Special coverage of the Volcom Pipe Pro 2020 is brought to you by Red Bull - Don't miss the live broadcast of the event on DUKE from January 29 to February 10

The original version of this article was modified on January 28, 2020, adding three more feats.

What's special about the Volcom Pipe Pro is that its history has been written with the blood, sweat and tears of the world's best pipers at the best and most traditional pipe in the world, Banzai Pipeline.

The event began in 1985, first called HIC Pro, then Monster Energy Pro and 11 years ago Volcom Pipe Pro.

Over the years, many pieces of skin have been left on the Pipe reef due to the action of the best tube riders in the world.

Related Reading: Some reasons why the Volcom Pipe Pro is one of the best events on the calendar

Here are some very special moments:

Carlos Cabrero's victory in 2000

Carlos Cabrero was the only Latin American in history to win this tournament – ​​Latin American in the real sense, considering Brazilians – since it began in 1990 under the name HIC Pipe Pro. Cabrero won an impressive final against Braden Diaz, Andy Irons and Dean Morrison on a day when Pipe was breaking with six to eight foot pipes.

“Every year when the February Pipe event starts, I have many memories and I feel very proud of having won it. In this millennium, only two goofy footers have managed to win at Pipe: Rob Machado and me. You can imagine how exciting it is to be able to say that I am Puerto Rican and I represent Latin America and to achieve an achievement of this magnitude in this sport that is so competitive worldwide. It was the biggest dream I have ever had since I started surfing,” He told DUKE remembering that historic feat.

“Nobody expected that this little country boy from Santurce, Puerto Rico, would win the HIC Pipe Pro in 2000,” he added.

Gabriel Villarán's final in 2006

The final day of that edition of what was then called the Monster Energy Pro, had absolutely epic 6-10 foot waves and epic conditions.

Villarán, who was Pan American champion that year, had been Latin American champion the year before, and already showed his taste and talent in heavy waves, declared himself to the world that year as a definitive tube specialist. The press releases proclaimed him as the great surprise of the tournament.

The final was won by Rob Machado who had already retired from the tour but chose to compete in the tournament and won. Fred Patacchia came second and Ian Walsh third.

After posting several high scores heading into the grand final, Villarán didn't find his waves in the grand final but made history for the continent.

 

When Carlos Muñoz won the Todd Chesser award

Todd Chesser was a waterman, a big rider, a ripper and a great friend to his friends who lost his life while surfing an outside spot on the North Shore in 1997. The award given by Todd's mother, Janine, is to the most bossy, the most risky.

In 2012, a talented 19-year-old Costa Rican caught everyone's attention at that year's Volcom Pipe Pro, taking home some waves, a couple of 10s to his name, and finishing the tournament in ninth place.

Like Cabrero with his tournament victory, Carlos Muñoz was the only Latino to win this award since it began being given.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9RIOUFVRpI

Jonathan Gonzalez's semi-finals in 2012

Gonzalez was a hometown killer in this edition of the tournament, beating first Ola Eleogram and Myles Padaca in round 3, then Evan Valiere and a young Koa Rothman in round 4 and Carlos Muñoz and Kalani Chapman in the quarterfinals. In the semis, he was unable to beat the eventual champion of the event, John John Florence, with the American Nathan Yeomans and the Hawaiian Bruce Irons.

His best heat was Round 4, which can be seen in the video above, where he scored 13 points (including a 7,4 on a barrel at Pipe, to place second behind Alex Gray).

Marco Giorgi's fifth in Pipe epic in 2016

This Pipe Pro had many ingredients to be special: It took place in the middle of one of the best Hawaiian winters in recent memory, Slater returned to victory after two years and the sea on the final day was absolutely epic.

The tournament's commentators wondered what Uruguay was like; they knew little about Marco Giorgi, but series by series they were surprised and little by little they were positioning themselves as the favorite.

After going through four series, of which he won three, in the semis he met Slater and Bruce Irons. It all came down to a bomb from which he could not recover and he left the tournament in fifth place. He deserved to win the Todd Chesser Award that year.

The day Lele Usuna beat John John and finished fifth in the event

The 2017 edition of the Volcom Pipe Pro was held primarily on Backdoor days that benefited the Argentinean frontside talent on tubular waves. Usuna made it through four heats, three in second and two in first, and in the semis he faced eventual event winner Soli Bailey of Australia.

The other two in the water were John John Florence, who had just been crowned world champion for the first time (and who is the surfer who has won the most in this event, with four victories), and Griffin Colapinto, who would later be part of the CT.

Florence finished fourth in that series, and with that, the Argentine can safely say that he beat the two-time world champion on his home turf.

Aritz Aranburu also made the semis and confirmed his consistency in the queen of the waves

At the same Volcom Pipe Pro in 2017, Basque Aritz Aranburu achieved his best result in the tournament, a seventh place, which included series wins against Adriano de Souza, Yago Dora and Makua Rothman. But his best series in that edition of the event was in round 3, in which he added 13,63 (6,93+6,7) to beat David do Carmo, Reo Inaba and Tuamata Puhetini.

The Basque has a very good record of results in the event, having placed seventh in 2017, ninth in 2018 and ninth in 2019. In his best series of these three events, paradoxically, he did not win, going through round 4 in second place behind Billy Kemper. However, he scored an almost excellent 15,54 (7,67+7,87) thanks to two tubes he took on Backdoor.

 

 

Bad game in the semis in 2018

Alvaro Malpartida's class and nose for square pipes were on display around the world at last year's epic Volcom Pipe Pro, especially on the final day which featured nine hours of incredible pipe riding.

The Peruvian went through four heats, winning two of them. One of them had a historic touch because he went through with his compatriot Joaquín del Castillo, doing a one-two and leaving the now CT Mikey Wright and the local Tanner Hendrickson out. In the next one he left out the winner of the Pipe Masters trials last year, Finn McGill, and in the following heat he could not beat Jamie O'Brien, Weslley Dantas and Mitch Parkinson.

The consolation prize for being left on the doorstep of the final was that the water safety officers let him surf half an hour of impressive Pipe while they prepared and presented the grand final.

"A lot of adrenaline, racing Pipeline for so many days, some great tubes with only four people in the water and with priority, the truth is it was a delight. There have been very good championships in life and with good waves, but Pipeline is Pipeline. It was an epic championship, but I wouldn't know if it was the best," He told DUKE in a post-event interview.

Miguel Tudela's semis last year

Tudela invested a lot of time in Pipeline, a lot of time in this event and for one reason or another he was not able to achieve an expressive result. He got the better of it last year by finally making it to the semi-finals with performances that were perhaps less striking than in previous editions but being consistent (As he himself later explained in an interview with DUKE).

He beat Carlos Muñoz and Liam O'Brien in round 4, Nolan Rapoza and Kyuss King in round 5, Reef Heazelwood, Josh Moniz (who was defending champion at the time) and Torrey Meister in the quarter-finals and fell to Heazelwood, Balaram Stack and Brodie Sale in the semis; halfway through that series he went into the largest tube of the match and just missed making it out (see video above).

"I thought I would go through more heats than I would go through the dream wave and I think that made me more focused on judging the waves that needed to be passed through the heats and not on getting the tube of my life," he said in an interview with DUKE.