is flat as a lake in the summers and has waves in the winters. All the surfing contests take place in the winter around December and January, that being the time of the largest and best waves for surfing. Swimming conditions change from spot to spot along the beach. There is usually a place to swim somewhere, except during stormy weather. Severe erosion of the sand at Sunset occasionally occurs during sets of extremely large surf episodes. During December in 2017 following several long lasting episodes with at least 30' to 40' waves for several days, severe sand erosion, which formed a more than 20' cliff along the edge of bicycle trail, closed the beach the week before Christmas. This catastrophic erosion caused the bike path to be rerouted closer to Kamehameha Highway when large concrete portions of the bike path fell off the cliff into the shore break area, forced the lifeguard tower to be relocated more mauka, and required the city of Honolulu to demolish and remove the 11-by-11-foot lifeguard storage shed. During extremely large surf in October 2013 and in December 2013 to January 2014, backyards, staircases, and swimming pools were swept out to sea.

Surfing competitions

Sunset Beach will pump perfect waves with West-to-Northeast swells coming from the North Pacific. The spot is located two miles (3.3 km) east of Banzai Pipeline.''Surfer today''
Retrieved 13 June 2017. It was home to the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship until 1985. The

Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational "The Eddie" is a big wave surfing tournament held at Waimea Bay on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The tournament is named for native Hawaiian, champion big wave surfer, and life-saving Waimea Bay lifeguard, Eddie Aikau. Created in 1984 at near ...

in honor of Eddie Aikau started at Sunset Beach in 1984. Today Sunset Beach is home to the prestigious

Triple Crown of Surfing The Triple Crown of Surfing is a Hawaii a specialty series of professional surfing events that have been held annually since 1983 on the North Shore of Oahu, a coastline whose winter swells can reach in height. The Triple Crown was founded by f ...

, which is part of the World Cup of Surfing. It also holds contests such as the Pipe Masters and a stop on the WSL Championship Tour

References

Surfing locations in Hawaii Big wave surfing Beaches of Oahu Tourist attractions in Honolulu County, Hawaii {{Hawaii-geo-stub

Surfing competitions

See also

References