Another Championship Tour is wrapped up and the 2015 Billabong Pipe Masters was a fitting showdown. The surf pumped, insane barrels and bone breaking wipeouts ensued, and slowly but surely the competitors were whittled down until there was only one left victorious. With six contenders for the World Title, the battle was on before the contest even started. Owen Wright ended his title bid free surfing, sustaining an injury that put him out of the contest. This left the door open for wildcard Mason Ho to compete, and it was him who knocked out another title contender, Felipe Toledo.
Four left, and Julian Wilson was next to go in Round 3 when fellow Aussie Adam Melling won the heat. Then it went to the semi finals, where a grieving Mick Fanning, who had only days before heard of his older brother’s untimely death, lost to Gabriel Medina. In an all-Brazilian final, Adriano De Souza took the lead from the get go, never letting Medina get ahead and walked off the beach to be crowned the 2015 Pipe Masters champion. Oh, and he won the 2015 Championship Tour crown in the process too. Check out the finals day highlights to see all the action.
Adriano completely deserved the win, both at Pipeline and the entire 2015 Championship Tour. After dominating during the first half of the season, he trailed closely behind Mick Fanning during the second half. Fanning became the most famous surfer in the world after the shark attack in South Africa, and has had to deal with some personal issues this year, but you can’t take anything away from De Souza. Growing up in a favela, he has battled on the Championship Tour for 10 years to finally be crowned the World Champion. Over that decade, De Souza has never placed higher than 9th at the Pipe Masters. Coming into the contest, he asked Pipe expert Jamie O’Brien if he could crash at his place to prepare for the contest. He said he would sleep on the porch if he had to. He was up at first light each morning, training for the contest, and it paid off. Adriano became the first Brazilian pro surfer to ever win the Pipe Masters.
With all that said, lets remember that the 2015 Billabong Pipe Masters is just as much about the renown wave as the surfers who brave it. So to pay homage to Pipeline, here are some of the best waves and barrels of the contest! First up is Hawaiian Sebastien Zietz, getting deep in the pit and spat out, earning himself a perfect 10.
Next check out the hometown hero John John Florence speed through the tube on a heavy wave, completely disappearing as the wave pinches at the end before he breaks through the foam ball.
To finish things off, here’s Julian Wilson dropping into Backdoor, tucking into a heaving wave and miraculously coming out the other side, a barrel ride worthy of a claim.