2024 Vans Pipe Masters Day Three — Live Updates, Commentary, And Conjectures
A bump in swell, a drop in wind, another day at the Pipeline.
Click here for Day One highlights, here for Day Two highlights and follow along below for updates from everything happening on the beach today. This post will be updated with new insights and play-by-play every few minutes.
While there’s currently no official livestream, you can follow along on social media via @vanssurf, @surfline, and @stab. You can also click here for the heat updates, and here for the full leaderboard
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And, we’re back.
Your author here has been sleeping on a four foot long couch and recycling the same shirt for the past three days. Fortunately, the waves look fun this morning… really fun.
Four foot, couple six footers. Of course, what that means to you depends on where you’re from.
The important thing is that it’s bigger and cleaner than yesterday — and the sun’s not even out yet. Men Round Two to start, Women Round Two to follow.
Event starts 8am HST. Refresh this page for moment-by-moment updates.
For reference:
- The draw features 40 men and 20 women, with Hawaiians making up about half the roster.Heats of four, each heat surfs three times. The four surfers with the highest-scoring waves across those heats will make it to the final.
- Each heat will rotate between morning, midday, and afternoon to surf in all conditions and maximise their chances.
- Each wave is scored out of 30 (10 points each from three judges).
- No priority, and only your top three waves from your first three heats counts.
- 40-minute, four-person final, where only the top two waves are considered. Vans will announce any priority restrictions for the final, based on conditions.
- The total prize purse is $300,000, with the distribution on the mens and womens side as follows:
- 1st Place: $75k
- 2nd Place: $35k
- 3rd Place: $25k
- 4th Place: $15k
Men’s Heat One, Round Two — Lungi Slabb (AUS), Mikey Wright (AUS), Koa Smith (HAW), Guy Sato (JPN)
Either the Australians had too many Mai-Tais last night or their right eyes weren’t working, because Koa Smith packed four Backdoor waves before anyone else had even clambered to their feet.
Granted, he only made one, but he could’ve made more — had he not been attempting to get characteristically experimental behind the curtain.
“Very few goofy footers have mastered Backdoor,” Jimmy Wilson said to me a few days ago. “Koa Smith is definitely one of them.”
A fruitful 16.3 points for the Herculean acai mogul, followed by a long lull.
On to the next.
Men’s Heat Two, Round Two — Kuio Young (HAW), Kainehe Hunt (HAW), Billy Kemper (HAW), Kala Grace (HAW)
“Pat Tenore is creating something that’s really going to shock the world,” Billy Kemper told us, almost a year ago. “And I’m going to be flying the flag in a really positive way to impact our community, our culture, and most importantly, our sport.”
Of course, what Billy was referring to at the time was the eponymous brand TENŌRE — which has partially picked up where RVCA left off.
Over the past week, the TENŌRE team and many of their friends have been barbecuing, shooting videos, cheering, and preparing for heats at the house just next door to the Volcom duplex. It’s a distinct communal, familial vibe, and uncle Billy Kemper is at it’s heart. Whether you back Billy or not, he and Pat Tenore’s efforts are omnipresent here on the North Shore, and are undeniably a centralizing factor of the already existing community here.
Starting today at 11th, Billy rode two decent waves — a 15-point left and a 17-point right — to surpass all of his TENŌRE disciples and place himself at first on the leaderboard.
Kainehe Hunt rode a few little tubes of little consequence, stacking enough points to put himself in 8th, but not enough to really threaten the Top 4.
Men’s Heat Three, Round One — Nathan Florence (HAW), Ivan Florence (HAW), Eli Olson (HAW), Koa Rothman (HAW)
The fabled Florence and friends heat delivered the most action thus far,
If you haven’t been keeping up, Ivan and Nathan have spent the past few months bouncing around Europe’s North Atlantic slab territory — no doubt sharpening their instincts for the Hawaiian winter.
Nate Florence started the heat in 5th on the leaderboard and Ivan started it in 8th.
After a pair of split peaks off the boil, Ivan jumped to 1st with a stretched out funnel and a boned out, grab-free straight air. Following two medium-sized Backdoor tubes which failed to alter his position, Nathan found an idyllic left and dragged his corn-fed rig through the aquamarine gates of the Pipeline palace. 21 points and a spot next to Mr. Cool in second place.
Reportedly, John John has been giving some mental coaching to Ivan.
Men’s Heat Four, Round Two — Makana Pang (Haw), Jamie O’Brien (HAW), Tosh Tudor (USA), Kaulana Apo (HAW)
Currently, the Waimea Bay buoy is 5.6 @ 15 from 315 degrees. At this point, it’s bigger than yesterday, but also slower. Which means there are more opportunities for leaderboard topping waves, but also less incentive to go on the smaller ones.
So far, most surfers have been dropping anchor and waiting. For some, that’s panned out well, for others, it hasn’t.
As Jamie O’Brien paddled out, apparently Nate Florence told him the lefts were way better. So, Jamie waited the whole heat to ride one left — a stretched out translucent funnel from behind the boil, which he perfectly paced himself through for the highest score of the event thus far. At 27.2 points, it was one of only three waves ridden in the heat, and the only one of consequence.
Because Jamie had an uninspiring heat yesterday, his massive score failed to jettison him into the Top 4 — but it did earn him a $500 Bag-O-Cash, which he swiftly pulled $50 from and handed to board caddy Ben Gravy as his fee.
Jamie’s ascension to 11th on the leaderboard means that 12 of the Top 13 men are Hawaiian — a massive feat from the local boys.
Men’s Heat Five, Round Two — Noa Mizuno (HAW), Croby Colapinto (USA), Barron Mamiya (HAW), Kalani Rivero (HAW)
After a pond-ish heat yesterday, the ocean falls asleep once again for the heat with last year’s Pipe CT champ — Barron Mamiya.
“Fuck,” laughed Crosby afterward. “Two slow heats in a row. I’ve literally caught one wave this whole event.”
Men’s Heat Six, Round Two — Mason Ho (HAW), Kauli Vaast (PYF), Cam Richards (USA), Russel Bierke (AUS)
“Mason Ho is probably the most competitive human in this thing,” Billy Kemper told us this morning. “It doesn’t seem like he is, but I know secretly that guy loves to win just as much as anyone on this earth. And thats what its all about.”
Billy’s sentiment appeared true as the heat started, with Mason sprinting through a meandering Backdoor bowl. As he exited the tube, he zipped off the bottom to hammer a nail in the lipline coffin. 18.6 points for the effort, which felt like a slight underscore, keeps him hanging by a thread in fifth. Mase is riding a 5’5 twin today, the same one that hopped him into 1st yesterday.
Following his first wave, Oahu’s eccentric entertainer hucked another chop-hop, similar to yesterdays efforts, and covered more ground than he did height. As the end section arrived, he threw his tail for a reverse, but stumbled and fell. The score was limited to a 15, and Mase stays in 5th.
Cam Richards rode eight waves, tried an air on all of them, but couldn’t muster a score above 17 points.
Not quite on par with the Portuguese air session of Cam’s life, which you can watch here.
Men’s Heat Seven, Round Two — Noah Beschen (HAW), Zeke Lau (HAW), Balaram Stack (USA), Noa Deane (AUS)
In his newest edit, which will be released some point soon on site, Noa Deane has a few extremely high-yield air sessions atop a flax LSD surfboard.
“Yeah I just love that they don’t fuckin break,” he laughed, when I asked him about it in the water a few days ago. “They’re definitely kinda stiff to start, but you can sorta loosen them up if you ride them enough. Honestly I just ride them until they sorta become magic, if that makes sense.”
Noa opted for PU in this heat, but unfortunately, the ocean didn’t quite offer anything at all, and the Australian stuck with his anchor-dropping theory. He waited out the clock with staunch indifference to the lack of any set waves.
What is it that Neil Young said? “Better to burn out than to go on a weird insider and do a turn?”
Something like that.
Men’s Heat Five, Round One — Legend Chandler (HAW), Imaikalani Devault (HAW), Benji Brand (HAW), Koldo Illumbe (IND/ESP)
“Wow, it’s really slow,” Tosh Tudor says as he sits on the beach, cheering on his friend Koldo.
The wind shifts a little more to the east, the humidity begins to feel heavier, and the ocean indeed seems to slow. Strangely, the Waimea buoy reads the same as this morning, around 5.9ft @ 14 seconds, offering hope that this lake-like period is just a midday siesta for the Pacific.
Koldo Illumbe and Benji Brand exchange a pair of playful-if-unimportant lefts, while Legend Chandler picks off two Pipe waves for a shampoo and a full rote — neither of which return the Kauaian to his former Top 4 glory.
Men’s Heat Six, Round One — Eala Stewart (HAW), Lucas Godfrey (HAW), Kyuss King (AUS), Harry Bryant (Aus)
Harry buckled the 5’5 quad he’s riding for his heat at Rockpiles the other day, but he got it fixed and has been riding it since.
Lucas Godfrey picks off a Backdoor grower, leaving the crowd mumbling about how ‘it might be getting better.’
It’s not.
Through the rest of the heat, the wind clicks up to 12 knots, shifting a few more degrees north and dirtying the lineup.
As the heat ends, the women surfers come together to vote on whether or not they should run.
Men’s Heat Ten, Round Two — Torrey Meister (HAW), Alan Cleland (MEX), Makai McNamara (HAW), Jake Maki (HAW)
All you need to know about this heat is that Al maintained his place in the Top 4, and nothing else happened.
All of the focus during the final men’s matchup was on what the women were gonna do.
“Surfline is saying that they’re concerned about the long range forecast, and we should take what we can get now,” said Nate Fletcher, to the circle of pensive female competitors. “So I guess, stand on the deck if you want to run, stand on the grass if you don’t want to run.”
Moana stepped over to the deck, saying, “If that’s what Surfline is saying, I’ll listen to ’em.”
Erin Brooks and Sierra Kerr didn’t want to run, saying they’d prefer to surf it big and hectic.
Ultimately, the final vote came down to Caity SImmers, as she stumbled into the yard with her RedBull hat lopsided on her head.
Final vote? 11-9 in favor of running.
Women’s Heat One, Round Three — Luana Silva (BRA), Coco Ho (HAW), Sierra Kerr (AUS), Milla Coco-Brown (AUS)
Milla Coco-Brown has been in her wetsuit all day, wandering around the comp site. Despite that, she was in favor of waiting to run the women until it gets big. And, despite that, she paddled out and slipped past her close friend Sierra Kerr into the Top 5 with a well-placed smack.
Sierra, however, returned the favor with a poised hanger over shallow reef, and took her spot back.
In the blustery trades, Milla continues the ping-pong exchange, piecing together a two-turn combo which brings her just .1 short of the cutline.
Luana Silva slices a few sections, but the women’s leaderboard looks the same as it did when the round started.
Bettylou first, Moana second, Caity third, Sierra fourth.
Sierra keeps her spot, but tells us she certainly doesn’t feel secure in fourth.
Women’s Heat Two, Round Three — Caity Simmers (USA), Moana Jones-Wong (HAW), Zoe McDougall (HAW), Chesney Guinotte (HAW)
“It looks pretty grim out there,” chuckled Nathan Fletcher, as the wind bled the sections of any excitement.
Nearly a half hour passed, without a decent wave ridden by any of the surfers.
“Looks like a set coming girls,” hooted the beach announcer, as the clock wound into the dying moments.
The beach filling with hollers and cheers, Caity Simmers turned on the first — a sketchy, stretched out Backdoor wave with an evil chandelier on the second section. Unbothered, she shot through two massive sections as they filled with water, and doggy-doored out the bottom. As she sped into daylight, the tattered lipline careened into the tail of her board, flinging her into the air, arms flailing.
Truly remarkable effort, but the judges deem no make – 12.3 points, given for the first section.
Moments later, on the second wave of the set, Moana takes off behind the boil on the left, as she’s done so many times before – sliding past an equally nefarious chandelier, before the wave breathes her into the windy afternoon. Best wave of of the women’s round — on a day that simply didn’t have waves like that on offer. 26 points.
Moana to first, Caity to second.
Women’s Heat Three, Round Three — Vaihitimahana Inso (HAW), Erin Brooks (CAN), Sophie Bell (ZAF), Eweleiʻula Wong (HAW)
30 minutes, only two decent waves ridden.
Erin Brooks cracks a frightening Backdoor section without hesitation, earns a 19 to pop herself into fourth ahead of Sierra — confirming the Australian’s fears.
Sophie Bell slips through a frontside tube, misses the cut by .3 points, and the heat is over.
Women’s Heat Four, Round Three — Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW), Vahine Fierro (PYF), Nora Liotta (HAW), Kiara Goold (PYF)
Though Bettylou has finished third in the past two CT Pipe events, she’s never won one. Both today and yesterday, she’s looked like a clear dominant force in the water. Today, she found a sub-aqueous vision to slip from third into second on the leaderboard, sending a message of clear intent to Caity as she passed.
Women’s Heat Five, Round Three — Kirra Pinkerton (USA), Anne Dos Santos (BRA), Keala Tomoda-Bannert (HAW), Maluhia Kinimaka (HAW)
A marginal affair at best. Not a single scorable ride.
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That’s it for today, we have one remaining round of the mens to decide the final. Will most likely pick back up in a couple days when the next swell shows up. Low expectations, high hopes.
