“We’re not divided by land, but connected by water.” Legendary Hawaiian waterman Brian Keaulana once said that. And that sentiment was perhaps best illustrated this winter. The artist: a strong El Niño.

In late January, Surfline’s forecast team watched a strong winter storm spin up over Japan before steaming off into the Pacific Ocean towards Hawaii, just in time for the Lexus Pipe Pro. The storm dropped south, as El Niño-driven storms tend to do, and sent pumping west swell for the opening day of the event, January 31st.

Surprising even to us, this storm then re-intensified and tracked towards California, generating mottled brown barrels in the South Bay before slamming into SoCal, washing out the road to San O and dumping snow in the Sierra before continuing on a cross-country track below the Rockies and reemerging in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas. After sending a fun pulse to the Florida Panhandle, that same storm blew off Florida's East Coast, granting its East Coast surfers a couple days of rippable waves, before moving north and producing a tube-fest on the Outer Banks and giving Caribbean hotspots their due. The storm then scooted out into the North Atlantic and sent a solid shot of swell to Western Europe — two weeks and 12,000 miles later.

So basically, those chargers who were pulling into slabs on Valentine’s Day in Portugal were benefiting from the same exact storm that kicked off the 2024 Championship Tour season at Pipeline in January.

That’s connection for you — beautifully bound by El Niño.

0:00 - Intro
1:45 - Hawaii
2:35 - California
4:30 - East Coast
5:58 - Puerto Rico
6:43 - Portugal


Credits:

Executive Producers: Ross Garrett, Graham Nash, and Taylor Paul
Directed By: Marcus Sanders and Michael Weybret
Written By: Charlie Hutcherson and Marcus Sanders
Forecast Team: Kevin Wallis, Schaler Perry, Mike Watson, Jamie Bateman
Edited by: Michael Weybret
Produced by: Marcus Sanders, Matt Pruett, Jason Lock, Tom Vaughan, and Charlie Hutcherson
Filmed by: Raphael Ambar, Helio Antonio, Nate Baker, Stephanie Brown, Rick Fegley, Cody Hammer, Nate Lee, Loic Michel, Dick “Mez” Meseroll, Jerry Molina, Jorgito Rivera, Tucker Wooding, WSL, and Bruno Zanin
Surfers: Hunter Jones, Salomon Moore, Brodi Sale, Eli Hanneman, Jack Robinson, Jackson Bunch, Kelly Slater, Griffin Colapinto, Kei Kobayashi, Kokoro Tomatsuri, Luke Davis, Yadin Nicol, Chauncey Robinson, Kylie Pulcini, Tristan Thompson, Brett Barley, Gabriel Canals, Otto Flores, Ramse Morales, Luca Guichard, Tomás Fernandes, Arran Strong, and Martim Carrasco.
Special Thanks to: Johnny Marcon, Nick Carroll, Matt Kibby, Hannah Anderson, Nick Liotta, Jake Tellkamp, Lauren Sharabianlou

MUSIC:

Musicbed ID: MB01ACLKFLAEVFX
“King Kong” by Jawberry
“Fake Fix” by Riders
“Humbot” by Wave Saver
“365 (Until I Die)” by Jawberry
“Bliss Mosiac” by Watermark High
“Done With It” by 12 Palms
“Nobody Minds If You Pretend” by Hot Little Daggers
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