Erin Brooks + Nathan Florence Are Your 2024 Vans Pipeline Masters
“Somebody get that girl a bag of cash!”
Click here for Day One highlights, here for Day Two highlights, and here for Day Three highlights.
The final day of the Vans Pipe Masters delivered in every way imaginable. With the swell cranking and third reef sets feathering at dawn, the Eddie was put on yellow alert—a clear sign Pipeline was arching its back.
This morning marked the last chance for competitors to shake up the leaderboard before the finals were set. Koa Smith made the most of it, locking in three of his best-scoring waves in a single heat, including a perfect 30, catapulting him straight into first place.
In the women’s division, Bettylou Sakura Johnson, Moana Jones-Wong, Erin Brooks, and Caity Simmers emerged as the top four, facing off in the final battle. On the men’s side, it was Nathan Florence, Koa Smith, Ivan Florence, and Al Cleland Jr. going head-to-head for the crown.
Here’s a quick look back at how they earned their spots in the final.
Women’s Finalists
Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW)
Bettylou tore through Round Two with a 23-point Backdoor masterpiece, and a clean 17-point backup with turns that cut like glass. By Round Three, she stayed on the throttle, pulling a 22-point tube to secure second place on the overall leaderboard.
Moana Jones-Wong (HAW)
Moana’s grip on Pipeline is ironclad. A 20.3 in Round Two set the tone, but her 26-point bomb in Round Three shut the door. Patient, sharp, and deadly when it counted.
“I love Pipeline, and Pipeline loves me,” Moana confidently stated after securing the top spot on the leaderboard.
Caity Simmers (USA)
In Round Two, Caity dropped a 21-point Backdoor tube, rocketing her to the top of the leaderboard. As the conditions got more technical, though, her scores dipped, and she slipped to third after Round Three. Still, she hung tough and kept herself in the mix heading into day four.
Erin Brooks (CAN)
It took Erin a few heats to really start puffing. Her engines kicked in Round Three when she threaded a critical 19-point Backdoor pit, pushing her into fourth place. “Fearless and precise,” came a voice from a pirate livestream commentator.
Men’s Finalists
Koa Smith (HAW)
After a few near-makes on what would have been the waves of the event, Koa finally put the pieces together and erupted in Round Three: a perfect 30-pointer at Backdoor followed by a 25-point ride that sent him to the top of the leaderboard. “That was one of the best Pipe waves I’ve seen in years,” remarked an astonished Nathan Fletcher.
Al Cleland Jnr. (MEX)
Al Cleland is a bad man. He was hovering at the top of the leaderboard throughout the whole event, in and out, up and down, threading some, getting eaten by others. A 28-point Backdoor tube in Round Three locked him in second place for good.
Ivan Florence (HAW)
Ivan started hot on the first day, sitting pretty at the top of the leaderboard. By Day Three, he hit a locked into back-to-back bombs, including a 24-point Pipe tube that left him sitting in third place.
Nathan Florence (HAW)
Nate finished up with a 22-point Backdoor tube and a 21-point Pipe bomb in Round Three as his highlights.
As the last few heats of Round Four trickled through, both Florence brothers — sitting in third and fourth — were vulnerable. A good ride from any competitor could have knocked them out of the final. But the wind picked up, the swell didn’t drop, and nobody could manhandle nature to their advantage. Both Flo bros advanced to the final.
Women’s final
Caity Simmers was the first to strike in the women’s finals, sliding into a perfect Pipe tube for 19 points.
Moana stepped up next, getting a lil’ head-dip for 7 points. Whispers said Pipeline’s matriarchal saint is battling a flu that’s sweeping the North Shore.
As the minutes passed, with a cockeyed ocean sending disorganized walls to the competitors, Erin Brooks got tired of sitting on her hands, suddenly pulled the trigger, and flipped under a heaving ledge, confidently making the drop and casually placing her four-foot frame into a triple overhead closeout. 16 points for the sacrificial effort, putting her in second, just behind Caity.
“That was fucking game-changing,” shouted Holly Wawn.
“Somebody get that girl a bag of cash,” added Selema.
To follow, Caity sent it on a sketchy left, snapped her board, landed on the beach and called it a day.
Erin quickly backed up the mutant closeout with a perfect runner, threading a swift tube for 21 points.
Despite Bettylou and Moana’s efforts, Erin Brooks was chaired up the beach by Shane and Jackson Dorian, a Pipeline Master, served up as an entrée to her debut CT season.
Men’s Final
Conditions had gone to hell by the time the buzzer sounded to start both the men’s and women’s final. Didn’t matter, though — John John and Alexandra Florence were sitting in Nate’s bootleg livestream commentary booth, probably the first time we’ve ever seen John call the live action from a booth at a surfing event.
Speaking of Nathan’s livestream, what a fucking coup. He redirected eyes from the event partners to his own YouTube channel, pulling in around 20k live viewers during the final check-in. Watching the live feed of comments from his fans was a remarkable indication of the surf community he has grown and nurtured — his YT subscriber base now sits at 490K — making him the fastest growing content creator in surfing. At one point during the webcast, he received a little over $100 US in “beer money” from online donors — all while plugging the Florence brand.
Then, as we’ll get to in a moment, he walked away with $75k cheque and a Vans Pipeline Masters title to add to his already glittering belt.
After Ivan heaved himself over the ledge on a deformed Pipe wave before the opening buzzer even went off, big bro took control with a quick right and a left, scoring 15 and 12 points. After that, honestly, not much happened. The ocean gurgled, sending kinky walls of water towards the competitors, and 50 minutes went by without anyone making a move.
In the final 10 minutes, Nate somehow found a proper ledging Pipe bomb — probably the only one that came through the entire heat — stuck the drop, and got spat out to the beautiful symphony of John John squealing in the booth. A 26 and a half pointer — your 2023 Stab Surfer Of The Year; now your 2024 Vans Pipeline Master.
Gamble Ramble
Mikey C spread his chips far and wide this week, and fortunately the last number hit. A big win to close out 2024.
$25 on JOB at +4000 to win $1000 LOST
$20 on Nate Florence at +3300 to win $660 WON
$20 on Benji Brand at +2500 to win $500 LOST
$20 on Torrey Meister at +3300 to win $660 LOST
$20 on Mason Ho at +3300 to win $660 LOST
$15 on Noa Deane at +6600 to win $990 LOST
$50 on Sierra Kerr at +700 to win $350 LOST
$10 on Milla Coco Brown at +6600 to win $660 LOST
$50 on Caity Simmers at +400 to win $200 LOST
Event earnings: $430
Comments
Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.
Already a member? Sign In
Want to join? Sign Up