Watch Live: Groomed, Picture-Perfect Pipeline Greets Challenger Series
“This morning, if you minus the crown, Pipeline was as good as it gets,” Shane Dorian said from the booth. “Just pristine peaks. Almost everybody in their right mind would be salivating to get out there.”
Fellow commentator and Momentum gen surfer Ross Williams concurred. “Mouthwatering Backdoor barrels,” he said. Yes, it’s that good on the North Shore this morning. The size isn’t the chaos that unfolded on first reef yesterday, but it’s way cleaner and more organized. Well overhead lefts and rights came through at dawn this morning, an easy call to get day three of the Lexus Pipe Challenger underway.
Six current Championship Tour guys will make an appearance today. Keep an eye out for Griffin Colapinto, Cole Houshmand, Kanoa Igarashi, Leonardo Fioravanti, Seth Moniz and Barron Mamiya. But there are plenty of blue-collar underdog stories to get behind.
“I thought to myself, holy s–t, we’re surfing perfect Pipe with nobody out,” said Morgan Cibilic, who won his heat over Jackson Bunch, Mateus Herdy and Finn McGill. “Better enjoy this.”
Lexus Pipe Challenger Presented by Billabong Men's Round of 64 Matchups:
HEAT 1: Cole Houshmand (USA) vs. Lucca Mesinas (PER) vs. Deivid Silva (BRA) vs. Joey Johnston (HAW)
HEAT 2: Mateus Herdy (BRA) vs. Morgan Cibilic (AUS) vs. Finn McGill (HAW) vs. Jackson Bunch (HAW)
HEAT 3: Kauli Vaast (FRA) vs. Kade Matson (USA) vs. Carlos Munoz (CRC) vs. Makana Pang (HAW)
HEAT 4: Barron Mamiya (HAW) vs. Bronson Meydi (INA) vs. Lucas Silveira (BRA) vs. Lucas Cassity (MEX)
HEAT 5: Samuel Pupo (BRA) vs. Jorgann Couzinet (FRA) vs. Franco Radziunas (ARG) vs. Charly Quivront (FRA)
HEAT 6: Oscar Berry (AUS) vs. Taro Watanabe (USA) vs. Ian Gentil (HAW) vs. Jett Schilling (USA)
HEAT 7: Winter Vincent (AUS) vs. Dimitri Poulos (USA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA) vs. Ryan Huckabee (USA)
HEAT 8: Griffin Colapinto (USA) vs. Ryan Callinan (AUS) vs. Lucas Vicente (BRA) vs. Joh Azuchi (JPN)
HEAT 9: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) vs. Nolan Rapoza (USA) vs. Mikey McDonagh (AUS) vs. Luke Swanson (HAW)
HEAT 10: Jacob Willcox (AUS) vs. Levi Slawson (USA) vs. Edgard Groggia (BRA) vs. Benji Brand (HAW)
HEAT 11: Eli Hanneman (HAW) vs. Keijiro Nishi (JPN) vs. Callum Robson (AUS) vs. Ezekiel Lau (HAW)
HEAT 12: Luke Thompson (RSA) vs. Michael Rodrigues (BRA) vs. Jackson Baker (AUS) vs. Luke Tema (HAW)
HEAT 13: Seth Moniz (HAW) vs. Xavier Huxtable (AUS) vs. Kyuss King (AUS) vs. Legend Chandler (HAW)
HEAT 14: George Pittar (AUS) vs. Hiroto Ohhara (JPN) vs. Ian Gouveia (BRA) vs. Riaru Ito (JPN)
HEAT 15: Liam O'Brien (AUS) vs. Jordan Lawler (AUS) vs. Shohei Kato (JPN) vs. Mason Ho (HAW)
HEAT 16: Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) vs. Shion Crawford (HAW) vs. Adur Amatriain (EUK) vs. Igor Moraes (BRA)