SURFING: ‘She’s such a guru’ – Pickles’ perfect 10 as the women light up Pipe
Australia’s Molly Picklum whacked on a helmet and scored a perfect 10 at the Pipe Pro. Tough as. An early highlight of the Australian sporting year.
Best press box in the world? Banzai Pipeline. You rock up in your flip-flops and boardies without anyone rolling their eyes because you’re not in a spivvy suit. Your allocated seating is a towel. You take a dip between yarns. Feel the sand between your toes. Work any way the wind blows. Since wi-fi has come along … you can cover an entire Pipe Pro from the comfort and convenience of your beach towel.
I wasn’t at Pipe on Sunday but the World surf League broadcast reminded me of the raw power of that thunderous pocket of Hawaiian ocean. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Taylor Swift – sorry, Patrick Mahomes – takes on the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Monday but before then came the so-called Super Bowl of Surfing. I considered it such a corny, gimmicky slogan – until I covered Pipe. Until I felt and witnessed the bone-rattling explosions of danger, tension and emotion. The breathtaking force of Mother Nature. Good luck to Taylor Swift and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. They might just jag the Pipe Pro of American football.
It’s a cracker. And so is Australia’s 21-year-old Molly Picklum. You’ve gotta be fearless to surf big Pipe. The reef has killed surfers and it will kill some more. It’s a wonder you don’t have to swerve between tombstones. You have a split-second to gun it onto a whopping great wave or back off. Plenty of women on tour still struggle. They throw in the towel and who can blame them? It might be the last thing they ever do.
But here’s Picklum. What a tough chick. She whacked on a helmet on finals day and went. She went hard and she went often. She reached the final of the Pipe Pro, losing it to American Caitlin Simmers, but she won hard-earned respect at the sport’s traditional proving ground on the North Shore of Oahu.
Only a surfer knows the feeling of tackling Pipe. How’s this feel? “Aw, I dunno. It’s so hard to put into words!” Picklum said. “What an opportunity for the women to be out here. It’s been evolving and we were absolutely blessed today to have Pipeline on a day of days. I enjoyed every moment.”
Her nickname is Pickles. Her perfect ten-point ride in the semi-final was a classic. Quick strokes into the teeth of the beast. She’s 165cm and 62kg. The real Pipe is the big left, and she freefell into a big left, and disappeared behind the whitewater that killed and will kill again. She was shot out of the barrel with so much force she nearly finished in the foyer of the Turtle Bay Resort.
Simmers snuck home in the final by 12.66 points to 10.64. And yet Pickles was the standout across the entire event. Asked about her connection with Pipe, she replied: “Aw, I dunno! It just feels like my second home out here. I’m so grateful to all the locals. I feel like they’re really encouraging towards us women. They show us around and show us the spots and they also show us how it’s done. I really don’t know. I’m just really grateful to be in such a challenging wave. It’s like a love-hate relationship but I kind of like that challenge.”
Pickles’ 10 at Pipe. Aw, I dunno, but I reckon it’s an early highlight for the Australian sporting year. She’s tough as a boxer. Free as a bird. The word from colleagues on their real towels at Pipe – the lucky bastards! – was that it was one of the great days of professional women’s surfing. The fairer sex have competed there since 2022 but this was their first time in real Pipe. The 18-year-old Simmers gave the first indication that something was brewing with a ride that had a timeless, significant, unforgettable quality to it. A wave that told the surfing world … this is what the women can do.
She’s just a slip of a thing. Weighing in at 52kg and standing just three apples high at 158cm, looking like a 10-year-old on a skateboard, she slid into a staggeringly beautiful yet large and steep right-hand barrel. When she came out, she looked like a small plastic toy … there was an almost cartoonish quality to it … she received a 9.17 for what was the wave of the day until Picklum came along.
Barron Mamiya beat John John Florence by 16 points to 15.33 in an all-Hawaiian men’s final. Connor O’Leary was the best Australian male as a semi-finalist. Aw, I dunno, I reckon Picklum and Simmers are dipping their toes into a gripping long-term rivalry. Simmers has this rather hilariously laid-back, Californian, could-have-been-on-stage-with-Janis Joplin-at-Woodstock sort of personality.
“Molly’s a great friend,” Simmers said. “She’s such a frickin’ guru out here. I was terrified. Your heart’s racing, it’s really scary, it’s the funnest and craziest thing in the world. One heat at Pipe feels like a month’s worth of experience. I think it’s always been known the girls can surf Pipe but now I hope it’s become really, really clear. Like, Molly got a 10, we’re getting spat out of barrels all day … I’m just really happy to be part of it. Molly’s frickin’ insane. She’s the best girl out here, in my view.”
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