ISSUE 02 THE SPORT OF SURFING OF SPORT THE 20 PIPELINE OAHU, HAWAII THE PIPELINE ISSUE ISSUE NO.02 DEC.2016 THE 12 PIPELINE ISSUE CONTENTS 04 FACING PIPELINE Interviews by Alex Roth and Dan Fitzpatrick 24 30 PHOTO: WSL/KIRSTIN SCHOLTZ 11 BENEATH PIPELINE EDITOR’S NOTE A look at the underwater formations Fear. It’s a central part of the surfing experience, even if This month we have another opportunity to see how top 12 SEEING RED it’s seldom acknowledged. From pros to beginners, all who athletes approach this challenge during the Billabong Pipe By Alex Roth enter the water know what it’s like to encounter a situation Masters, which offers a Super Bowl-style spectacle in the beyond their abilities. We hope to overcome our jitters in final pro surfing event of the year. You can see all heats live 16 BEYOND PIPE that moment. But how? December 8–20 at www.worldsurfleague.com. The surfing Where the rest of us can surf world will be watching to see whether newly crowned world For clues we turn in this issue to “Pipeline,” a Hawaiian wave 17 A LUCKY MOMENT on the North Shore of Oahu that is now at its most intimidat- champion John John Florence, a North Shore local who 04 ing as Arctic storms roll south and mix with the tropical air of grew up surfing Pipeline, can win his first Masters. IN TIME the Western Pacific. Pipeline presents countless perils, from Brazilian Gabriel Medina will be there to challenge Florence Interviews by Dan Fitzpatrick its steep drop and treacherous lip to a cavernous mass of in what has the potential to be a rivalry to watch over the coral reef waiting just below the water’s surface. Surfers that next decade. 22 A RIVALRY survive those hazards submit to a whirling funnel of water There with his camera will be photographer Tom Servais, IN THE MAKING and a shower of spray. responsible for two Pipeline images that resonate with John John Florence vs. Twenty Magazine asked a group of accomplished surfers surfers 25 years after they were taken. We asked Servais Gabriel Medina to share their first Pipeline experiences. What we learned to explain in his own words why these photos of a “cutback” is that all had to battle through terror. “Anyone who surfs and a “snap” are still so meaningful to so many who enjoy 24 THE PORTUGUESE Pipeline, if they tell you they’re not scared, they’re lying the sport. Watching the contest from his front porch will PIPELINE be 82-year-old Warren Harlow, whose house is so close to to you and they’re lying to themselves,” said surfer Photos by Ricardo Santos Luis Liam McNamara. The first known woman to surf Pipeline, Pipeline its foundation sometimes vibrates from the force Joyce Hoffman, said of her first ride: “I was definitely afraid.” of the wave. Harlow talked to writer Alex Roth about his 28 HOW TO SESSIONS: 53-year-long relationship with Pipeline’s frights and sights, The Pop Up, and The solution – the same for pros as for beginners testing including half a dozen rescues and the exploits of a Picking the Proper Wetsuit 22 their local break – is practice, patience and commitment. 5-year-old Laird Hamilton. 28 For Kelly Slater, repeated exposure to Pipeline over a period of many years erased the fright of a first experience that The dangers of Pipeline are real. Seven have perished there 30 THE HAZARDS ended with the future 11-time world champion pinned “on in the last 27 years and countless others have been injured. OF HAWAII Hawaiian Water Patrol’s Brian Keaulana said visitors often my back flat against the reef.” For Shaun Tomson, another Illustrated by Xiao Hua Yang world champion, “it wasn’t like you go out, you catch one underestimate these hazards and as a result he sends wave and that’s it, you’ve conquered your fears. It took them to the other end of Oahu, where the waves are a few years to find my footing.” more forgiving. But he understands Pipeline’s allure: COVER ILLUSTRATION OF 2016 “That’s what makes it so beautiful – the dangers.” WORLD CHAMPION JOHN JOHN FLORENCE BY YU-MING HUANG Dan Fitzpatrick, editor © 2016 Dan Fitzpatrick 2 TWENTY MAGAZINE ISSUE NO.02 DEC.2016 PIPELINE FACING ELEVEN ACCOMPLISHED SURFERS RECALL THEIR FIRST ENCOUNTERS WITH THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS WAVE. Interviews conducted by Alex Roth and Dan Fitzpatrick 4 TWENTY MAGAZINE ISSUE NO.02 DEC.2016 ILLUSTRATION: IGNACIO SERRANO ANYONE WHO SURFS PIPELINE, IF THEY TELL YOU THEY'RE NOT SCARED, THEY'RE LYING York and on the East Coast. So just THE SIZE IS NOT THE MAIN ISSUE AT PIPELINE. seeing it in person was crazy to me. TO YOU AND THEY'RE LYING TO THEMSELVES. LIAM MCNAMARA IT’S THE POWER OF THE WAVE AND HOW SHALLOW IT IS Reef (McIntosh) was a huge mentor. OVER THOSE REEFS. JOYCE HOFFMAN He would be the one who would tell me to go out on the days when no one was just for being in the way. So we were friggin humongous but it was probably MCNAMARA LIAM North Shore local out of a barrel. Time slows down when you never did say a word because out and it was huge and he would pad- trying to get our first little experience four feet with eight-foot sets. On the who became fiery 1990s you’re in the barrel. It’s the ultimate you’re disrespecting your elders. You dle out with me. I only did that because in before anybody showed up. It was same day, before I went out, Bob Pike fixture at Pipeline. place to be – you’re inside the curl of don’t hoot at locals. If you do, you’re Reef made me do it. It takes time to probably four to six feet. We all surfed from Australia had bounced off the a wave, nobody can see you, you can’t disrespecting them. So what I did was figure out how to get waves and how When I was kid in like it together. The velocity of the wave is bottom and came in with his shoulder see anybody. When you get spit out of I paddled 100 feet deeper, 200 feet to deal with the crowd. It’s not like you 1982, 1983, I snuck out so different to anything even on the cut open and his ear half-way sliced a barrel at Pipeline, it’s like a fire hose deeper than everyone in the lineup. Go are just surfing. People think it’s a lot of school and got to watch North Shore. It’s a lot more power. You off. And I’m there with my family – my blowing on you. It’s like needles hitting deep, put your head down, paddle hard easier than it is to go and do it. I see the Pipe Masters and was have to get to your feet a lot faster. So mom and my dad – and I remember your face because the spray and spit and whatever you do, don’t pull back. people who are little bit in over their completely amazed by it. everybody was kind of nervous. Jamie my mom being pretty upset and wor- is so powerful. You have to close your And whatever you do, don’t say a word head, I see people dropping in on peo- If dreams were to come true, this was broke his board. It was the first time ried that I was going to be paddling eyes a lot of times when you’re coming and just go. ple and it’s dangerous. Three or four going to be a wave I’d attempt to ride. any of us had ever seen a friend break out there into God knows what. But it out. The spit hurts, but it’s a good hurt. years ago in the Volcom Pipe Pro I got a I actually witnessed one guy smash his board. It was like, “Woah, he broke went ok. I caught some waves and for- Any good wave at Pipeline spits. STACK BALARAM New York pro surfer 10 in my second heat. It was probably his head on the reef, another guy got a board at Pipeline,” you know? I think tunately there wasn’t a big crowd out who rides Pipeline the best thing that has ever happened his knee torn apart. So I was aware of The crowd can be even more intimidat- I just got pitched a few times and then there – not like there is today – and each winter. to me in a contest. There is so much the dangers, I was aware that you were ing at Pipeline. You’re in the limelight. we ended up going in. the guys that were out there were guys adrenaline. I remember coming out of risking your life. I was a kid who had You’re at the 50-yard line. You’re in the I had seen photos and that I knew, because you kind of knew the barrel and being oh my god that a dream of being a Pipeline surfer, a Super Bowl. Everybody’s watching. If videos but it wasn’t ever everybody back in those days. So it just happened. I was so baffled that HOFFMAN JOYCE First woman to surf North Shore surfer, making a name for you drop the pass, people will know. a wave I imagined surf- was a very friendly crowd that gave me it happened I couldn’t comprehend it Pipeline; won two myself.