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December 19, 2005
pipeline masters
headed up this weekend to north shore for the crown jewel of the van's triple crown competition series.
we arrived bright & early w/ hot coffee in hand. paid a $5'er to a local family to park in the yard next to the pig pen. which of course even the pigs in north shore get excited this time of year and want to come over & check everything out. so ye gave them some sweet grass from the other side of the fence which i'm sure they stare at ever day....then we headed over to pipeline.
conditions: a bit of a west & north swell combo was hitting the reef @ a decent 4-8'ft hawaiian scale w/ light winds. therefore lighting up the left which is pipe & the right which is called backdoor. this made for some beautiful early morning heats for the competition. several thousand people on hand w/ an expected million + or so watching live from the net. for those that do not know what this event is. just think world cup soccer semi's & finals all in one day.
in the morning pipe was working the best..but later in the day backdoor was the place to score the serious points & get the most amp'd barrels. it was an interesting day to say the least. sunny garcia & luke eagan retired that day & were beat out in semi's. slater was beat out as well leaving both irons brothers, kalani chapman & mick fanning to slug it out. 3 hawaiians & 1 aussie.
andy irons taking home 40K today just in prize money! not a bad days work for some tubes, sun & stoke.
oh yeah....also, we got to "surf" some of our own big waves...double to triple overhead over by "daystar" & "mokuleia". pretty trippy stuff! much more of a gun wave then a short board. but that's the first time ye's ever been fearful surfing. each time we go out...we gain more profound repect for the locals. those folks are bad ass & are some of the best surfers in big waves. nothing like seeing a 260 pound old hawiian guy in his 50's w/ a thick bushy mustache drop in a tripple over head glassy monster riding a 10ft board. big belly hanging over his shorts & a grin from ear to ear like a 10year old boy @ christmas.
funny moment: when we paddled in ye says "oh yeah, i think i also saw a shark's fin near my board as i was coming into shore." never a dull moment here on the islands!!
Posted by Single Fin at December 19, 2005 12:35 PM