Living the Dream

The winner of the contest was young Andrew Zwiers from Durban, who had just finished studying. His reward for being a student for four years and living in digs, hussling for chow and watching his petrol bucks, was an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii to see the Billabong Pipe Masters In Memory Of Andy Irons on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.

After 43-hours of travel time door-to-door, Andy arrived at the Turtle Bay hotel, his humble abode for the two-odd weeks of the contest waiting-period. A larney hotel on the water’s edge a few kilometers east of Pipe, this hotel is the real deal, with a couple of private waves out front, the Surfers Bar where people like Tom Curren and Gerry Lopez hang out, Hans Hederman’s (remember him) resident surf school and everything else that a top end American hotel in paradise would have.

What were his wheels for the trip? He was set up with a sick little Dodge to get him to the contest site and to go surfing anywhere on the island when the contest wasn’t on. On top of this, Andy was given VIP status at the contest site to hang out and rub shoulders with the stars, as well as access to the ultra-exclusive Billabong Pipeline House to hang out and rub shoulders with the stars as well as get stuck into breakfast and lunch with them. Did we mention that he was dressed head to toe with all the latest Billabong gear, VonZipper sunnies, DaKine bags and Kustom shoes? Man was pimped out to the max.  

What was most important, however, was the Pipe turned on for day one and two of the contest, like not seen for this event in a few years. Last year was big and wild, with the surfers dodging Second and Third Reef sets for most of the contest, scraping through to get a rideable wave in between the sets. The year before was good but not epic, with one day of barrels that gave everyone a taste of it. Previous years included a 2-foot final day where Bede Durbidge won the Pipe Masters by doing floaters at closing out Off The Wall in front of the assembled judges that had been moved to the Billabong House further to the west, as Pipe was flat.

Andy got to see Pipe in her most classic form. It was a good six to eight-foot booming barrels. Ten-foot sets. Broken boards and the best surfers in the world totally charging; jazzed up on end-of-year ratings, hungry for points, desperate for vindication and applause. There was a hungry mob of vainglorious local Pipe specialists, willing to put their lives on the line to get the recognition of their homeboy followers.

A total train wreck of desperadoes throwing themselves into barrels and diving onto the killing floor of the most famous piece of coral reef in the world. That there were no serious injuries is a mystery, but the drama! The passion! The pathos of those being eliminated and those not qualifying for the world tour 2013, not qualifying for their jobs, for the lives that they had so carefully engineered for themselves! One cannot put a price on being a part of this incredible Hawaiian tapestry. Andy walked from being a student at UKZN and an Umhlanga surfer to being a part of the surfing universe that very few will ever get to comprehend, let alone experience.

He did nearly run out of petrol, however, which would have brought the whole dream tumbling down. He limped into Haleiwa, and made it to the petrol pumps. Self-service in Hawaii, as in the rest of the world. No matter how romantic the picture, how dramatic the situation and how inspiring the scenario, pumping your own gas and spilling petrol on your new threads does kind of bring it all home, doesn’t it?

Now we have the Pipe Finals to look forward to, as well as the crowning of a World Champion. It looks like it’s all going to go down on Friday Hawaiian time, and it looks like its going to be 10-foot Hawaiian.

Dats kine big lefts bra.