‘We’re Scoring’: Broken Boards & Backdoor Redemption Kick off the Florence Pipe Pro

All were greeted with a beautiful North Shore morning today: Offshore wind, overhead a-frames and the occasional solid 8-footer keeping everyone on their toes. Ten 22-minute heats were wrapped up before noon, at which point the contest organizers (hello, comish Billy Kemper) called it for the day due to the strengthening onshore Kona wind. 

Even the oft-overlooked opening round of 16 four-man heats (meant for lower-seeded QS surfers) offered a criminal display of tide-riding talent, from underground groms shocked to see an empty Pipeline lineup to regular bosses like Jamie O’Brien, Eli Olson and Kala Grace. Even Nathan, who at one point before the event was the betting favorite, had to first advance through this extra round. 

As for storylines, the frontrunner from today has to be Lucas Godfrey, who broke his back on this reef in February this year. But in his morning heat, he snagged a multi-chambered right that had Eala Stewart and Nathan Florence screaming from the booth. It was one of those beautiful and incredulous rides Backdoor teases but so seldom delivers. He earned every bit of the 9.7, the highest single-wave score of the day. From near death to near perfection in less than a year, helmets off to Lucas on this one.

"I'm feeling good, and the conditions are epic today," Lucas said. "So stoked to be competing at Pipeline and that there's a regional QS that guys like me can get a chance to surf Pipe. Stoked I got a fun wave. I took off with low expectations because sometimes they run really fast, but that one held off perfectly, and I got the exit. I'm so stoked to get a score and looking forward to the rest of the week."

In the third heat of the day, Nathan’s matchup was particularly entertaining. For a while, it looked like an imminent shocker. Sporting a GoPro in his mouth, Nathan snapped his Pyzel and camera mount on his second wave thanks to a nasty Backdoor barrel. With around 10 minutes left while he was getting new equipment, Kainehe Hunt and Kaiwi Berry both made big Backdoor pits, pushing Nathan to third. With just five minutes left, Nathan found his two keeps. He went subterranean on another expansive Backdoor peak for 8.83, the highest score of the day at that point.

"It's such an honor to help sponsor this event, and such a cool turn of things," said Nathan, who hopped in the on-site broadcast booth to commentate several heats. "We grew up on this beach, went to school across the street, knew all the guys we looked up to were fighting for titles, and we were just always obsessed. Then growing up, surfing this wave, and earning our position out there to now a full circle being able to sponsor it as a brand that me and my brothers own, and surf with the local groms in it - the Challenger Series guys, CT guys, and community. It's just super special."

One of those guys the Florence groms watched over the years was Jamie, who course, matched Nathan's score a few heats later with a near-identical 8.83 by going through an 8-foot Backdoor barrel. The timing and positioning was vintage JOB. He didn’t even have to pump through the section, and 2004 Pipe Master was positively slouching on his way out in the spit. His 16.33 two-wave total was easily the best score of the day. Meanwhile, Kala Grace got second in the heat and advanced on the back of several draining lefts. 

"It felt really good to get that wave," Jamie said. "That right just kind of popped up and I was like are you kidding me, this wave looks insane. "There was a little bit of southwest wind on it, and I was hoping it wouldn't chandelier it down, but as I got to the bottom, it was just drawing so hard off the reef. I just put my hands behind my back. There was so much room in that barrel, and I was just thinking we're scoring. It's super cool for the community to get to surf with all the people we surf with on the normal out here. It's a dream, and just super psyched to be back out in the water and competing."

Speaking of smooth, Makana Pang has become a fixture on some of the biggest Pipe swells (you saw his early Wave of the Winter entry, right?) The 25-year-old goofyfoot advanced in his heat by threading a clean tube and hitting two graceful frontside snaps. The combo is something you don’t see often there these days, but it’s pleasing to watch when executed well. He was surpassed in his heat only by his friend Kalani Rivero, who stuck a late backside drop, barely kept the fins engaged and snuck out at the end for a deserved flex toward the beach. 

Event organizers will reconvene at 7 a.m. Hawaii time tomorrow for a possible 8 a.m. start to finish the men's first round.