“I Want to See An Ankle-Breaking, Knee-Breaking, Career-Ending Air”

6:00 am on the North Shore is an unforgiving hour. Light trade winds ruffle a gray sea, which looks far less inviting than the brochure. The sand is cold and wet with morning dew — or perhaps the unfinished ghosts of last night’s festivities. This is the morning after Barron Mamiya’s second consecutive Pipe win, after all. 

Surely, no one would be sadistic enough to run a $5,000 surf event on such a morning. 

But with Mason Ho’s promise of puntable Rockies and a string of too-big swells on the horizon, we rang the panel and camera crew. Their poor heads had hardly touched the pillow.

The first to stumble out of bed was Andy Woodward, who went on a cat-herding mission through Sunset Beach for the others. Three hours, several cups of coffee, painkillers, and a few interviews later, we sounded the horn.

“The Bum Rush Masters is on!” Mason yelled. “You can win 5k and a trip to Stab High. Go huge.” 

Everyone listened. The headlines include:

• Eli Hanneman breaks fin, still stomps full rote 
• Mason Ho’s cousin almost wins air contest with barrel
• It’s Shion’s winter. We’re just living in it. 
• Pipe Master, Tom Carroll makes an appearance @ the Bum Rush Masters 
• Vaihiti Mahani is Hawaiian kingmaker  

Shion Crawford — a part of Hawaii’s youth cult — won Mason over with another impossible air to add to his already impossible season.

In three weeks, the 20-year-old produced three of the most spectacular reels of the 2025 Hawaii season. In doing so, he’s earned the first invite to this year’s Stab High presented by Monster Energy — not to mention a $5k check from our friends at Sun Bum to help him get there.  

See you in Japan, Shion.