Riptide Magazine

Pipe - The Final Day

Last Updated on Monday, 01 March 2010 10:10

With just over eight minutes to go in the final of the Pipe Pro, Amaury snagged himself a cracking Pipe barrel then launched a solid backflip out of the bowl to earn himself a perfect ten from the judges and a lead that none of the competitors could catch - the 2010 Pipe Crown (and $5000) was his.

The score from the final was as follows:

1st Amaury Lavernhe 17.50
2nd Diego Cabrera 14.65
3rd Jared Houston 14.20
4th Damian King 10.75

Here's some notes from the final day:

- The final was very much an global affair with the riders coming from South Africa, Reunion Island, Canary Islands and Australia.

- Unfortunately the waves weren't as consistent as everyone would've like, but when the sets rolled in they were 8-12ft and condusive to high perfomance bodyboarding. Both BP and Kingy were caught out waiting for a wave that never came - devastatingly BP's arrived just after the buzzer sounded at the end of his semi final. Both men surfed exceptionally well.

- Diego's runner-up placing at Pipe backs up his first place at last year's Confital Pro in the Canaries proving that he's a legitimate World Title contender and that the Canarians are taking over bodyboarding. With rumours floating around that some of the Canarians are coming to spend some time in Australia this winter and further develop their riding it's time that we should take notice.

- Jerry Houston showed no fear through out the comp, launching off some of the more hectic sections coming through. Plus the commentators call of "Houston, we have a problem" when Jared got slammed on an attempted roll was one of the better "dad jokes" of the day.

- Manny Vargas and Jason Bitzer did a great job on the commentary for Fluidzone's webcast, but it was the big Hawaiian Kainoa McGee that shone the brightest. With a solid mohawk/quiff and amusing impersonations the guy provived us with some of the funnest and informative commentary an IBA webcast has seen in some time.

*More notes to come...

Results for the Pipe semi finals are as follows:

Semi Final #1
1st Damian King 16.50
2nd Jared Houston 15.40
3rd Guilherme Tamega 14.50
4th Brad Hughes 4.84

Semi Final #2
1st Amaury Lavernhe 14.00
2nd Diego Cabrera 12.00
3rd Pierre-Louis Costes 11.10
4th Ben Player 9.33

Also, Mike Stewart won another Pipeline Bodysurfing Championship beating Mark Cunningham in the final. This just confirmed that both me are freaks!

Dave Hubbard won the DK Pipe Event beating (in order) WA charger Kim Feast, Ricky Alvarez, Bud Miyamoto, Sasha Specker and Jacob Pembooke.

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And we also heard the following, Dubb actually put in some cash for the DK event to be ran...Here's an interview from Mike Stewart about it:

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*Monday morning updates

Press release from the IBA:

The 2010 Turbo Bodyboards Pipeline Pro presented by Body Glove has been won and run, with Pipeline saving the best for last with the competition wrapping up on the final day of the 2 week waiting period.

Conditions were epic, with perfect 8 to 12 feet Pipe and light offshore winds all day, keeping the thousands that lined the shore thoroughly entertained.
Amaury Lavernhe of the Reunion Islands was the one who came up trumps, blitzing through his final heats.

Lavernhe threw down the gauntlet to his combatants in the final with an outstanding combined wave total of 17.50, which included a perfect 10 for a huge pipe barrel to backflip. He then backed his perfect score up with a 7.5 for another huge barrel to roll.

Lavernhe took out Diego Cabrera of the Canary Island with 14.65, Jared Houston of South Africa with 14.20 and Damian King from Australia with 10.75.

"I am so stoked, I can't believe it" Said Lavernhe

"I have been here for 3 weeks and I have been training for this day.

"I just took this heat by heat and I didn't want to think too much about the final".

Diego Cabrera, who has come off the back of a win at the last IBA World Tour event at Confital in December has continued his stellar competitive run.

"This is my dream, I am very very happy as this is the first time that I have ever been in a pipe final and the second time in a Grand Slam final" said Cabrera.

Though Jared Houston missed out on second only by .45 points, he was thrilled with his performance in the competition after spending over 3 months on the North Shore in preparation.

Originally excluded for the event due to surfing in an unsactioned bodyboarding event, Houston was the one who spearheaded the campaign to the IBA riders board to have the ban lifted at the end of 2009.

"I am so stoked, this is everything that I have been working towards this year so I am so happy that it has paid off" said Houston

Terry McKenna, the IBA International General Manager, who was also one of the key drivers behind this event is thrilled with how the comp rolled out in 2010.

"There was not a better way to begin the 2010 IBA World Tour season" Said Terry.

"Winning this event is only second to winning the world title, I am thrilled that Amaury has won this event as he is the deserved winner".

The 2010 IBA World Tour now moved to New South Wales in Australia for the Soldier Beach Pro International from April 12 to 18.

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Mike Stewart's interview with the all of Pipe finalist

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Plus you can check out the Riptide Forum as it's brimming with plenty of great conversations about the event.