Photos by Tom Carey & Richie Olivares, words by Yentl T.
I remember a time when I watched almost every live surf contest there was… and although this time is not that far away, it has definitely passed.
I’m not sure about the exact reason why. Maybe it is that thing called “a life” taking over… or maybe it is the current bombardment of advertising… Or maybe it is the commentary reaching the limit of cringe levels on most events, and the fact that apart from seeing people riding waves on the screen, it looks and sounds like I’m watching a Super Bowl Final (what a coincidence, I know.)
But there are still a few times a year when tuning to the “League” is worth it. J-bay, Teahupoo, and more importantly every single event at Pipeline… Even more if it’s organized by Volcom.
The best QS 3000 of the year started with less than stellar conditions. I mean, watching people doing re-entries at Backdoor is fun, but there was a lot of room for improvement to say the least…. Although by day 3 of competition, everything got back to normal, and we were back watching a premium blend of the world best pros, hungry underdogs and local heroes all going for broke in 8 to 12 foot surf… all from the safety of our IKEA couch.
We’ll keep it short, as we’re busy trying to somehow turn the 2387 photos we took over the past 6 months into a print magazine…. But here are a few things you should know.
Noa Deane put a contest jersey on and got himself into the semis, kicking John John Florence out of the contest on the way. Cam Richards was one of the standouts of the week, getting himself a 10 at backdoor, multiple giant caverns at Pipe, and the attention of the whole surfing community. Mason Ho produces the best interviews in surfing, and I want to know what he eats for breakfast. And as you might have heard, Josh Moniz beat Jamie O’brien in the final with a Pipe Barrel earning himself a 8.83 a few minutes before the end of the heat, in a typical Volcom Pipe Pro fashion that might be getting a bit frustrating for JOB…
To round it up, the final day was as good as surfing webcasts get (Apart from these “Amazon High Tide” ads… Please tell me who watches these!) and we cannot wait for next year’s edition. In the mean time, enjoy a few photographic gems from our man on the ground/master lens-man/all around madman Tom Carey and Richie Olivares.
