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Pipe Masters |
 The Largest Surfing EncyclopediaA-Z: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Advertisement
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Other contests don't really count. Not really, not when compared to the Pipe Masters. The tube is the ultimate in surfing, and Pipe offers the ultimate tube. By allowing spectators a front-row seat, it is the greatest spectacle in all of surfing.
When Fred Hemmings set up a card table on the beach at Pipeline in 1971, it wasn't seen as an equal to the U.S. flag planted on the moon a couple years earlier, but it would prove a much bigger step than we imagined. For that first Pipe Masters, six surfers squabbled over $1,000 donated by Continental Airlines in sub-par conditions, with Jeff Hakman emerging victorious. Pipe god Gerry Lopez received misinformation from Corky Carroll and missed the heat, tainting the event's legitimacy, but the first Pipe Masters was in the books. Hemmings, 1968 world champion and father of professional surfing, was pushing for national television coverage for his event, and the Pipe guillotine offered the perfect catch. It had the prestige of the ancient Hawaiian contests coupled with the action of a gladiator struggle with nature. He convinced ABC's "Wide World of Sports" to broadcast the event, which became a showcase for the talents of Lopez. The quintessential Pipe Master, Lopez won in 1972 and 1973 and would appear as a finalist on four more occasions. After Floridian Jeff Crawford and South African Shaun Tomson won and demystified Pipe for East Coasters and regularfoots, respectively, Lopez protege Rory Russell rose from the master's shadow to earn back-to-back titles. His 1976 win was the first time the event expanded beyond one heat to count toward determining a world champion under the new International Professional Surfers tour. In 1977, the Masters began a longtime affiliation with Offshore Surfwear. Australian Larry Blair earned back-to-back wins in 1978 and 1979, more than anything signaling an end to the first wave of Masters' legends. He was followed on the victory stand in the coming years by four regularfoots -- Mark Richards, Simon Anderson, Michael Ho and Dane Kealoha. Anderson's thrusters replaced single fins to become standard issue at Pipe, and the lay forward, developed by Kealoha, almost evened the playing field for backsiders. The danger also became real as an increased number of contestants was bound to lead to trouble. In back-to-back heats in 1983, the year that the newly appointed ASP forbid Top 16 surfers from the event, Steve Massefeller and Chris Lundy both suffered serious injuries. It was a time of transition, but a few souls soon rose above the parity to become greats. The landmark year was 1984. The conditions were perfect, Tom Carroll and Derek Ho had emerged as true masters and Joey Buran became the only Californian winner in the event's history. Performance levels had begun their ascent, and the object was no longer just to get tubed, but rather to get as deep as possible. No one rode Pipe as deep as Ho, or with as much power as Carroll. After Mark Occhilupo overcame deadly conditions to win in 1985, Ho and Carroll won five of the next eight Masters. The only other surfer in their league at Pipe was Ronnie Burns, twice a runner-up before a tragic motorcycle accident in 1990 ended his life. The only thing that could stop Carroll and Ho was unfavorable conditions, which allowed Robbie Page to win in 1988 and Gary Elkerton in 1989. Marui, a Japanese company, joined Offshore as the sponsor in 1986 and assumed complete control the next year. The purse went from $35,000, where it had changed little over the previous decade, up to $80,000. The ultimate Ho/Carroll Showdown occurred in 1991 after a brutal Carroll snapback, the heaviest big-wave move in competitive history, set up a heated showdown in the final. Carroll turned an impossibly late takeoff into the first of two perfect tens and became the event's first three-time champion. Ho, however, returned in 1993, the year a German company named Chiemsee became the title sponsor, to claim the Masters and the world title in the same day. A loser in the 1991 semis but making a statement as he was blown from a hideous, tripling up beast, Kelly Slater was overshadowed for the last time. Slater ascended the Pipe throne in 1992, and the only thing that has changed since then has been the sponsor (Mountain Dew took over in 1998). He has been beaten (by Ho in 1993, Johnny Boy Gomes in 1997 and Jake Paterson in 1998), but he has won an unprecedented five times. Crawford debunked Pipe as merely a big Sebastian left back in 1974, and Slater has proven it, launching the same array of mind-bending moves here as he does at home. He has used the Masters to come from behind to earn last-second world titles twice, and in 1999, his victory followed a year of semi-retirement. After 30 years, Pipe remains surfing's showpiece. Teahupoo, on Tahiti, stole some of the glory in 1999, but its remoteness keeps more than a few boatloads of spectators from enjoying it in person. And while no one has proven that they can beat Slater when he's on, the Irons brothers, Andy and Bruce, are clearly on their way. No doubt that their clashes over the next decade will be more fodder for the Pipe Masters legacy. -- Jason Borte, August 2000
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