2013 Billabong Pipe Masters & ASP World Championship

December 14, 2013 12:34 AM

At some point today (hopefully) the last rounds of the 2013 Billabong Pipe Masters taking place in the North Shore of Hawaii will kick off, and the last stop of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing will be decided. With it, the battle between Mick Fanning and Kelly Slater will conclude, crowning either surfer the 2013 ASP World Champion.

Swells are supposed to be ONOLISICIOUS (possibly ten to eighteen feet) at the Bonzai Pipeline, and there is no shortage of talent still in the running. Crowd favorite and North Shore native John John Florence beat out Mick Fanning in a previous heat, forcing the current world leader in points to surf in Round 5 in order to advance to the Quarter Finals. The call on whether or not the event will go down will be at 7:30AM Hawaiian time (which is like, later in the day for those of us that live in the USA.. and possibly earlier depending on where you live in the world... hmmm that was elegant). Here's a look at how the ASP Surfing Events have played out thus far in 2013, COWABUNGA!

posted by pwally (5 comments total)

I don't have a dog in this race, but I hope Mick Fanning wins it based on the fact that heactually has a mobile site and Kelly Slater's site doesn't seem to work at all on my tablet. That being said, yay waves!
posted by Literaryhero at 1:06 AM on December 14, 2013

Established local surfers consequently work together to limit non-locals' access to the waves.


From the Wikipedia article about Bonzai Pipeline. Does that mean they have Point Break style turf wars there?
posted by Literaryhero at 1:10 AM on December 14, 2013

John John's dad was my sophomore roommate at college so I get pretty constant updates on his progress via Facebook postings from his proud dad.
posted by octothorpe at 4:37 AM on December 14, 2013

From the Wikipedia article about Bonzai Pipeline. Does that mean they have Point Break style turf wars there?

Localism is a real thing. For the Pipeline locals, see the section on the Wolfpak.
posted by zamboni at 6:04 AM on December 14, 2013

There has been quite a bit of speculation that Fanning intentionally drew an interference call at the end of his rd. 4 heat to drop from second to third. Round 4 is a 3-man non-elimination format in which the winner moves straight to the quarters and the other two get reshuffled into round 5. Second place would've had Mick facing John John in the semis, while third puts him against journeyman Yadin Nicol. The only problem with that strategy is that he'll have to face former world champ and Pipeline standout CJ Hobgood in round 5 to get to Nicol. Here's CJ on the recent Black Friday swell (more). The forecast for today is almost identical to that day.

A prophetic quote from Slater in '03: "Well, in ten years I'll be forty, and hopefully I'll be right here surfing in the Pipe Masters final against John John."
posted by gimli at 8:09 AM on December 14, 2013 [1 favorite]