Pipeline: Surfing’s Most Exclusive Break With John Florence And More

Surfing Pipeline, as a good-to-average surfer, is a lot like getting into a club on NYE in Vegas as a 22-year-old scrub. There’s a big name DJ, and those with enough buffer on their plastic take all the tables, bottle service, girls etc. And you end up on the “gen pop” shoulder, staring into the party your wish you were at. Ever watched a second reef Pipe day from the beach? Felt the sand shake, or witnessed the frightening imperfections of the wave? It’s hardly obtainable, and the lineup’s a dogfight where only the John Florences, Makua and Koa Rothmans, Jamie O’Briens, Mason and Michael Ho’s, and those considered “Pipe Specialists” slip into the makeable ones. If you want to make a name for yourself, you have to standout at Pipe, but if you just want to surf and get barreled, there’s plenty of space for it up and down the North Shore.