Snapt Proves Surfing Is Not A Team Sport After All

Over the last four years, the Snapt team has won the Backdoor Shootout twice: both as a team, as well as individually — Mason Ho in 2022 and Benji Brand in 2023.

In 2024, they finished as runners-up, both as a team and individually, by just half a point.

This year’s edition was decisively won by Team Japan, who put up the highest-scoring heat in the history of the event, with Koa Rothman taking home $50K for the individual win. Mason Ho called Team Japan’s heat “the best 30-minute window I’ve ever seen at Pipe.”

The thing about the Shootout is that there’s no prize purse for the team. To break even, a surfer has to perform well individually, which can bring out both the best and worst in competitors.

“Even within the team, a lot of guys are battling their own,” Snapt mastermind Logan ‘Chucky’ Dulien told Stab. “The priority of the team working together kind of falls in the back seat sometimes.”

A testament to the contest’s infamous dynamics was seeing Parker Coffin and Benji Brand burned by their own teammate, Clay Marzo — on the same day.

“We don’t have any cupcakes on the team. Tensions got high, words got exchanged, and when they came in, we tried to clear the air. But in the next round, it happened again. It was pretty fucking gnarly and intense.”

Clay Marzo has been known to call barrels a “gift from God.” In defense of the cagey Maui surfer, Dulien said, “He ended up becoming like a kid in a candy store — an absolute fucking barrel haven. It was almost like a glitch. I don’t think he intentionally meant to burn those guys.”

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“They’re all good friends at the end of the day — good friends fight, and good friends will battle over waves. You should have seen Andy and Cory back int he day. It’s just part of the deal. To me, it’s just another story that I think people will talk about and laugh about years down the line.”

While Dulien has been known to keep A-grade clips under wraps for his Snapt series, the ultra-prolific Ho & Pringle duo are a little less selective, rarely missing a chance to pass around those A/V buns while they’re still hot.

Their latest Hendrix-scored edit plays like a highlight reel of the 2025 Backdoor Shootout, showing nearly every ride by the Snapt team, coached by “Chucky”: Mason Ho, Clay Marzo, Parker Coffin, Josh Moniz, and Benji Brand.

The Snapt 5 release date has yet to be announced, and it’s expected to be the final installment of the series — meaning we may not see another Snapt team at the Backdoor Shootout either.