Tahiti’s Michel Bourez proved to be unstoppable Monday on his way to becoming the Billabong Pipe Masters champion.
In rising 4- to 6-foot surf at the famed Pipeline break at Ehukai Beach, Bourez blazed through six rounds, winning five of his heats, including a 7.53-6.17 victory in the final over Kanoa Igarashi of Huntington Beach, Calif.
“This is the most prestigious,” Bourez said. “This is the contest that every single surfer on tour or whoever does the (qualifying series) or competes wants to win.”
With the win, Bourez locked up No. 6 in the final WSL rankings and was able to figuratively stuff the $100,000 first-prize check in his board shorts pocket.
After the win, Bourez said that he’s been coming to Hawaii for the past six winters and surfing Backdoor Pipeline (the right breaking wave that is another option to the regular left-breaking Pipeline). It just so happens that on Monday, Backdoor Pipe was the main option.
“Having surfed Backdoor most of the time for those six years, I was telling myself out there that if it turns on, it’s going to be there (for me),” Bourez added. “It was a long day for sure. A lot of good surfers came up short right at the end. It was complicated. Whoever gets the right wave wins the heat.”
Backdoor was certainly there for him, but not without some drama in the last few minutes. Igarashi caught a wave with less than two minutes to go, but it wasn’t enough to overtake the lead.
Bourez was not the only surfer with a major accomplishment Monday. Haleiwa’s John John Florence, the WSL’s 2016 champion, captured his third Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title by being the best surfer across the three season-ending WSL North Shore contests. He won the Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa and made the quarterfinals at both the Vans World Cup of Surfing and the Pipe Masters.
It was Bourez who defeated Florence in the Pipe quarters.
“It’s been pretty amazing winning this Triple Crown overall,” Florence said. “I’m still a little bit in shock. The whole year has been amazing and I think I’m ready to take a little break now. Thanks to everybody who I can hear cheering me when I come out of the barrel.”
Florence is still without a Pipe Masters title.
“I had a lot of fun. Hopefully next year it will be big, big Pipe. We’ll see,” he added. “Michel winning (the Pipe Masters) is awesome. He deserves it and he’s such a good surfer in big waves, especially barrels like this. Just a really good person overall. One of my favorite surfers on tour just because who he is and how he is as a person.”
Bourez has now won the three Triple Crown events (in different years). He won the Hawaiian Pro in 2013 and the Vans World Cup in 2014. Only two other surfers have accomplished that — the late Andy Irons of Kauai, who the Pipe Masters is run in honor of each year, and Kailua’s Derek Ho.
On his way to the final, Igarashi gave a huge boost to Hawaii surfer and friend Ezekiel Lau. Igarashi’s quarterfinal victory over Jordy Smith, who climbed past 2014 world champ Gabriel Medina to No. 2 in the final WSL rankings, opened a spot for Lau on next year’s world tour.
“It’s a dream come true (to make the Pipe final),” Igarashi said. “And I was helping out my friend. I was stoked I could do it for him.”
Eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater fell to Igarashi in the semifinals on a last-second Igarashi barrel. At that point, Slater was still in the running for a third Triple Crown title and an eighth Pipe Masters championship.
“I had to win that heat and the final (to win the Triple Crown),” Slater said. “I played the heat perfectly. It just turned out that the good wave came with 30 seconds to go or less.”
