The Da Hui Backdoor Shootout Starts Today — Here’s What You Need To Know

The 2023 Da Hui Backdoor Shootout is on, and as usual, Pipeline arrived right on schedule.

This year, there will be a longboard division, an SUP division, a bodysurfing division, hula performances, traditional Hawaiian music, local food vendors… the works.

There will also be most of the world’s best Pipeline specialists battling it out as teams in the main event. And judging by the forecast, Poseidon is going to make this fun to watch.

Here are the teams:

NAVE
Bruno Santos, Guilherme Johann Peter, Ian Gouveia, Kona Oliveira, Lucas Silveira, Joey Johnston

JAPAN
Guy Sato, Jin Suzuki, Kenshin Matsunaga, Riaru Ito, Sasuke Kawatani, Shinpei Horiguchi, Sogo Harada

TUBOS
Alonso Correa, Sebastian Correa, Gabriel Villaran, Cristobal De Col, Billy Kemper, Martin Jeri, Kalani Rivero

NORTH SHORE BOYS
Eala Stewart, Kala Grace, Legend Chandler, Makai McNamara, Makua Rothman

96712
Eli Olson, Ivan Florence, Koa Rothman, Jose Angel, Nate Florence

VOLCOM
Balaram Stack, Makana Pang, Moana Wong, Makai Burdine, Noa Deane

A NEW EARTH PROJECT
Kai Lenny, Jamie O’Brien, Carissa Moore, Koa Smith, Shayden Pacarro, Matahi Drollet

SNAPT5 (2x reigning champs)
Benji Brand, Clay Marzo, Josh Moniz, Mason Ho, Parker Coffin, Seth Moniz

Here’s how the Shootout format works for the main event: “Eight teams of five get to surf Pipeline six times during various rounds (which translates into 4 enviable hours of perfect, empty Pipeline), with each individual surfer’s top three waves overall being counted. And because some waves at Pipe are that crazy, the scoring scale goes to 12.”

There is thus an individual winner ($50k prize) and an overall team winner (bragging rights).

Last year, Benji Brand took the win with Ivan Florence pocketing the $25k silver prize.

This year, Nate Florence (currently tied for first with E. Ewing for Stab Surfer of the Year) has a shot at a Backdoor Shootout win and the $50k, which, depending on whether our Premium audience keeps him at the top of the heap for SSOTY, could make for a very illustrious January for the Florence middle child.

Tune in live to the Backdoor Shootout here: