How To Watch The Vans Pipe Masters

The 2022 Vans Pipe Masters event window opens December 8-20th and you’ll be able to watch the live action and more at VansPipeMasters.com, Stabmag.com, and YouTube.

If, somehow, you’ve missed our 573 articles and Instagram posts about the Vans Pipe Masters, here’s one more.

The event starts tomorrow and we realized that, despite all of our content regarding the invitees, waves, and format, a set list of rules and judging criteria doesn’t live anywhere on our site.

Scroll for the remedy.

Heats:

For the men, a complete round consists of ten 4-man heats. For the women, each round will consist of five 4-woman heats. All heats will be thirty minutes, and there is a possibility the men and women could run overlapping heats if conditions allow.

Heat Draw:

Leaderboard:

The surfers are ultimately looking for their 3 best waves, which can come from any/all rounds. Then, the top 4 ranked surfers after 3 rounds advance into the Final — the duration of which will be determined on the day. The winner of the Final will be determined by each surfer’s best two waves in the heat.

Priority:

There will be no priority, though, should a surfer interfere with or drop in on another surfer, the interfering surfer will lose half of their top wave score. The penalty sticks with a surfer throughout the event, even if they get their best wave before or after the interference is called. Where a surfer incurs two interference penalties, their top two wave scores will be halved and they must immediately leave the water.

If that surfer makes the final, the interference call will not affect the final (unless they get an interference in the final.)

Good sportsmanship is a fundamental expectation of this event.

Judging:

Surfers are encouraged to utilize the whole wave to its fullest potential, including tube-riding and progressive maneuvers above the lip line and on the wave.

Consistently demonstrating high levels of commitment and riding/performing maneuvers on the heaviest and most critical sections will be highly rewarded. Also heavily considered will, interestingly, be style — combining major maneuvers with a seamless flow, while maximizing speed and power.

“Creative Self-Expression” will also be rewarded, which considers whether or not the surfer consistently demonstrates a unique individual approach to riding and executing maneuvers. 

Finally, wave selection and progressive maneuvers will —of course — be rewarded.

And yeah, there’s still two Hawaiians in every heat.

Watch the live action and more at VansPipeMasters.com, Stabmag.com, and YouTube.