"Lots of shit happening." - Vans Surf
Photos and Words by Tommy Moore
Published December 24, 2024
The Lead Up
It wouldn’t be a proper Vans event without a last minute invite. As jostling as it is, it may be the proper shakeup needed to throw one out of their comfort zone in order to prepare for a week where the swell dictates the timeline.
Like the invite, this year’s Vans Pipe Masters was a call that was close to the wire. It’s no secret the action sports community and anchor brands have been feeling the weight of a volatile market over the last year plus. Even a namesake and powerhouse in the likes of Vans is continually wading through a world of uncertainty. Nevertheless, the most true, trusted, and progressive of the major brands hopped back on the horse, taking the reins of their third Pipe Masters.
Three years ago when Vans took over, they broke the mold by not only creating a women’s division, but allocating equal prize money for each of the women’s and men’s heats. This year around, Vans took the next step forward to honor the locals by allocating half of all the event invites to Hawaiians.
Regardless of their work and stature as a boundary pushing host, early shade was thrown back by likes of Pipe legend and now prolific YouTuber Jamie O’Brien after he was not included in the main invites (although he was always on the invite list). With a handful of people taking issue with the sentiment, it turned into an issue that caught fire in the pressure cooker that is social media. Pushing boundaries and breaking norms always causes a splash, and in reality this was no different than any other backlash.
The Vans Pipe Masters: From Our Eyes
Arriving at the old faithful, and newly Ritz Carlton acquired, Turtle Bay, I was fried from a 16 hour travel day. I grabbed a coffee on the way up to my room to hopefully propel my way through a night that I had no idea of the rowdiness level of. There’s a strikingness to an ocean view hotel room, and I don’t even remember walking through the room, I just remember taking the first step out onto the balcony. With a deep breath I leaned up against the aluminum railing and almost completely exhaled before I heard a shout to my right. “Need a beer!?” I looked over and no one other than filmmaker Robin Pailler was standing tall as ever two balconies over. Next to him sat Sam Hetherington, a writer from Monster Children who I’d heard wonderful things about which all turned out to be true and then some.
After a long, overdue catch-up, a beer, and a cheeky—and sugary—Turtle Bay Bar margarita, we made our way to the opening heat draw for the event. It’d been two years since I’d been around any surf event, and it took me a minute to snap back into true form. Pipe Masters is a storied and legendary event, and in toe, draws a legendary cast of characters. From athletes in the comp, to creatives around the surf world, to adjacent athletes and their partners there supporting their crew, the opening crowd was jarring to say the least.
Amongst the cast of characters, one of my favorites, Holly Wawn, stood amongst Nathan Fletcher and Makua Rothman as they drew heats. White-elephant-in-the-room jabs were made at the expense of those who fired early shots and were no-shows at the draw, followed by heats selected based on friendships and family, not strictly by competition.
Part of the beauty of Vans’ Pipe Masters format is that there are 3 non-elimination heats where the cumulative total best scores advance to the finals regardless of the heat. This format allowed for those friendly matchups within heats in the likes of Caity Simmers and Zoe McDougall and then familial in the likes of Nathan Florence and Ivan Florence.
Out of the gates, the waves weren’t great. Forecasts looked promising, and then temperamental, and then bleak. While this wasn’t ideal for experiencing the comp with Pipe in proper form, it did lend itself to spending time with dear friends new and old.
Our old friend Sophie Bell was an even more last minute addition than ourselves, and running into her was a blessing we didn’t expect. We were also surprised to see Karina Rozunko, who had just landed on the rock, who was settled into the beach on “filming” duty with an old handy cam partially catching the tail end of waves. A pattern around this crew and activity caught on over the course of the week, and beach hangs were plentiful, as well as the Pacificos.
We soon met Giulia Avila, a photographer and videographer we’d also admired from afar, her baby Santi, and husband Ashton Goggans, a director and host of Stab and Red Bull’s No Contest. We’re a big proponent of fast friends these days, especially in the ever shrinking creative community, and Giulia and Ashton were two people who immediately emitted a level of warmth and comfort that is second to none. I spent a heavy chunk of the week with these two, and eventually spent my last evening at the Vans women’s surf house where Ashton prepared a feast. The night was a breath of fresh air and was joined by the likes of Harry Bryant, Coco Ho, Noa Deane, Holly Wawn, Dion Agius, and more heavy hitting characters. Sitting around a kitchen island with this crew was a refreshing departure from the Turtle Bay Bar, or any other dark bar in some foreign land for that matter. It was a homey end cap on a trip and a waiting period where it felt like the waves and forecast were having their fun with us.
However, we did see roughly a combined full day of competition where the waves weren’t stellar, but the collective hangs were. As the comp kicked off, high tensions quickly dissipated. Roaming around the Vans HQ, a sign saying “Lots of shit happening. Some good, some bad, but we are in Hawaii,” summed up much of the feelings of the first half of the event’s waiting period. While the initial heats we were around for were dealt mediocre at best Pipe, the final day the comp ran Pipe was in prime form. Across the board, competitors were charging, taking big risks, and making the most of the best day of Pipe everyone knew they would get. Halfway through the day, both the men’s and women’s finals were set, with Moana Joans Wong, Bettylou Sakura Johnson, Caity Simmers, and Erin Brooks on the women’s side, and Koa Smith, Alan George Cleland Quinonez, Ivan Florence, and Nathan Florence on the men’s side. After gritty finals heats on both sides, Erin Brooks was crowned the youngest Pipe Master yet, and Nathan Florence added Pipe Master to his lengthy list of titles.
Though we wish we could’ve seen the fireworks that the final day of the event was, we’re stoked on all the smaller moments we had with people over the week. Catch ups with George Pedrick, Robin Pailer, and Grace Stiberth were plenty, as well as laughs shared with new friends in the likes of Paul Gonzales, Cierra Xavier, and Jamie Hart. There were 2am dice thrown with Laurent Dagenais, lawn sprinklers that went off at who knows what time, and late night dips.
As always it was great to see the wonderful Mikel Urigoitia, as well as run into our North Shore friend Tyke James of The Moss. We sat beside and shot the shit with Selema for a temperamental morning of competition, and the man is as great and knowledgeable as you’d expect him to be. We also got the lucky nod to shoot and hang with Alika Mock, Curren Caples, Elijah Berle, Imai Devault, and others for a project with Vans alongside the legend Anothony Accosta.
Even when the waves aren’t at their best, there’s no better event out there than a Vans event. Two years was too long of a break from experiencing what this special crew can throw together, and much, much too long of a gap between hangs with some of our favorite people.
Usually this is where I’ll reference my notes from the week to properly round off the article, but the only two notes I have read, “A little buzzed, a little high, extremely tired, and decently delusional,” and “I put tajin on all my rims,” and honestly, I think that’s the best way to wrap this up.
Cheers Vans Surf.
2024 VANS PIPE MASTERS RECAP
Photos and Words by Tommy Moore
Published December 24, 2024