"Russell Moves Up a Notch in Primo Surf," by Mark Osmun, Honolulu Advertiser, Dec 17, 1976

After two years of finishing in second place, Rory Russell yesterday won the sixth Primo Masters urf meet at the Pipeline as he and Gerry Lopez, who finished second, showed how the surf spot got its name.

Paul Naude of South Africa placed third, followed by Australia’s Mark Richards, California's Mike Armstrong, and Pepe Lopes from Brazil.

The meet, the second-to-last event on this year’s International Professional Surfers circuit, was held in six- to eight-foot waves, a wind that blew in from the North, hollowing out the tubes Russell and Lopez spent most of their day in.

Richards, surfing’s top money winner for the year, dominated the early part of the finals, getting four of the first six outstanding rides. However, Russell and Lopez, two old denizens of the Pipeline, bided their time waiting for a chance at the spectacular.

At the Pipeline, waves break over shallow water creating tubes like hollowed logs. What wins meets there is getting inside that log and getting out again. Getting out again was the trick.

Russell was the first surfer of the day to pull it off and after his first tuberide the rest seemed to come easy. After the first ride, a three-second disappearing act on a seven-foot wave, Naude answered with a shorter version on a slightly smaller wave. Russell took off on the next wave—this one about eight feet—and got locked in for the second time. Naude then got another tuberide that lasted a few moments longer than Russell’s first ride.

All this see-sawing between Russell and Naude, however, was ended by Lopez, who interrupted by riding the best wave of the contest. Lopez, who lives on Maui, took off on about an eight-footer, tucked under the break and came out about five seconds later to the cheers of the spectators on the beach.

The meet then alternated between the tuberides of Lopez and those of Russell. In contrast to the early stages of the contest when the surfers continually had the exit door slammed in their faces Russell and Lopez made the trick consistently in the last half of the heat.

Russell, however, had started his point accumulation earlier and, according to one official, edged Lopez by one tube ride.

Russell picked up $1,500 for the morning's work; Lopez, $750; Naude $300; Richards, $200; Armstrong $150; and Lopes $100. They made the finals through qualifying heats earlier this month The qualifying heals pitted nine "regular" and nine “goofyfoot'* professional surfers. Richards, who surfs with his back to the Pipeline waves, was the only regular-stance surfer to make it to the finals

The event was filmed by ABC for its Wide World of Sports television program, but no date has been set for its presentation

"The Pipeline Masters," by James Jones, SURFER Magazine, May 1977

The Pipeline Masters is an invitational event filmed annually for ABC-TV’s 

 A new rating system based on the results of contests held in all other parts of the world, except Hawaii, in 1976, was developed, and the top nine backsiders from this list were invited to the Pipeline Masters. Nine goofyfooters were then handpicked by the organizers. No switchstance surfers were invited. The contest entry fee was $25.

Besides being the most hollow, most dangerous, and most photographed wave, Pipeline is also one of the most elusive spots for good surf. Preliminaries were held in onshore winds with waves running six- to eight feet. Defending champion Shaun Tomson of South Africa was among those eliminated in the rapidly deteriorating conditions. The contest was then postponed several days until conditions improved.

It was decided to run the finals on an eight-foot day that was not perfect Pipeline, but did improve throughout the day. Although the swell was a bit from the north and often closing out on the end, some good waves were coming through as well. In fact, the good ones that did come through were termed by many as the best ever seen for this event.

Pepe Lopes of Brazil picked one excellent ride, getting deeply into the tube, but then got caught behind several other waves that closed on the end. Pepe finished sixth.

Mike Armstrong from California surfed consistently but did not get as deep in the tube as the other finalists. Army took the number five position.

Mark Richards of Australia, the only backsider to qualify for the final, ripped off many slashing cutbacks under the curl, but never really got locked in, one of the difficulties of surfing backside. Mark took fourth.

Paul Naude of South Africa also picked one of the good waves, getting an excellent tube ride and a few other pretty good rides to take third.

Gerry Lopez of Hawaii got the tube ride of the day, getting farther back than anyone else. He also caught a few of the smaller waves and played with them, sticking his arm or his head in the curl, and finished second.

Rory Russell was totally tuned to the rhythm of the waves and was right in the spot for three excellent tuberides. His timing was right on as he took off behind the peak, drove through the tube, to come flying out on the shoulder with a series of wiggling S-turns. Although a couple of others may have gotten tubes as good as Rory’s, no one got as many as he did. It was his consistency that won it.

1976 Pipeline Masters

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos

Contests