The Hurley Pro Sunset Beach
February 12th - 22nd, 2024

As we approach the final days of the Pipe Pro waiting period - which should end in clean 6-8ft surf - it's time to glance up the Kam Highway and wonder what's happening at Sunset. Reason being, there's just two days between the end of Pipe's waiting period and the beginning of Sunset's.

Hurley are again sponsoring the comp - full name the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach - with the first day of the waiting period kicking off next Monday the 12th, then running through to the 22nd.

The swell that will end the Pipe waiting period will dissipate by the time Sunset begins with little to immediately follow it. A small lift in weak swell is likely through Wednesday, maybe to 4 feet or so, but it'll be the proverbial lemon next to the pie.

Things get much more interesting into the end of the week, with a significant low pressure system forecast to develop north-west of Hawaii, projecting a fetch of gale to severe-gale W/NW-NW winds close towards the islands. This then looks to be reinforced by secondary systems which will result in an extended run of large to extra-large surf, overpowering the Sunset reefs.

Due to the close proximity of the storms, winds look to be mostly unfavourable and out of the northern quadrant, so the chance of contest days from Thursday 15th to at least Sunday 18th are slim to non-existent. Unfortunately, the northerly wind will similarly limit surfable windows over at Jaws, but we'll watch that closely.

Into the final days of the waiting period we may see easterly trade-winds kick back in with moderate levels of mid-period, north-northwest swell.

With this outlook we can probably expect competition to get under way next Wednesday with the small mid-period swell. Yeah, the pros will be riding shorter boards and perhaps even surfing the point. However, while the middle of the event window looks to be a no go, the back end holds promise for good, clean Sunset - hopefully big enough to warrant boards from the back of the rack.

We'll provide another forecast update next week and in the meantime, enjoy the final days of the Pipe Pro (climaxing Saturday local time, Sunday Australian time).

16-Day North Shore Forecast Graph
16-Day North Shore WAMs