Mostly Turns, Some Tubes Keep Florence Pipe Pro Moving

Originally posted on SURFER | By August Howell | Last updated Dec 13, 2025 2:28 PM ET

“It's a little tricky, but if this were a normal beach break contest, we'd all be flipping out,” said Koa Smith, who surfed a morning heat on day two of the Florence Pipe Pro. He advanced on the back 6.5 on a shifty backside Backdoor barrel. As Koa summarized, the conditions dropped considerably since the first day. But with more rounds and surfers to get through, yesterday was necessary in order to fit everything in the 10-day permit window. The forecast looks much better in the days to come.

The day began with the last six heats of the men’s Round of 128. Ivan Florence advanced by the slimmest hair on his mutton chops. With his older brothers heckling him from their broadcast booth on the beach, Ivan did exactly what John John told him not to do: sat out the back and waited for the bigger waves while insiders went underneath him. But he got through with a 4 and a 2, knocking out his pal Koa Rothman early. Mason Ho also snuck through the doggydoor and advanced to the next round with known Backdoor weapon Joey Johnston.

“It's nice to have some local knowledge out there and know where it's going to barrel out there," Koa said. "I feel like with any Pipe contest you have to grind through a couple rounds to get to the treasure, but it looks like we have some treasure chest days on the forecast, so I'm stoked."

For some girls, it was their first time ever surfing Pipeline with a jersey on. That was the case for 16-year-olds Skait Suitt and Chesney Guinotte. The latter advanced to the quaterfinals by treating mini Backdoor like it was Rocky Point. She'll try to repeat the feat against CT surfers Luana Silva and Vahine Fierro in the next round.

In terms of timely scores and clutch wins, American QS standouts Alyssa Spencer and Kirra Pinkerton were the winners today. Both won their respective heats in the Round of 28, then repeated the feat in the Round of 24. Alyssa opted for the lefts and got a pair of 6s on her frontside. Kirra, a regularfoot, got an 8, the highest score of the day, on a small Backdoor right. The cutback certainly helped the score.

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Not the craziest wave, but it had to feel good for Kirra to get past a loaded heat of Hawaiian talent: Moana Jones Wong, Zoe McDougall and Nora Liotta. On paper, it was the best heat of the day. All four surfers surpassed 12 points and none went lower than a 6-point ride. Moana got through the heat with Kirra thanks to a 7.00 and 6.73.

“I was looking at that heat before, and just thought this is stacked heat,” said Kirra, who has her work cut out for her in the quarters against Carissa Moore and Erin Brooks. “That's a big goal, I think, for everyone, to get one over Moana. As soon as I saw she was in my heat, I was just thinking, here we go. I got a little left off of her, and it was just super sick to have a heat with her. Hopefully, I get a few more. I almost gave up on myself for a second because everyone had 6's, but then that wave came."

The comp is off for Saturday. Next call is 7 a.m. Sunday. Brigther (and bigger) days are ahead.

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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