Pipeline Masters Explained
For years, the Billabong Pipeline Masters has acted as the season closer of the WSL Championship Tour (CT) and last leg of the Vans Triple Crown. Today, in 2022, after Vans beat out the WSL for permits of the end-of-year timeslot for Pipeline, we will see a new Vans Pipeline Masters take place in December. The Billabong Pipeline Masters is now the Billabong Pipeline Pro, and instead of the WSL Championship Tour season finale, it has moved to the opening ceremony, taking place from the end of January to the beginning of February. Here is a quick history of this iconic surf event and what to expect this year amongst the winds of change.
The Beginning
In 1971, former World Champion, Fred Hemmings, was the first to organize a competition at Pipeline. He wanted to bring professionalism to the sport and recognize the best surfers. Originally called the Hawaiian Masters, it was a small event with six invitees, one heat, and a $1,000 prize purse provided by Continental Airlines. Compared to the Pipe Masters events of today, it was a little rinky-dink production thrown together by Hemmings.
This first year the competition was held between December 8 - 20th, and the waves at Pipe were merely average. Hemmings and the judges decided to run the contest on December 16th, and Pipe was so unimpressive that the young hotshot Gerry Lopez had checked the waves earlier in the morning and, thinking the contest would be called off, drove back down to Honolulu. The winner of the first Pipeline Masters was Jeff Hakman.
Rise to Fame
For the next few years, the event continued as a one heat event. In 1972 and 1973, young talent, Gerry Lopez took home the prize, and in 1976, the invitation expanded to 18 surfers to be included on the newly formed International Professional Surfers (IPS) tour. Despite the reputation of Pipeline, the competition was considered a novelty event and not highly regarded among the larger surf community. Caught in a dispute between IPS and Fred Hemmings in 1983, it was cut from the championship tour. Finally, in 1986, it was reinstalled, and in 1992 it reached international news when Kelly Slater took home the championship and won his first world title.
Throughout the years this event has been a stage for iconic surfers and historic moments in surfing. Winners include surf legends like Mark Richards, Michael Ho, Tom Carrol, Derek Ho, and our very own Jamie O’Brien. For seven years, Kelly Slater dominated the contest until Andy Irons beat him and proved to be his best competitor in the water. The latest winner was John John Florence.
In 1991 the event saw its first major jump in financial support when its purse was increased to $100,000. Today surfers compete for half a million dollars in prize money.
The Change Up
The Pipeline Masters has taken place from mid to end of December since its start in 1971. It has been known as the Billabong Pipeline Masters since 2007 and has been an event on the Association of Surfing Professionals ASP (turned WSL) tour since the league's inception.
The first changes came in 2020 when COVID forced the event scheduled for Dec 8 – 20, 2020 to be moved to January 29 - Feb 10, 2021. The Women’s Roxy Maui Pro, running at the same time, was also moved to this time and to Pipeline.
In 2021, the WSL took the time to restructure their competition schedule, and, as this was happening, Vans won the permits to Pipeline during the coveted end-of-year timeslot starting in 2022. This means the Billabong Pipeline Masters will no longer be the final event of the WSL Championship Tour. It has been renamed the Billabong Pipeline Pro and moved to January 29 - February 10th. Furthermore, this year the Billabong Pipeline Pro will now run its first-ever full-time women's event at the legendary break.
The New Pipeline Masters
With their new claim over the end-of-year Pipe Masters time slot, Vans has announced they are shifting the Vans Pipeline Masters to a live, specialty, invitational event. They hope this new format “fuels innovation, inclusivity, and progression while aiming to showcase both men and women specialists of tube-riding and aerial surfing."
As the first year of this event takes place, we are eager to see where the change to this historic event will impact the sport of surfing.
Want to improve your surfing with one-on-one surf coach advice from Pipeline Master Jamie O’Brien? Check out the Jamie O’Brien Surf App here for exclusive insight, advice, and tips to help you level up.
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