Volcom expected to begin today

Pipeline, North Shore, O‘ahu, HI — Competitors had one more day to make final preparations for the $120,000 Volcom Pipeline Pro before conditions get serious once again along Oahu’s North Shore, states a press release from Ocean Promotion.

Contest director Marty Thomas called a lay day Tuesday due to small, head-high waves at Pipe, but extra-large surf (wave face heights around 20 feet) is expected this morning.

“We’ll be keeping an eye on the buoy to see how this swell unfolds,” said Thomas. “But at this point we’re expecting we’ll get two days of competition out of the next four days of swell. There is a chance that (Wednesday) could be too big, but we won’t know for sure until the readings start to show.”

The buoy that Thomas talks about is located northwest of the Hawaiian islands and measures open ocean swell heights and wave periods. It is the “crystal ball” for surfers, showing what will soon arrive to the North Shore. Located roughly 200 miles away, swell showing on the buoy takes approximately nine hours to travel the distance to the North Shore.

Requiring just three days of competition, the Volcom Pipeline Pro holding period continues through to Feb. 5.

For exclusive Volcom Pipeline Pro video, photos and more, go to www.transworldsurf.com.

To check out the latest conditions at Pipeline, go to Surfline.com’s Pipe cam. When competition gets underway, action will be shown live at Volcom.com. This is Volcom’s first ever ASP event and is a critical component of the 2010 ASP Hawai‘i season, offering valuable points towards World Tour qualification, as well as wild card berths into the December Pipeline Masters.

In Hawai‘i, Oceanic Time Warner cable 250 or 1250 will carry live coverage. FUEL TV will also air a 30-minute wrap up show in America, Australia and Portugal at the conclusion of the event.