This weekend, while most eyes will be on pumping 10 foot Pipeline and the showdown between Mick and Kelly, a much larger swell will be forming in the Western North Pacific Ocean.

If you haven't stumbled across our Wave Model (WAM) charts you've been missing out on a great forecasting tool. For a great first view of the WAMs, check out this large swell on the way to Hawaii.

Last week the North Shore lit up under a large north-westerly groundswell. Sunset Beach pumped for the World Cup of Surfing while second reef bombs unloaded at Pipe in preparation for the Billabong Pipeline Masters.

So what's in store for the waiting period?

This Friday the North Shore will see a large groundswell out of the NW which should produce solid 10 foot sets at exposed reefs. Not only this, the swell is likely to move accumulated sand off the reef at Pipe in readiness for the Pipeline Masters.

Less than a week after the recent groundbreaking XXL swell smashed into Europe, a second XXL swell is on target for the region.

In the coming days the East Coast will be bathed in pulses of southerly swell, and this means there will be a lot of difference in wave size depending on where you surf. It's a perfect time to make sense of our new forecasting system.

While Australian surfers wait for their cyclone season to begin, the Western Pacific basin has been very active. The latest storm to impact the region is Super Typhoon Francisco and it's expected to push across the Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan today.