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Irago Aichi, Japan, August 22nd. Yes, those are normal-sized buoys inside where those waves are breaking. And no, that's probably not a good thing for boats. Photo: Pedro Gomes
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Taizo Harada enjoying the fruits of Typhoon Goni at a fickle reefbreak on Okinawa. Photo: Josh Lacar
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Typhoon swells hit Japan a lot during the season, roughly from July through September, and they're always unique. Typhoons Goni and Atsani made for some damn fine surfing, sure, but some dramatic wave shapes as well. Here's a dragon chasing its tail. Photo: Pedro Gomes
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Video recap on this Super Typhoon duo by Surfline's Jonathan Warren.
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This scene could be anywhere in the world during any solid swell. Buddies huddled together, looking for rips and channels, timing the sets; butterflies in the stomach; pintails packed in the car... Irago Aichi, Japan, August 21st. Photo: Pedro Gomes
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One doesn't hear much about good surf on Okinawa, located 400 miles south of the rest of Japan, roughly the same distance from the coast of China and 300 miles north of Taiwan. Mostly, Americans think of this as a military base. But when Typhoons enter the right window, some of the island's reefbreaks can offer up fine, powerful Pacific tubes. Photo: Josh Lacar
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And of course, there's no shortage of locals who are competent when the waves get good. Here's Tetta Mori, redirecting with speed. Photo: Josh Lacar
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Taizo Harada negotiates an Indo-esque tube on Okinawa. Sequence: Josh Lacar
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Hawaiian-ish A-frame on Okinawa. Photo: Josh Lacar
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Remember what we said back in Slide 1 about the buoys inside of where waves broke? We weren't kidding. Not sure how many are left after Typhoons Goni and Atsani had their way with this stretch of Japanese coastline. Photo: Pedro Gomes
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Here's a weekend report from Aussie photog Andrew Shield, who chased the swells for Surfing Life. "No shortage of swell at the moment in Japan, with two separate typhoons off the coast to the east and south. It's been difficult to work out where to go for the best surf, because the S swell has been declining while the E swell is increasing. One option today was this slab, in the Miyazaki area of Kyushu, Japan. Like many hollow lefts around the world these days, it's named after Teahupo'o." Photo: Andrew Shield
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Hayato Maki, drawing a simple, confident line through a dreamy Okinawa tube. Photo: Josh Lacar
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Unmolested peak peels off for an audience of three in Okinawa. Photo: Josh Lacar
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Arata Kawasumi, Masaaki Ito and Teruyuki Yamaguchi prep up for an outer reef mission in Irago. Photo: Pedro Gomes
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Teruyuki Yamaguchi, in early via PWC-assist. Paddling this area during a solid typhoon swell is next to impossible due to the sheer volume of water moving around the reefs. Photo: Pedro Gomes
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Tetta Mori, flashing on Lance's Right in Okinawa. Sequence: Josh Lacar
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What's in a name? In the Atlantic and Northern Pacific, these kind of storms are called "hurricanes" after the Caribbean God of Evil, named "Hurrican." In the Southeastern Indian Ocean and Southwestern Pacific, they're called "cyclones." And here in the Northwestern Pacific, the same powerful storms are called "typhoons." Either way, the surf generated by these storms can be big, but often shorter-period than far-away groundswells. Photo: Pedro Gomes
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Southern Taiwan, looking very, very inviting. Photo: Toumei
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Here's a more urban nook filtering the raw, unorganized swell into clean little zippers. A spot called "Nan Wan Point" produces for a frothy little pack in South Taiwan. Photo: Kichi
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And then, there's Korea. Not much is known about the surf here. Zev Gartner, a bummed-to-be-boardless Northern California surfer found himself in the country this past weekend on a work trip. "Korea saw some of its best swell in 10 years," Gartner said, "but the local authorities weren’t letting anyone in the water where I was." Photo: Zev Gartner
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Gartner snapped this Bigfoot-esque iPhone pic of an unnamed Korean outer reef on August 23rd. "I saw a bunch of other waves yesterday while going around the island on a bus that looked sick," he said. "Super bummed I didn’t have a board. Rumor has it there's an epic left on the other side of the island inside a harbor that people surf when it's huge. My guess is that people are surfing in these nooks because there's a police station right on the point [pictured]. They're on it and won’t let anyone near the water." Photo: Zev Gartner
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Dustin 08/28/2015 04:45 AM
Mark 08/27/2015 11:29 AM
Josh 08/27/2015 11:16 AM
troy williams 08/26/2015 10:00 PM * PREMIUM MEMBER - Real Name
bulowski 08/26/2015 08:14 PM
Lots of warm water, low upper level wind shear, and we're nearing the statistical peak of the season. Oh, and that little dude named El Nino ;)
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