John John Florence owned the final of the Volcom Pipe Pro from his very first wave.
It was no easy feat considering Florence had 11-time world champion Kelly Slater, Backdoor shootout champion Mason Ho and Triple Crown champion Sebastien Zietz to contend with in 6- to 8-foot surf. Yet, that’s how it went down at Pipeline.
Less than two minutes into the 35-minute final, Florence locked into a solid backdoor barrel for a good five seconds and came out straight into a hard layback turn.
Ho quickly followed on the next wave, posting a good score on a backdoor barrel of his own. Then it happened. Florence took a late drop into another draining barrel, which had him weaving as the wave folded over him twice before emerging straight into a lofty air.
Florence soared 10 feet above the wave before he crashed and burned into the shallows. The damage was done and Florence had just posted the highest two-wave total of the event of a 17.63 (out of 20) six minutes in.
Both Slater and Zietz needed two good scores to take over the lead. Ho had an excellent score and tried valiantly to catch Florence, catching another solid wave at the end of the heat.
But Florence’s early lead proved too large to overcome. Florence had reclaimed the title and made it his fourth Volcom Pipe Pro victory.
"It feels pretty amazing. I am pretty stoked to win four. I can’t believe that yet. To be honest, it’s pretty crazy, " said Florence, who last won in 2013. "I am just stoked for this trophy. It feels so good, you know, after last year losing (in the) first round. It kind of started off my whole year weird, so hopefully this year it starts off better for the rest of my year.
"I am super excited because I got a lot of confidence at the end of last year and going into this year hopefully I can be going against Gabriel (Medina) for the title."
Florence expressed satisfaction beating Slater in the final, given their previous meetings.
"I felt redemption for him winning Pipe over me last year," Florence said. "I still really want to get him back in a WCT (World Circuit Tour) in a good final because of the last two heats we had in the Pipe final out here as well as the Tahiti semifinal. The waves were so incredible, so hopefully we get one like that."
Ho (15.9) finished second, Slater (9.0) was third and Zietz (8.47) was fourth. Kelly did not come up empty-handed after taking home two prestigious awards.
Slater posted the event’s only perfect 10 in the quarterfinals for an extremely deep and long tube ride over the shallow reef. The ride gave him the only "Electric Perfect 10 Volt" award of the contest. Slater also won the Todd Chesser Memorial Award, which goes to the most inspirational and moving surfer of the event. The award was given out by Jeannie Chesser, Todd’s mother.
"Todd was one of my really close friends, he had a lot of best friends," Slater said. "Todd was just a one of kind guy and I just miss him every day. He was a hero who pushed all of our friends every day to be fitter, surf bigger waves and charge more. Todd never held back from anything, so I am pretty emotional to get this award. Thank you, Jeannie. Love you, " said Slater.
