Billabong Pipe Masters waits another day

Contest site © Vans Triple Crown of Surfing

Billabong Pipe Masters

ASP Men's World Tour Event
Banzai Pipeline, North Shore Oahu
8 - 20 December 2012

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Probable Recommencement Tomorrow With Hopes of Crowning a Champ

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 13 December, 2012 : - - Pipeline, Oahu -- A fourth consecutive lay day has been called for the Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons, with the pattern of small surf continuing at Pipeline. A new swell is expected to fill in tomorrow however, prompting a restart to competition.

“As expected we’ve got another small day of surf here at Pipeline,” Marty Thomas, Vans Triple Crown Contest Director said. “We’re expecting a new swell to fill in tomorrow and we’re hoping to run the final day of competition then.”

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 6:30am to assess conditions for a possible 8am start. Surfline, official forecasters for the Billabong Pipe Masters, are calling for: Minor NW swell continues most of Thursday. New WNW swell will build in and be strongest Friday, before fading through the weekend. Strong and gusty ENE trades continue for the next several days. When Billabong Pipe Masters competition resumes Gabriel Medina (BRA), 18, Josh Kerr (AUS), 27, and Kelly Slater (USA), 40, will take to the water first in Heat 3 of Round 4.

THUR (13th)
SWELL/SURF: Small NW swell continues, similar in size to Wednesday waves mainly shoulder high at below and showing primarily at Backdoor/OTW.
WIND/WEATHER: Strong and gusty ENE trades.

FRI (14th)
SWELL/SURF: New, longer period WNW swell builds in through the morning and continues for the afternoon. Most waves at Pipe will be in the 5-8’ range on the face, with larger max sets on the day up to 10’ for the later morning and into the afternoon.
WIND/WEATHER: Strong and gusty ENE trades.

SAT (15th)
SWELL/SURF: WNW swell fades through the day. Surf is in the 4-8’+ range on the face, strongest in the morning.
WIND/WEATHER: Strong and gusty ENE trades.

SUN (16th)
SWELL/SURF: Smaller leftovers from the WNW.
WIND/WEATHER: Strong and gusty ENE trades.

MON (17th)
SWELL/SURF: Small leftovers from the WNW in the morning. Possible new NW swell starting to show late. Stay tuned.
WIND/WEATHER: Strong and gusty ENE trades.

SWELL/SURF SUMMARY

Minor NW swell will continue foremost of Thursday with strong ENE trades.

Our WNW swell for Friday remains on track, although models have downgraded it a bit. Look for long period lines to be on the rise through the morning on Friday and continue for the afternoon. Most of the waves at Pipe will be in the 5-8’ range, with the larger/largest sets of the day up to 10’ on the face and even a few larger ones sneaking in. Saturday will see decreasing and smaller surf, with much smaller leftovers on Sunday and into Monday morning.

Going further out, there are a couple more swells on the horizon to close out the waiting period; one for late Monday and Tuesday and the other for Thursday the 20th. If the quick moving storms setting up these swells behave exactly as forecast in the next few days we would see swells roughly similar to Friday. However, various models are not in good agreement on the size, strength and tracks of these respective storms, so there remains a fair amount of uncertainty on these potential swells. Stay tuned.

WIND/WEATHER SUMMARY

Strong high pressure will be located to the north/northeast of Hawaii for the next several days. Strong and gusty ENE trades continue for the week, through the weekend and beyond. Skies are partly cloudy with occasional passing showers.

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BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 16.40, Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.17, Dane Reynolds (USA) 9.96
Heat 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.10, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 6.20, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 5.83

REMAINING BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 4 MATCH UPS:
Heat 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA), Josh Kerr (AUS), Kelly Slater (USA)
Heat 4: Yadin Nicol (AUS), Miguel Pupo (BRA), Shane Dorian (HAW)

Previous reports:
# 1 : What's the forecast? All eyes on Pipe
# 2 : We love a title race: Pipe cranks up drama
# 3 : Pipe turns on, cuts title race down to two
# 4 : Billabong Pipe Masters calls Lay Day
# 5 : Pipe Masters calls a second Lay Day
# 6 : Holding pattern continues for Pipeline