Cut Chaos, Aussie Death Slab Makes Up For Marginal Margs Finals

After eight years without an event win, the big South African has two in 2025, along with a pair of quarterfinal finishes, to give him a significant 5000 point ratings lead over second placed Brazilian, Italo Ferreira, who, despite coming into the Australian leg with a massive ratings lead himself, lost out to Australian wildcards in the round of 32 in all three events to relinquish first place. 

For surf fans, the 2025 iteration of the Margaret River Pro will live long in the memory for other reasons. Namely, the return of the Tour to one of the most technical and treacherous slabs in the world, The Box, just in time for the Cut. What a place to pit the world’s best against each other with their careers on the line. It did not dissappoint.

No one needs telling that once relegated from the World Tour there is no guarantee you’ll be back. Just ask former Rookie of the Year and Final Five contender, Aussie Morgan Ciblic, who was unceremoniously cut from Tour just months after contesting a world title at Trestles never to return. 

Of those on the chopping block, few had a harder assignment than Crosby Colapinto. After watching his brother cement his spot on tour earlier in the event, the San Clemente super grom faced off against Margaret River maestro, Ethan Ewing in picturesque ten to 15 foot conditions. Clinical carves and attacking lines into the maw of triple overhead Margaret River rights marked what has to be up there with the best performances of Crosby’s short Tour career, as he dropped number after number to back the Aussie title contender into a corner he would never emerge from. 

But the job wasn’t done. Next it was off to The Box where Crosby found himself up against Hawaiian Rookie, Jackson Bunch, also surfing for his World Tour future. Crosby has put in the reps at The Box - including this freakish free surfing effort - and it showed. He narrowly edged out Bunch, despite leaving the door wide open for the Hawaiian goofy foot to get it done with plenty of time on the clock. But the inexperience at this venue showed and the grom just couldn’t find a line into the tube backside handing victory to Crosby.  Serious slabs like The Box demand time and dedication. Surfers will either earn their keep at a wave like this or they won’t and they’ll be cut from tour. This is a good deal for surf fans and purists who want to see the World’s best pushed to their absolute limits. The WSL made a courageous call to move the event to the slab but it was a move they had to make. In this country, you are barely taken seriously  unless you can stick a drop under the lip of a slab. To truly call yourself the best surfer in the world requires mastery of these kinds of waves. Anything less should disqualify you from winning a world title or at least earn an eternal asterisk next to your name.

One surfer who will never have an asterisk next to his name is Griffin Colapinto who produced one of the great tube makes ever seen at The Box.  After navigating a ledged out drop, he accelerated into the bowels of a thick Box chamber only to get shot into the roof of the tube by the foam ball precisely as the wave exploded with spit somehow giving him a bizarre exit. No one is really sure what happened but what we can say is the nine out of ten points he received was a travesty. Fortunately and somewhat cosmically, Griffin only had to wait until the following heat to earn a perfect ten for a flawless full rotation air reverse that went well beyond the lip line of a six foot Main Break end-section, right when he needed it too. Up against form Italian surfer, Leo Fioravanti, who’d already dropped a nine, Griffin produced his second show-stopping moment of the event for a famous late-stage victory to give himself a major shot in the arm as the Tour sets its sights on a Final Five Showdown at Cloudbreak.  

While both Colapinto brothers managed to keep their Dream Tour aspirations alive, the same couldn’t be said for the other brotherly duo on Tour, Miguel and Sammy Pupo. Up first, older brother, Miguel, facing off against Aussie rookie and Main Break specialist, George Pittar. 

You’ve just gotta love Miguel. Guy has four kids, the youngest of which he hasn’t even met yet because it was born a month ago while he was on Tour. With food and shelter for his family of five weighing over his head, you knew he was going to leave no stone unturned in his quest for victory. Pittar, meanwhile, is no slouch at this location. He announced himself to the world here as a wildcard last year beating Griffin Colapinto on his way to a semi-final finish (where he was massacred by a John John Florence masterclass that included a ten).

When Miguel iced the craziest sequence of steezed out hooks, hits and and carves on an eight to ten foot Margs right, in one continuous line, the heat was a wrap and his name was further etched into Tour folklore. You don’t do ten plus years at this level without serious game in the clutch. His run finished at The Box where he was put to the sword in an awkward affair with Leo Fioravanti, who nearly died several times in the process. Though the Brazilian goofy still managed to knife the most nuts 5.17 of his life for a sketchy inside death trap on the spikes. Yikes. 

Once again, the World Tour bid farewell to a Pupo at Margaret River, this time, Sammy. Though at least it wasn’t his brother who condemned him to relegation, as he had done to Miguel last year. 

In the womens, grom phenom Erin Brooks’ Tour future was on the chopping block following another middle of the road performance after losing out to fellow cut candidate, Luana Silva in the round of 16. Despite all the hype and promise in the world, consistency is key at this level and the teenager has failed to produce her best surfing when it counts despite dropping several of the season’s highlights thus far. It left her fate in the hands of Lakey Peterson, herself surfing for her World Tour future in this event. Fittingly, the rangey Californian, produced some of the best surfing of her entire career when she needed it most, defeating form Australian surfer, Isabella Nichols, in a show stopping quarter final heat. The power and sting unleashed as she seared off the bottom and into the Margaret River bowl was undeniable and could not be matched by Nichols with the Californian dropping a 7.57 and an 8.77 to take the win, keep her spot on tour and save Erin Brooks from a ignominious return to the Challenger Series.