Pipeline

It takes a bull-sized set of cajones to climb on a board and just paddle into one of Banzai Pipeline's world-famous left-breaking curls. That's one heck of a big dose of wave energy right there. And this is a small example. They regularly top 25 feet in height.

Pipeline is known for it's perfectly shaped tubes of water that come in like clockwork, as if made by a machine. It's bottom loaded with three seperate reefs and some very jagged lava spires under the surface though; Pipeline kills more surfers than any other wave.

Pipeline is known for breaking close to shore, just a couple hundred yards out. Consequently it has a wicked rip current, so you'd better know what you're doing. Tourists taking pictures at the shore, knee-deep, get sucked in to their deaths on a regular basis.

This is just one of many well-known surfing beaches on the North Shore of Oahu. Listing them sounds more like a Beach Boys song than a geography lesson: Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Waimea Bay, and Makaha off to the west. Epic wave breaks, all of them.

Once you graduate from Pipeline, you can try mighty Waimea. It starts breaking at 25 feet and if there is a winter storm in the Aleutians, will quickly surge to 50, 60, 70 feet or more.

At that point, cajones are no longer necessary, All you need is a good dose of insanity.

If you haven't seen Riding Giants, you really need to. It will amaze you and scare the bejeezus out of you, all at once.