Vans Pipe Masters plunged into controversy after failure to invite wave’s best surfer Jamie O’Brien

"How can you leave out the greatest Pipeline surfer of all time?"

The Vans Pipe Masters, not to be confused with the used-to-be-prestigious Pipe Masters of yore, has been plunged into controversy after the wave’s best surfer Jamie O’Brien failed to make the invitee only event. 

Pipe local Josh Moniz posted a scathing take on what is, however you slice it, a terrific injustice. 

I usually keep my opinions to myself, but I’ll speak up if no one else will. This isn’t about me trying to get a invitation—it’s about what the Pipeline Masters represents to surfing and the respect that this wave and event deserve. Even if it means I may never surf in this event at Pipe again, I’m okay with that. I’ve had my moments winning events at Pipe, and I’m grateful for all of them. If speaking out helps even one person who deserves a chance but might never get it under the current system, then it’s all worth it.

I remember growing up and watching only the best Pipe specialists and world tour surfers go head-to-head. That’s what made this event so special. It’s shocking to see how, in such a short time, Vans has nearly ruined what it means to be a Pipeline Master. The way this event has been handled in recent years, since Vans bought the rights to it, feels disrespectful to one of the most iconic waves and events in the history of surfing—right here at OUR home in Hawaii. Excluding a significant number of local and international surfers who have put in the time year after year to earn their spot in the lineup doesn’t sit right with me.

When I heard that JAMIE was given an ALTERNATE spot in the event, that’s when I felt something has to be said. How can you leave out arguably the greatest Pipeline surfer of all time? To suggest that he doesn’t deserve a spot in an event he has helped define is baffling to me. Many surfers who have barely surfed Pipe have been given spots over the years, which feels like a slap in the face to the locals and internationals who show up season after season without ever being invited. It’s nothing personal against these surfers—they are simply accepting an opportunity that any surfer would take. But the way these decisions are being made feels unfair to those who have truly earned their place.I understand that with invitational events, it’s hard to make everyone happy. However, making sure that the spots go to those who deserve them and have put in the time is all anyone can ask for.

Jamie O’Brien, who is forty-one, and so damn comfortable at Pipe rides a soft-top out there, responded. 

I’ve been processing how the Pipeline Masters has become a joke. Whoever is making these decisions clearly doesn’t understand what’s happening in the water pipeline on the day today! Or season two season It’s long overdue to speak out, and trust me, they won’t hear the end of it. It’s so sad see such a prestigious event mishandled like this, with no regard for the athletes putting in the work every day, has completely lost my respect. It’s time for a change – this event deserves to be taken over by someone who truly understands and respects the sport and the surfers 

 

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Now, a little history about the Pipe Masters and how the WSL and Vans wrecked it. 

Once upon a time, the most prestigious surfing contest in the world was the Pipeline Masters, a tuberiding event held at Pipe on Oahu’s North Shore. 

The Pipeline Masters was created in 1971 by the wonderful Fred Hemmings, one of the pivotal figures in surfing whose contribution to the game was largely ignored ‘cause of his conservative bent, and won that year by Jeff Hakman, followed by two years of dominance by Mr Pipe Gerry Lopez.

The Pipeline Masters was a contest whose crown was almost as gilded as a world title. Slater would win it seven times, as a twenty year old in 1992, and aged almost forty-two in 2013. Andy Irons won four times, 2002 through 2008, and it hosted multiple world title showdowns, the most precious Andy v Kelly in 2003 and Italo v Gabriel in 2019. 

In a wild and fitting last breath, it gifted victory to John John Florence in 2021. The Hawaiian took his iron hard-on and blew the achey pressure in his balls into his first, and only, Pipe Masters crown. Fitting that his little brother Ivan, who also grew up at Pipe and who looks like a roughed up Mason Ho, scored a ten in the event and finished third. 

Then, and as you may recall, a hammer was taken to this precious cultural relic when the WSL, and Vans who own the intellectual property rights to the Pipeline Masters, couldn’t swing a mutually satisfying agreement with Billabong for ‘em to continue as naming sponsor of the event. 

See, because the WSL’s wanted to start the 2022 season in Hawaii and end it at Trestles in September, they had to run the 2021 Pipe Masters in January. Therefore there couldn’t be two events in the same year so the usual December slot wasn’t used. 

This meant that for 2022, the WSL had to juggle the events and come up with new dates and names.  

The Volcom Pipe Pro got dropped in favour of Billabong taking over that slot, renaming it, awkwardly, Billabong Pro Pipeline. 

The Pipeline Masters still runs on its usual dates, December 8-20, 2022, but it’s an invite-only event with a focus on Vans-sponsored surfers. Cash is good, broadcast is fun, the gals get their share of the waves and loot, but it ain’t no Pipeline Masters. 

Problem here is the confusion the switcharoo brings to surfing history. A week before his fiftieth birthday in 2022, Kelly Slater, looking like an old-school bull dagger with his thick neck and shaved head, won the Billabong Pro Pipeline.

It should’ve been his eighth Pipeline Masters title, and plenty of newsrooms were labelling it as such.

Between sobs Slater said, “I committed my life to this.”

But it wasn’t a Pipeline Masters title.

And, despite Wikipedia being edited to include Billabong Pro Pipeline titles, it still ain’t and never will be.