Coffin corners a victory at Pipeline pro junior

Conner Coffin won the inaugural Pipeline pro junior Saturday, coming out of a stacked heat that pitted two surfers from California and two from Hawaii.

The waves were in the 2- to 4-foot range, with a northerly swell direction forcing the competition to be held at the break known as "gums," which is located between Pipeline and Ehukai. The waves resembled a sand-bottom, right-hand point break, somewhat similar to Coffin’s home break in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"It feels really good, " a smiling Coffin said. "This is the first contest I won since I was 12 years old at nationals. Before the final I never really had a heat where I could open up. Once I got in the final, my coach (Brad Gerlach) told me to go out there and let go. It’s the final, so it’s either first or last. I have come close a lot in the past six years to get a win, so hopefully this win will help me relax in the future."

Coffin dominated the final from the get-go. His opponents were Ezekiel Lau, Koa Smith and Jake Halstead. Coffin got his first scoring wave in the first few minutes of the heat. He started off with a top turn, then pulled into nice little barrel and followed it up with a snap on the closeout end section. The rest of the competitors all seemed out of rhythm with the ocean, not catching many waves. But Coffin sat wide and caught a ton of waves. For his second scoring ride Coffin did three solid snaps in the lip.

Coming in second was Smith, 17, of Kauai, who wished Pipeline was part of the plan.

"It’s good to have a junior pro here," Smith said. "I wish it was at Pipeline instead of Ehukai, but maybe next year. It was a good contest though."

Smith also scored a perfect 10 earlier in the contest and said it was his first 10 in a long time.

San Diego’s Halstead managed third and was pleased. "It’s a big accomplishment to do good in a contest on the North Shore," he said.