2 Feet High and Rising: The 2008 Pipeline Pro Endures Small Surf and Torrential Rain

You’d be hard pressed to find somebody that would argue with the fact that it’s been a dismal season in Hawaii this year. It just seems to be one of those years where we find ourselves stuck in a funky weather pattern, filled with bad trades, too many squalls and hardly a northwest swell to speak of. And now, as the Pipeline Pro grinds on, it seems to be sadly reminiscent of the disappointment that was this year’s Pipe Masters. With one exception: two feet of rain didn’t fall when the Masters was running. For the past 72 hours Hawaii’s been on a full-on flood watch. And another band of rain is headed for the islands, there have been a couple of bright points, most notably the fact that, come Round 4, Backdoor Shoot-out winner and runner-up Jamie O’Brien and Bruce Irons, as well as fellow Bull rider Ian Walsh, are all still going strong. Peruvian hard-charger Gabriel Villaran fell victim to the local knowledge of Gavin Beschen and Chas Chidester in Round Three. Also stumbling a bit was three-time world champ Andy Irons as he fell in the first day of Round Four—by the eighth heat of the day conditions had deteriorated so badly that the contest was put on hold and has since to run again. The contest has to run the next two days, no question, so stay tuned as the sky falls and the Red Bull crew sticks it out in Hawaii.