Meet Mason Ho’s New Gerry Lopez “Pipeline Shooter”

When Mason Ho strolled into Matt Biolos’ San Clemente laboratory this morning, planning on dialling in his winter quiver of Mayhem tube shooters, he was met with a very special surprise: a fresh Gerry Lopez handshape, a board inspired by Mason’s big board antics at Pipeline the last few seasons.

“Well, Gerry called me and said, ‘Hey, listen, I made this board for Mason, do you think you could help me get it to him… and do you think you can get him to pay for it?” Matt “Mayhem” Biolos tells Stab. “I told Gerry, of course Mason would pay for it, but I’d rather pay for it and gift it to him. Mason came to work on his boards for Hawaii this year, he brought some of his mid-sized boards and we sort of went through everything, planned all his boards out from 6’0’s up to his guns, and at the end I walked into the garage and grabbed it and gave it to him.”

We’ll let Mason take it from here:
Stab: How’s that new stick of yours?
Mason Ho: It’s the most insane surfboard, ever.

“I just always knew I was going to ride one of his out there on one of those big days.”

I’m sure Lopez has taken notice of your approach at Pipeline the last few seasons. Had you talked board design with him over the years or was that just Gerry making something he thought might work for you?
Well, I’d see him now and then, and I’d be like, ‘What’s up, Uncle!’ and he’d always mention my waves at Pipeline, and I’d tell him ‘I can’t wait to get one of those waves on one of your boards!’ I just always knew I was going to ride one of his out there on one of those big days.

So you guys never really talked dimensions or anything?
Well, I think he talked to my Dad. I didn’t tell him dimensions or anything. I wouldn’t know what to tell him—it’s Lopez! Well, actually, this is pretty funny: He did ask me a few little questions. He asked me what kind of board I’d want once, and I think I mentioned that I thought a 7’8” would be cool.

But then I told my dad that it would be really cool to get one a while ago, and I think he must have had Gerry’s number, because I got a random text from Gerry once, asking just: “How wide?” Like this mysterious text. And so I wrote back and a week later I told my dad about the text and he was like, “What?! You have to ask for wider! That’s too narrow! You gotta call him, and hope he didn’t shape it yet. Or better yet, that he changed it for you.”

I was like, ‘Dad, I’m not doing that, that’s a barney move!’ You know, calling the shaper and changing your mind like a kook. But finally, I sent him a text, like really apologetic, saying, “If it’s not a big deal, could you make it 20” wide instead?” And Gerry just wrote back: “Already did that.” Like, he was going to make me what he wanted anyway. [Laughs]

“I told my dad that it would be really cool to get one a while ago, and I think he must have had Gerry’s number, because I got a random text from Gerry once, asking just: “How wide?” Like this mysterious text.”

It doesn’t look like a retro board at all, it looks like a full-on modern Pipe board.
Gerry called it the Pipeline Shooter. I think it’s similar to what he was riding in the late-‘80s and early’90s.

Yeah, it looks like those boards he’s riding at G-Land in Endless Summer II.
Exactly. Like, boards in the low-8-foot, high-7-foot range.

Mayhem was talking about the big boards you’ve been riding, those crazy waves you’ve been getting. He said you’re like a kid in a candy store, but instead of having a little bag to grab little candy, you have this big bag to grab whatever…
Exactly! Like, you’re at the store, and it’s like you walk in and you grab a cart—like one of those little handheld carts—or you grab a little bag, you’re only going to be able to fit certain fruits and candy in there, and you’re going to have to be all precise and careful and make it all organized and shit. With a big board you can be out of position or go on waves that other guys couldn’t fit in their carts with their little bags because you’ve got this big old shopping cart and you can just take whatever looks fun.

A bubbled wrapped board courtesy of Mr Pipeline for Pipeline’s golden son! 

It’s amazing how much more confidence riding bigger boards in waves like that gives you, right?
Ab-so-lute-ly. I didn’t really grow up a big wave guy. I was always really scared of it. My friends were always breaking my big boards, and I’d have go home and tell my dad that I’d broken them because I didn’t want to tell him I didn’t paddle out. Riding big boards turned bigger waves into a big playground.

You’re gonna feel pretty unstoppable on that thing. You got a few months before you’ll need it in Hawaii, though. You gonna ice that thing until the right Pipe day or take it somewhere first?
I can’t wait to just lay in bed at night and stare at it and just dream of getting waves.