It’s business time at the Pipe Masters. Make or break for Rookies, tour vets and journeyman with many rolling the dice on the final event of the year to requalify. Kai Otton announced his retirement from competitive surfing and but there was more high drama on the sands of Pupukea to come.
Tour Rookie Keanu Asing suffered a crushing defeat to Kanoa Igarashi in Round 2. The pint-sized Hawaiian entered the final event of the season desperately fighting to keep his competitive surfing career alive and went down swinging surfing a spirited heat. In a year of ups and downs the 23-year-old from Honolulu lost his major sponsor (Fox), and won his first major championship tour event in Portugal and now walks the lonely road back to qualification.
“It’s hard to digest,” said Asing. “I can’t blame anyone else but myself. Sitting 23rd in the world, I’ve had a lot of ups and down this year and mixed emotions. There’s nothing I can really do, but it’s hard and if it was easier everyone would do it. This isn’t going to be the last of me. It’s easy to be bummed, but I have to look on the bright side and carry on. I won that event in France and gained a lot of experience from winning. Next year will be tough, but I have to keep working.”
“Next year I’m looking forward to being with people that actually support me, people that really care about me. I mean, there’s nothing I can do, it is what it is. It’s always hard, if it was easy then everybody would be doing it. This sport is only made for tough people. I fell, but it’s not about how you fall, it’s about how you get back up and keep trying.”
Speaking of trying, despite having already secured his spot back on the dream tour, Rookie Kanoa Igarashi is still gunning to requalify via the CT so he can secure a spot for Quik teamate, Zeke Lau who sits on the bubble. Kanoa needs a quarterfinal finish for Zeke to be granted a spot on the 2017 tour.
“A lot of people around me told me that winning it for Zeke would be sick, but that I have to go out and want to win it for myself,” said Igarashi, who defeated an underwhelming Julian Wilson to move into round four. That was a really important heat and Julian [Wilson] is a former Pipe Master. I was nervous but I just wanted to get out there and let my surfing do its thing. I just trusted my instincts and I’m stoked to make the heat. I paddled out there wanting to win the whole contest.”
Whether he wins the contest or not it’s looking like Ryan Callinan will finish the year with a memorable result at Pipe after defeating former world champ, Gabriel Medina in tunnelling Backdoor pits. “I guess this is a good end to the year already as I haven’t made it past the third round until now,” said Callinan. The Novocastrian is another of the Rookie class who has had a year of ups and downs and will be heading back to the QS in 2017. “There’s no way I can requalify so I just went out there to have fun. I was disappointed not to make it but lots of friends did. I’m pumped for next year to try and get back on tour.”
The heat of the day however belonged to Connor Coffin and Kelly Slater who went blow-for-blow at Backdoor. With minutes to go Coffin needed a 9.14 to turn the heat and pulled into arguably the wave of the day. The judges gave him a 9.07 and Coffin flipped them the bird.
Asked what he thought of Connor’s wave, Kelly turned the question back on Rosy with a laugh, ‘What did you think?’ KS acknowledging the result (and wave) will be debated. “It was a really good wave and I was really jealous,” said Slater. "The only thing I could think was that he needs a 9 right now, but it was one of those perfect ones on the end that you look for. It was a real tactical battle, so I was just trying to get something going on the smaller waves.”
Billabong Pipe Masters Round 2 Results:
Heat 1: Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.50 def. Gavin Beschen (HAW) 3.60
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.67 def. Bruce Irons (HAW) 11.30
Heat 3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 11.74 def. Finn McGill (HAW) 11.00
Heat 4: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 12.76 def. Frederico Morais (PRT) 8.17
Heat 5: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 8.29 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 5.17
Heat 6: Ryan Callinan (AUS) 12.16 def. Caio Ibelli (BRA) 4.43
Heat 7: Josh Kerr (AUS) 14.50 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 7.00
Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) 4.93 def. Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 2.73
Heat 9: Conner Coffin (USA) 15.10 def. Jack Freestone (AUS) 13.93
Heat 10: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 5.93 def. Davey Cathels (AUS) 5.90
Heat 11: Nat Young (USA) 11.27 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 6.00
Heat 12: Keanu Asing (HAW) 10.50 def. Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 8.26
Billabong Pipe Masters Round 3 Results:
Heat 1: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.84 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 7.43
Heat 2: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 10.44 def. Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 4.13
Heat 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) 10.83 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 10.07
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.10 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 8.74
Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.16 def. Itala Ferreira (BRA) 10.34
Heat 6: John John Florence (HAW) 15.27 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 9.94
Heat 7: Ryan Callinan (AUS) 15.34 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 11.43
Heat 8: Josh Kerr (AUS) 7.33 def. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 2.94
Heat 9: Nat Young (USA) 8.00 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 3.34
Heat 10: Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 7.50 def. Julian WIlson (AUS) 3.60
Heat 11: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.27 def. Conner Coffin (USA) 15.20
Upcoming Billabong Pipe Masters Round 3 Match-Ups:
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Alex Ribeiro (BRA)
Billabong Pipe Masters Round 4 Match-Ups:
Heat 1: Kolohe Andino (USA), Filipe Toledo (BRA), Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Heat 2: John John Florence (HAW), Michel Bourez (PYF), Joel Parkinson (AUS)
Heat 3: Ryan Callinan (AUS), Josh Kerr (AUS), Nat Young (USA)
Heat 4: Kanoa Igarashi (USA), Kelly Slater (USA), TBD
