Johnny-Boy Gomes muscles his way to victory in the Chiemsee Pipe Masters.
It certainly wasn't the best Pipe contest in terms of waves, but for excitement and drama the '97 Chiemsee Pipe Masters made gripping viewing.
Despite the bumpy, windswept conditions, there were plenty of barrells on offer for those with the balls to pull in. For the dozen-or-so surfers in the relegation zone of the Championship Tour, a good result was vital. Beau Emerton, Kaipo Jaquias and Mike Rommelse battled through the early rounds and hung onto their slots in the 44. But Jake Spooner, Mark Bannister, Mick Lowe, Vetea David and Danny Melhado all bombed out.
Hawaii's Shane Dorian defeated Australia's Barton Lynch, and marked the end of former world champion Lynch's professional career. Lynch earlier announced that he would retire at the end of this year. "It's pretty emotional really," said Lynch, a 15-year veteran of the pro tour. "It was a fun heat though. Shane and I surfed with good spirit and he gave me a wave at the end which was the best one I had. But I'm not feeling much like talking right now."
The first big upset came on the second day. Defending champ (and four-time Pipe Master) Kelly Slater faced Johnny-Boy Gomes. To say the two don't exactly get on would be an understatement.
In an early morning heat Gomes' local knowledge paid off as he chose the best waves, got tubed, got 10s, and advanced out of heat 8 this morning with a 15.00 score to Slater's 14.60 points and the USA's Pat O'Connell, 8.50 points.
With surf generally in the 3- to 5-foot range, Gomes and Slater met again in round 2, heat 8 and out of nowhere, the best waves of the day began pumping through Pipe. Gomes wasted no time. He nailed all the best tubes while Slater, famous for his last second comebacks, got trounced and failed to make it through most of his tube rides. This time, instead of beating Slater by .40 points, Gomes put the defending Pipeline champion out of the 1997 competition with a solid 5.90 point lead - a sweet moment for Johnny-Boy.
"I have the utmost respect for Kelly's surfing, he's the five time world champion," said Gomes. "But by the same token he's human and he's beatable. I knew in my heart and soul that I could beat him out here. There's not too many people who can say that they beat the five time world champion twice in one day. Whenever you surf against the five time world champ you can't take it too lightly. I've been waiting all year for this."
"I'm disappointed to lose out so early," said Slater. "I fell on four good barrels and surfing against a guy like John at Backdoor and Pipe you can't afford to make those kind of mistakes. I've had a pretty good string of luck here but it had to run out some time. The finish of the season wasn't so great for me. I wanted to do well in the Triple Crown but I didn't have such good results. The past few contests have been a little disappointing for me but the rest of the year was good."
There were more surprises in the quarters. Veteran Hawaiian charger Michael Ho, 40, continued his amazing run from the trials by eliminating top Aussie Mark Occhilupo. Although disappointed, Occy's fifth place finish consolidated his runner-up position behind world champ Slater in the final rankings for '97 - an incredible comeback.
When Shane Dorian and Sunny Garcia failed to stop Ho and Gomes in the semis, the pair went through to the final - the first time in the history of the event that two trialists have gone all the way.
The two Hawaiians traded barrel for barrel in the 25-minute final, but Johnny-Boy's commited backhand attack was unstopable. Time and time again he took-off deep, slammed a grab-rail bottom-turn, and pig-dogged it through the section, to wild applause from the spectators.
Afterwards, clutching the winner's trophy on the podium, Johnny-Boy had this to say:
I have the utmost respect for Kelly's surfing, he's the five time world champion. But by the same token he's human and he's beatable. I knew in my heart and soul that I could beat him out here. There's not too many people who can say that they beat the five time world champion twice in one day. Whenever you surf against the five time world champ you can't take it too lightly. I've been waiting all year for this.
Winning here must've been the highlight of the season for you.
For sure. It's always been my dream to win the Pipe Masters. I've come pretty close a couple of times, and that's been frustrating. But this year I did it.
Stoked?
I'm so stoked.
How did you approach the semis and the final, because the conditions weren't ideal?
Well, I got some good advice from Gerry [Lopez]. Basically he told me to take it easy and keep my cool, 'cos there was still a lot of ocean energy out there. He said, "You know where the spot is in the line-up - just sit right in that spot and let the energy come to you, don't go scrambling around."
And that's what you did...
Yeah, it worked. It was good advice. Gerry's a legend, he's had so much experience here at Pipe. He lives here, he's surfed here all his life. What we're learning now, he's known for years.
Mark Occhilupo:
The wildcards that come into this event are usually a pretty big threat, they surf here so much. I always consider the wildcards here the hardest of the year for us tour guys.
This year feels completely different for me to previous years. It kind of feels like when I used to be at the top but that was 10 years ago. I've made a few finals and I won here once and the wave really does suit my kind of surfing. There's a real sense of reflection for me here. I've been getting up really early in the mornings and looking back at the year I've had. I've been thinking that it's been a really good year because I'd really love to finish second; I've never finished that high on the ratings. I've been third twice. So I've been psyching on that. There's also the satisfaction of knowing that I can mix it with the best. When you haven't been there for a few years you don't know. I used to be one of the best but just to come back and end up in the top five and know you are one of the best again is really satisfying.
Myles Padaca:
It feels pretty good to have a couple of 10's under your belt. You never know what's going to happen out there, you're always at the wave's mercy. The wildcards at a spot like this most definitely have a good chance of taking out the event. I'm calling an upset. With Kelly winning it every year I'd like to see an upset for sure.
Kalani Robb:
I'm enjoying every moment. I was shaky at first. I tried to take off a little bit deeper than I wanted to. As I moved closer to where I wanted to be I was still deep but wide enough that I could make the barrels.
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