From bombing Teahupo’o to massive Wedge: the South Pacific swell run explained.

*It all started with Southern Hemisphere swells.* In the early '80s, Surfline co-founder Sean Collins was obsessed with analyzing South Pacific storms to the point where he'd string wire over cactuses in Baja to connect to a Nagrafax, the only tech at the time that could show such things. He was equally obsessed with a certain fickle wave that required a solid South Pacific swell from a precise angle. Forty-plus years later, the technology has obviously improved. We have LOTUS models, satellites measuring seas, buoys reading waves — the 30-plus million miles of open ocean in the South Pacific are no longer completely mysterious. And it's not a one-swell-fits-all situation. Storm size, wind speeds, location, and storm track all affect how a swell shows up on various beaches from Polynesia to the Americas. The last few weeks of seemingly nonstop south swell, from late May through mid-June, illustrate these differences perfectly. *Act One:* The first batch of south swells in late May moved out from under New Zealand and delivered a week's worth of top-end paddle surf for Tahiti. The storm track moved toward Tahiti and Hawaii, increasing the size of what arrived on those coasts. The swell continued to the Americas with decent to very good, but not giant, surf. *Act Two:* The following swell, a week or so later, featured an impressive area of 50-foot seas. More importantly for West Coast surfers, its location (more centrally positioned than the previous swells) perfectly aligned to produce the largest Southern Hemisphere swell in more than a decade across much of the Americas, and the biggest in Southern California since at least 2009. *Act Three:* Likely the strongest storm of the bunch, this one was located in the Southwest Pacific — similar to the first batch, but even more powerful. It also tracked north along the New Zealand coast, which is rare. It unloaded on Tahiti on June 11–12, though local conditions compromised the biggest day. A couple of days later, Oahu's South Shore saw its biggest surf of the summer so far. And due to the storm's location and track, parts of Northern California recorded their biggest surf of the summer a few days after that. As Surfline's Kevin Wallis puts it: "I've been watching the South Pacific for a long time — more than a quarter century — and this is one of the better runs I've seen to kick off the Northern Hemisphere summer." Thumbnail photo: Ryan Schnell ----------------------------------- Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=surfline Become a Surfline Premium Member: https://www.surfline.com/upgrade?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=swell_stories&utm_content=2025_dec_north_atlantic&utm_term=cta_upgrade_description ----------------------------------