Infamous ‘Gurgle’ Wave Returns to the North Shore (Video)

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Dec 14, 2025 11:22 AM ET

There are very few novelty waves on the North Shore of Oahu – aside, perhaps, from the Waimea Bay river mouth, and let’s say, Rubber Duckies.

No, the North Shore is mostly home to some of the world’s best, most storied, surf spots. Pipeline, Backdoor, Sunset, Off the Wall, Waimea, V-Land…the list goes on. But every now and then, just beside Pipe, the Ehukai Beach Park sandbar can go mutant.

And when that happens, the brothers Florence – who grew up surfing this very wave, living just steps away on the sand – take full advantage of the novelty, sand-riddled monstrosity.

“Our favorite little gurgle bar is pumping,” Nathan Florence, the slab-hunting YouTube star of the three brothers opens his latest video. “We’re gonna go out, and get some water in our heads. It’s gonna be insane.”

Brother John John joins Nate for the session, and what follows is a highlight reel of carnage. The wave, if you can even call it that, is so frothy, so doubled-up, it’s nearly un-surfable. And yet, Nate, John John, and the crew find a few diamonds in the fizz. A few makes, but mostly, it’s just take-off, get pitched, and have sand enter every bodily crevice.

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For the boys, however, it’s all pure fun.

“I’m looking through the footage from the day at the sandbar,” Nate says, post session. “We’ve been dying to get this sandbar back all year. Last year, I don’t know. We surfed it, like, maybe once at a different spot. Then, it was on. The dredge bar. The gurgle bar. Finally, it was on. It’s just so fun. But the current is nonstop. It’s just nonstop paddling. On top of that, you’re flopping like nine out of 10 waves. There’s so many wipeouts. By the end of the session I felt so terrible. Severe beatdowns.”

Despite the carnage, and the fact that they keep coming back to this liquid flurry, which most surfers wouldn’t even consider, Nate added:

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. That was a really fun day.”

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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