For a long time one of the greatest anomalies on the ASP World Tour was that the final event, the Pipeline Masters, had a different format to all the others. Instead of the usual 32 man format, the Pipe contest had a field of 48, with the additional 16 surfers all coming from Hawaii.
The argument was that the best Pipe surfers come from Hawaii and therefore deserved to be in the biggest event held there. What was the point of crowning a Pipe Master, say for example, if Jamie O’Brien wasn’t surfing in it?
To me, the argument was a weak one. For starters, it made no sense for the final event, the one that could possibly decide the World Title, as well as the relegation and qualifying places for the following year, to suddenly operate under different rules.
And even if the argument was valid, why couldn’t the other locations on tour use the same rationale? The best 16 Chopes surfers for example, or if we are really pushing the boat out, the best 16 closeout beachbreak specialists at Rio?
Not only that, but the results of the “Pipe Specialists” didn’t back up the argument. Over the last eight years only two trialists had ever made it past Round 3. That’s a hell of a lot of Pipe specialists having very little success in their own backyard in what is a fairly even playing field.
Migi Pupo, no Pipe Specialist, but still piped off his nut last year. photo joliIt seemed that there must be no other reason than good old fashioned Hawaiian muscle being the main factor for the bloated field. If you want to run a successful Pipe Masters, you need the locals onside and the only way to have them onside was to put a shedload of Hawaiian surfers in it.
The solution though? Well, the solution was hard to find. You can imagine all the sponsor and ASP meetings that have gone on over the years at Turtle Bay as the “stakeholders” tried to find a compromise that would keep everyone happy. It seemed impossible, until now that is.
The ASP and The Triple Crown (the former having recently just bought the latter) announced that the 2014 Billabong Pipe Masters would revert to a 32 man field with just two wildcards. So how’d they do it? Primarily by throwing cash at the problem. $100,000 to be exact, which will be the prizemoney for new Pipe Trials event. The 32 man event will feature at 26 Hawaiians and 8 sponsor wildcards, with the top two going onto compete in the Pipe Masters. Every surfer in the trials, even those that come last in the first heat, is guaranteed a minimum of two grand, the winner gets 10, and the rest is distributed. This is important, as previously in the Pipe Masters the locals had to get past Round 3 to secure any prizemoney, which as I’ve said, rarely happened.
Crucially the Trials will be held during the waiting period of the Billabong Pipe Masters, meaning it will be broadcast with the ASP’s full live webcast and affiliated TV coverage. This will ensure more exposure for all the Pipe locals in the event.
In the end the ASP and the Triple Crown have to be commended for coming up with what, in hindsight, seems a simple solution that on paper seems to keep everyone happy. They seemed to have waived a magic wand (all be it one with a 100 grand price tag attached) and made of one pro surfing’s oldest problems vanish. Will it all work out? Time will tell. Let us know what you think.
