Talk about a flashback. Turn the clock back just a little over 20 years and you’ll find a 2001 Xbox Gerry Lopez Pipe Masters event that looked nothing like the one we’ve gotten used to today.
This year’s Pipe Masters with a brand new headline sponsor and an entirely new format brought out plenty of skeptics, but the truth is, pro surfing has always been constantly evolving. The faces change and the familiar ones get older. Our perception of what’s even possible on a wave changes too. In 1991, for example, Tom Carroll carving a frontside turn under the lip was unthinkable. But it helped him win his third Pipe Masters at the time. A full decade later, Carroll was still competing at 40 years old and big turns in critical sections were commonplace.
Anyway, back to the event at hand. The 2001 Pipe Masters ran in two days with opening rounds that were nearly maxed out. The 48-competitor field was dwindled down to a manageable roster by day two when the wave size had dropped off considerably. With the finals landing on the last day of the competition window, event organizers had to rally through the entire contest under a deadline or face fines.
It ended up being a recipe for something great: an Irons brothers semifinal battle with Kelly Slater mixed in. Bruce edged out Andy with Slater winning their four-man heat and setting up a Bruce-Kelly Final. The younger Irons got the best of the then six-time world champion and won the first Irons family Pipe Masters title. Andy went on to win four Pipe Masters over the next five years, including four Triple Crowns and back-to-back-to-back world titles.
