Surfing
Wiggolly Dantas hoists surfing's fiercest trophy and becomes the first Brazilian to win the Volcom Pipe Pro! Catch up with all the action here.
Volcom Pipe Pro 2020 Day 4 report
Former Championship Tour surfer and long time North Shore aficionado Wiggolly Dantas today became the first Brazilian to win the Volcom Pipe Pro, after four incredible days of surfing on Oahu's North Shore. After a week of perfect Pipeline, today saw wild winds turn previously pristine conditions into unruly wedges, and upsets were the order of the day from the start.
Former champions Jack Robinson and Soli Bailey were bundled out by lunchtime, while highly touted surfers like Conner Coffin, Billy Kemper and Noa Deane all failed to survive the round before the quarter-finals. At the same time as young guns Yago Dora, the Moniz brothers, Matthew McGillivray and Cam Richards kept rolling to the semi finals, wily veterans like Aritz Aranburu and Leandro Usuna slid under the radar. The final eight surfers made up a stacked field, and despite the rough conditions the energy on the beach was electric as the semis hit the water.
In the final it was Brazilian veteran Wiggolly Dantas who claimed the biggest win of his career by notching the only excellent score of the affair, with a series of brutal backhand blasts netting him 8-points on his opening ride. Tubes were rare as the wind refused to cooperate, though Seth Moniz nearly pulled off one of the greatest barrel rides of his life, with a slide slip to foamball wrestle that looked on track for a monster score until a solid serve of backwash finally finished him off. Spectacular but incomplete, Seth would later lament the greatest 2.5 of his life as the potential game changer that got away.
As the horn went it was Dantas who collected the USD 15,000 first prize, the 5000 qualifying series points, and the gladiator helmet trophy that is so coveted by Hawaiian devotees. Young gun Brazilian Joao Chianca took second, countryman Yago Dora was third, and local hero Moniz rounded out the foursome. Billy Kemper was awarded the Todd Chesser Hardest Charger Award, and spoke beautifully about the significance of the trophy, and the man in who's name it is awarded, before Wiggolly was given his moment of glory.
On the edge of tears he thanked all those who have stood by him for so long, through the ups and downs of a life lived on and off the Championship Tour, and pledged that this was the result that would see him back in the big leagues come season's end. Given his form through four fabulous days at Pipeline, you'd be a fool to bet against him.
We'll see you back here in Hawaii next year for the 2021 edition of the Volcom Pipe Pro, but for now we're off to celebrate another successful week of competition at surfing's spiritual home. How good!
Volcom Pipe Pro 2020 Day 3 report
Pipeline goes gangbusters as the top seeds hit the water and remind the field who runs the show around these parts.
It's been a slow and steady build-up at the Volcom Pipe Pro, but as the Round of 64 welcomed the highest seeds to competition today things went from sizzling to white hot.
Championship Tour surfers Yago Dora, Seth Moniz and Soli Bailey made their presence felt with comfortable Round Four heats, defending champion and 2020 tour rookie Jack Robinson showed he is still in the career best form he showed last year, while four-times Jaws Big Wave Championship winner Billy Kemper put the field on notice with the event's first nine-point ride to comfortably advance to the final day.
The standout moment of the event so far came in the last heat of the day, in what was Californian Conner Coffin's first time in a contest jersey this year. After 10 minutes had elapsed Conner had yet to open his Volcom Pipe Pro account, and would later confess that he hadn't yet caught a Pipeline wave on this trip. That all changed in dramatic fashion when Koa Rothman elected to let a wave pass and Conner, sitting further inside, rolled the dice and swung around at the last second.
The late paddle led to a late drop and Conner seemed gone as the guillotine lip fell. Miles back behind the curtain, the Santa Barbaran slayer ducked under the water fall, dodged the foam ball, and was shot into the channel with a perfect score dropped in a matter or seconds. "That's my first perfect 10 in a WSL event ever," laughed Conner, who won a Yeti cooler for his incredible wave, and whose grin couldn't be wiped from his face.
Expect more incredible waves when competition resumes, most likely tomorrow. With only 15 heats to run it's assumed that if the contest directors green-light proceedings then we will finish that same day.
The Volcom Pipe Pro finals are being broadcast exclusively on Red Bull TV so make sure you keep checking in on our Instagram account for all of the latest updates. Superb Saturday into Superbowl Sunday? Sounds pretty good to us!
Volcom Pipe Pro 2020 Day 2 report
Rounds two and three wrap up at pristine, pumping Pipeline.
Thursday, January 30. After a fantastic first day of competition, things went from great to glorious today at the Volcom Pipe Pro, with big barrels and solid scores the order of the show. With three rounds all but complete, the event is now perfectly primed for a big finish over the coming days, and conditions look like holding up their end of the agreement to boot.
Check out the best of what went down on Day 2:
At the culmination of round two, the Volcom Last Chance Qualifier was held, with eight of the Volcom team's heaviest-hitting Pipeline specialists battling it out for the final slot in the round of 96. Despite the heat only being decided on the strength of one wave, Kalani Chapman banked two strong scores to take out the affair and was thrilled to progress to the main draw.
"That was a difficult heat, all of these guys are really good out there, I respect them all, and I couldn't be more stoked," Chapman told Red Bull afterwards. "It's not easy surfing an eight-man heat, not many waves are going to get by, so you really need to make sure you're on the best ones. On my winning wave I'd moved inside a little on the reef. I got into it, took a good pump and knew I was really deep. The foamball engulfed me, then as the wave spat I came over it and came flying out, and felt really confident after that. I can't wait for my next heat!"
In the rest of the day's action, Jeronimo Vargas and Makai McNamara stole the show with the event's two highest scores, while Mason Ho, Makua Rothman, Mitch Coleborn and Tyler Newton were a few of the surprise eliminations. Young gun Eli Hanneman snuck through his round-three heat with a wave in the last 10 seconds, while John Mel and Alan Cleland kept the youth uprising well and truly alive.
Tomorrow morning the event is all but assured of running, and in top four the highest seeds will all take to the water. With the swell expected to maintain its rage, this is a day you will not want to miss.
Check in from 8am Hawaiian Standard Time (7pm CET) tomorrow for the webcast.
Volcom Pipe Pro 2020 Day 1 report
Wednesday, January 29. The Volcom Pipe Pro gets off to a flying start with bombing 8-10ft waves on offer at Pipeline and Backdoor for rounds one and two.
With conditions firing for the first day of the 2020 Volcom Pipe Pro contest organisers had no hesitation in sending out the first two rounds of competition this morning and it was a young gun coming of age as the lower seeds took to the water. Little-known names like Ryder Guest, Sammy Gray and Jackson Bunch all stood up to be counted and put themselves in the winners circle alongside usual suspects, such as Nathan Florence, Mason Ho and Makuakai Rothman.
The standout moment of the opening day easily went to local surfer Eala Stewart, who bagged an 8.93 for a long threaded tube. “I’m over the moon right now, I’m really stoked that wave came to me,” Stewart said afterwards. “That wave came, I was pretty deep when I pumped into it, it had a long wall and I was just going and going. I hit a foam ball; I usually get bucked off right there, but everything worked out and I came flying out of the barrel and I had to claim it, sorry guys.”
With Surfline calling for this run of swell and favourable winds to continue for the next few days expect the contest to keep rolling through the rounds at a rate of knots. Thursday and Friday should see all higher seeds hit the water and anticipation is building around the return of John John Florence to the Volcom Pipe Pro, as well seeing if newly minted 2020 WSL Championship Tour surfer Jack Robinson can defend the title at the event he won last year en route to qualification.
Tune in tomorrow at 8am Hawaiian Standard Time for the call, we've got a feeling it's going to be firing and you won't want to miss a thing.
Competition is go at the Volcom Pipe Pro 2020
The surf is firing on the North Shore of Oahu this morning, and with Pipeline heaving at 8-10ft contest directors had no hesitation in calling the Volcom Pipe Pro on at first light, so be sure to jump on the live Red Bull TV stream HERE.
According to the Surfline forecast we are looking at pumping waves for the next four days, with a chance the event could run in record time, so be sure to stay tuned so as not to miss a minute of the action!
Wed 29: Solid WNW to NW swell with light wind. Likely run day.
Thu 30: Solid WNW to NW swell slowly eases with light wind. Likely run day.
Fri 31: Solid, new NW swell builds. Onshore wind may also build PM. Possible run day.
Sat 1: Solid NW swell mix with breezy sideshore wind. Possible run day.
Sun 2nd: Fading N swell and breezy offshore wind. Possible run day.
Everything you need to know about the Volcom Pipe Pro 2020
There aren’t many more highly sought after titles in surfing than the Volcom Pipe Pro and in 2020 the Qualifying Series event has added even more cachet to an already prestige-soaked competition.
As well as tackling the world’s most famous wave alongside an iconic roster and adding their name to an incredible honour roll by hoisting the legendary Volcom Pipe Pro gladiator helmet trophy, the field now has the chance to even more significantly increase their chances of making it to the 2021 Championship Tour with a win at the Banzai Pipeline, when the event window opens this Wednesday, January 29, before running till February 10.
In the first year that Volcom ran the contest, 2010, hometown hero Jamie O’Brien came out on top, before John John Florence and Kelly Slater made the event their own, winning the next six in a row, with Florence claiming an incredible four of them alone. Finally in 2017, Aussie up-and-comer Soli Bailey broke the world champs’ stranglehold with the most successful moment of his young career, before Hawaiian Josh Moniz followed up with a popular win on home soil in 2018.
Last year, Volcom’s 10th backing the event, West Australian phenom Jack Robinson claimed an incredible victory and rode that momentum all the way through to qualification for this year’s Championship Tour.
The champions listed above are all back in the draw in 2020, with the exception of Kelly Slater. The 11-time world champions loves this stuff too much however and come day one don’t be surprised to see Slater show up and somehow wrangle his way back into the draw, alongside the usual mix of Championship Tour standouts like Seth Moniz, Conner Coffin and Yago Dora. Also in are Qualifying Series aces, such as Jacob Willcox and Evan Geiselman, plus Pipeline up-and-comers, Hawaiian icons and a man who deserves his own category, North Shore royal Mason Ho.
To say that the Volcom Pipe Pro has some history is an understatement of the highest order and in 2020 it’s looking like it’s going to be tougher to win than ever. With the Hawaiian island chain roaring to life in the past week, conditions are optimal and the forecast looks phenomenal. It’s all going down this week and we can’t wait to have you join us on Red Bull TV to catch all of the action, live from surfing’s Seven Mile Miracle.
We will be bringing you news from the Volcom Pipe Pro as it happens on this thread, so be sure to keep checking back in to stay on top as all the action goes down.