John and Kelly forfeit the crown!
Today marks the end of the 2017 Volcom Pro, a contest held in four very different shades of Pipeline. Let’s recap:
Day one: Northeasterly sand-bottomed double-ups, most of them unmakeable, but the type of waves that’d look incredible through photos. There were a few nice rides, but it was unworthy of wading through the pinches and close-outs to see something interesting.
Day two: Slightly less sand, somewhat better swell direction and size. This resulted in cleaner Backdoor tubes with Makua Rothman nailing the comp’s only perfect ten. A good day of competition, probably a C+ for Pipeline.
Day three: Death, taxes and Pipeline. Wait long enough, and you’ll meet all three of ‘em in tremendous fashion. With Volcom’s ten-day waiting period in mid-February, it was almost guaranteed that we’d get to see at least one day of epic surf. This was that day.
Six-to-ten foot silky smooth peaks were on tap for (some of) the world’s best, granting fantastic rides to John, Seth, Bruce, Makua, Miguel and more. Interestingly Slater, my passion pick for this event, crumbled in his first round. He was dealt a tough heat (Seth, Bruce, and Imaikalani Devault) and fell victim to a poor start followed by poor wave selection. A fistful of valiant efforts, but Slater’s magic dust was nowhere to be found. He’s probably gotta re-up on his deal with the devil.
Finals day: There was a lot of potential. Wonky in the morning like Pipe usually is, but a few rogue bombs gave me hope. Perhaps the sun and wind would help the waves congeal into uniform lines, pushing gaseous vessels in both directions. Instead the wind went onshore and the swell dropped and Adriano made the finals in similar conditions to his Pipe Masters victory. Go figure.
John lost in the semis despite looking significantly better than any ten guys in the field combined. His absolute control of the surfboard and willingness to lay it on rail through vertical, heaving walls is unparalleled. I think he might be the most talented surfer ever, but then I wasn’t around to see Jake Patterson in his prime. He also sutured his own ankle after a fin-collision on finals morning, which is pretty alpha.
The final was delicious medley of international talent. A multi-cultural buffet. A Hawaiian-Australian-Brazilian-American salad dressed with a rare offshore flow. Bruce was the fan-favorite, Adriano the statistical shoe-in, Griffin my pick and Soli Bailey the classic Aussie underdog. None of the commentators picked him to win, but sure enough Soli found every decent wave in the final, pushing him to victory over an impressive field. Cue the beers!
Michael, why would you run one through Jake Paterson?
A Pipe Masters win in Legit backdoor over Bruce. And back to back Jeffrey’s titles. And fully piped from Centres through Tombies on the bomb of last year. And arguably still in his prime.
Picking Jake as your ironic exemplar of the polar opposite of JJF’s boundless talent is just stupid.
There, got that out of my system.
Oh, no, not completely – there’s only one ‘t’ in Paterson, fuckhead.
And look at this hack;
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Had to be someone! And ol’ Snakey seems like the kinda guy who can take a joke.
Also I believe he called himself an “overachiever” somewhere in an interview, kinda like how ADS knows he ain’t the best but is proud of his work ethic
Good criticism and a good response. Why can’t comment sections be more like this?
why does it have to be “someone”?
you had a crack at Bede as well a few articles ago.
Lift your game.
if we can’t poke fun at the bede durbidges of the world, well then what’s even the point? the man is more ‘Nilla than wafers and surfs like a poorly-oiled robot.
The point is that you can, but choose not to. Like – save the fun-making for people who do stupid shit and boast about it. Plenty of them around.
I do understand your point, but wonder if the same criticism would arise if I’d chosen to prod, say, Alejo Muniz. Nobody’s favorite surfer, probably a great guy, but can’t we just have a little fun at their expense? I can’t help but sense a bit of nationalism and Aussie-underdog glorification in this whole debacle.
Well like I said, you can, or you can choose not to. Like who of us is truly immune to the power of a cheap shot? But it’s still a cheap shot. Make the shot pay I say.
Wisdom! Thank you
No! Thank YOU!
and thank Jake Pato and Durbo!
absolute shredders and great characters both.
ADS made the Volcom final in 2014 also, with Kelly.
i actually ran over jake at gas chambers once. he looked drunk. prob a good exscuse if im surfing better than him
Sad that essentially, this result means nothing.
That’s just great!…..just great!…..real great! So, what tail pad was he riding?
He probably won due to the trendsetting placement of sidewall stickers
Soli was seriously switched on – I loved how he paddled ADS up to Gumms just to piss him off!
guess trumps travel ban doesn’t include aborigines.
are you trying to insult them with the little “a” or explaining to the rest of us some quirky Australian rules poker hand superiority?
Please explain
I thought Soli was a fucken Arab.
He’s an indigenous Australian, and proud of it.
Fuck yeah Soli
Oh yeah sweet. The more ya know.
All cool Wiggs
i’m assuming you pronounce it AY-rab
Putting the precursor “fucking” necessitates the ignorant inflection
Take a chill pill Professor
Good result for Soli. Who won the men’s division?
Not JJF, Not Kelly, Not Bruce!
Bit of a fluke. JJF should’ve won.
Mate he won every heat he went in – I don’t think so!