Organizers of the Volcom Pipeline Pro didn’t let 12 foot waves get in the way of competition on Day 3 of the event on January 31, 2012.
Defending Volcom Pipe Pro champion, John Florence (Hawaii), scraped through today in a heat that could have been a final. Up against former Pipe champion Bruce Irons, Australian Anthony Walsh, and North Shore local Sean Moody, Florence had his work cut out. Florence made a last minute barrel to steal second place away from Walsh and advance. . . “I was pretty nervous, I almost wasn’t going to do my heat,” said Florence. “I have a really bad kink in my neck, and my hand hurt… I kind of sat there the whole heat and luckily got a wave in the end. Anthony Walsh is so gnarly. That was definitely a scary heat to have… Moody and Bruce too… There are a lot of wash-through sets. It’s fun but there’s these crazy double ups that come in.”
Round of 32 heats could begin today. Follow the jump for full details.Day 3 of the Volcom Pipe Pro goes off in 10-12 foot Perfect Pipeline!
Watch heat recaps at www.volcompipepro.com
NORTH SHORE, Oahu – (Jan. 31, 2012) – The third day of competition for the 2012 Volcom Pipe Pro started this morning in absolutely perfect 10-12 foot Pipeline. We awoke to pumping surf that cranked all day long from the same WNW swell that washed out Pipeline yesterday.
Today’s standouts included three perfect 10-point rides (with a $1,000 bonus in cash from Electric’s “Perfect 10 Award”) given to Balaram Stack (New York), Dusty Payne (Hawaii) and Dylan Graves (Puerto Rico).
Other notable scores of the day included Bruce Irons (Hawaii) with a 9.40 and a 8.07 – giving him the highest total combined heat score of the day at 17.47. There were plenty of single wave high scores from Ian Walsh (Hawaii) with an almost perfect 9.87, Gabe Kling (Florida) with a 9.70, Carlos Munoz (Costa Rica) with a 9.27, Nate Yeomans (California) with a 9.23 and Mason Ho (Hawaii) with a 9.17.
Defending Volcom Pipe Pro champion, John Florence (Hawaii), scraped through today in a heat that could have been a final. Up against former Pipe champion Bruce Irons, Australian Anthony Walsh, and North Shore local Sean Moody, Florence had his work cut out. Florence made a last minute barrel to steal second place away from Walsh and advance.
“I was pretty nervous, I almost wasn’t going to do my heat,” said Florence. “I have a really bad kink in my neck, and my hand hurt… I kind of sat there the whole heat and luckily got a wave in the end. Anthony Walsh is so gnarly. That was definitely a scary heat to have… Moody and Bruce too… There are a lot of wash-through sets. It’s fun but there’s these crazy double ups that come in.”
Pipe standouts that failed to advance through their round of 64 heats today included Dusty Payne, who did not secure a back up wave after scoring a perfect 10 on a draining Backdoor tube. Others Hawaiian’s that didn’t advance included: Myles Padaca, Ola Eleogram, Marcus Hickman, Roy Powers, Pancho Sullivan and Kekoa Bacalso.
Above: The Volcom Houses as seen from the lineup at Pipeline. Photo: Brent.
Surfline.com, the official forecaster of the 2012 Volcom Pipe Pro is predicting another day of great conditions tomorrow (Wednesday), so make sure you check back at 7:30 am for the official call.
Watch the heats on demand if you missed anything from today, check the full results and photos from all the action. When the Volcom Pipe Pro resumes, we will start with heat 1 in the round of 32 and crown a champion by the end of the day.
