Banzai at the Pipeline!
The forecast for the second week of February looked good, in fact, too good. Huge waves closed out Pipe all week. But thanks to a waiting period extension to Feb. 9th, the event went off in probably the biggest waves ever for a women's contest, solid four- to eight-foot with bigger sets. Second reef busted occasionally throughout the afternoon as the women caught some of the largest barrels of their lives, and took some of the heaviest lickings.
A variety of circumstances kept the top GOB women from competing, but Neymara Carvalho still lent a hand in the judges scaffold and the ISA sanctioned the event for the first time in bodyboarding history. Both the Japanese and Hawaiian contingents took advantage of the absence of the domineering Brazilians. Even though the top pros were out, Brazil still mustered up a solid field of competitors, including Karin Matos, Christina Allayon, Adrianna Eskinasy, and Andrea Guimeires. Japanese riders Aoi Koike, Emiko Mizoguchi, Hiromi Yoshinaga, Narumi Fukuhara and Kaoru Suzuki all put in admirable performances, showing the growing strength of Japanese riders. Robin Cardoza led the charge for the Hawaiians with Michele Judy, Lei Seto Mook and Nora Neal at her side. Hawaii's Melanie Bartels and Brazil's Lucia Araujo, both favorites in the event, lost out in the same quarterfinal heat.
Beautiful conditions graced the final, which featured Aoi Koike, Robin Cardoza, Michele Judy, Nora Neal, Tanira Guimeires, and Adrian Eskinasy. Aoi Koike stepped it up with her Backdoor tube rides and big open rolls going left to claim what was a historic first place finish for Japan. Robin Cardoza put together some nice rolls and reverses to earn second, her highest placing in the contest's history. The rest of the finalists were just stoked to show their talent in such a low-stress, competitive atmosphere. Event Director Carol Philips commented: "This event was a perfect avenue to get more women exposed to professional competition and bring some fresh faces into the spotlight. I'm really stoked on the waves we got. The women went for it and that's what women's bodyboarding at Pipeline is all about."
The Men's Drop-Knee Expression Session The venue is epic and the format is cool: get up drop-knee or you won't be scored. Australia's Crispin Hughes proved he knew what that meant in the second semi when he got up backside on a wave that bordered eight foot. He didn't make it around the section but it was a hell-drop to remember. Reunion's Tomas Richards put in a surprisingly good performance in the semis and found himself advancing to the final behind none other than Kainoa McGee and Stephen Melidossian, a guy I'd never heard of but obviously has some good drop-knee skills. On the other side, mad Manny Vargas went big at Backdoor and blew everyone away when he came flying out. Australia's drop-knee king Dave Ballard scored some nice pits to advance to the final along with Jack "The Ripper" Lindholm.
The final was way rad with Kainoa scoring a set wave which he fanged off the bottom and pulled into a long traveling tube before exiting with the spit. Jack was impressive as always with his fall out of the sky, grab the rail and bury the tail style. But Kainoa wouldn't let up, and after a few more long tubes, it was obvious he was the winner. It was insane to see both Kainoa and Jack taking drop-knee to another level at Pipe.
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