Southern California surfers kicking off pro-contest season reflect on past wins, break, goals ahead ...Middle East

The surfers spent months traveling the world seeking out waves, not for points or wins, but for fun. They spent time at home in Southern California with loved ones and friends, ate at their favorite local eateries and had a chance to reset their bodies and minds.

Now, it’s back to business.

Several Southern California surfers are among the world’s best in Hawaii this week for the Lexus Pipe Pro, which kicked off Wednesday, Jan. 29, the first event of the World Surf League’s 2025 World Tour. The surfers will travel to 11 stops around the globe with an ultimate goal of reaching the Final 5 to compete in Fiji for the world title.

As the new year of intense competition gets underway, local surfers took a moment to reflect on their lessons learned in recent years, their break at home, past performances and chatted about goals for the upcoming year.

San Clemente standout Griffin Colapinto, who clinched a spot among the Final 5 the past two years but has come up just short of a world title, said he’s starting the year with a new perspective – to embrace the highs, but also the challenging moments.

“When adversity does hit, just enjoy it and embrace it,” said Colapinto, now 26. “You know there’s light on the other side of the tunnel … life’s a lot bigger than just winning a contest.”

Winning the Pipe Pro has been a longtime dream, and Colapinto has been calling the North Shore of Oahu a second home. At age 17, he won the prestigious Triple Crown of Surfing, the first Californian to claim the massive feat.

Missing from his side for this first event of the season will be brother Crosby Colapinto, who sustained a broken elbow while training in Hawaii for the start of the season. Following surgery last week, little brother should be back in the water in six to eight weeks.

“I told him all the greatest athletes of all time, all the best athletes to ever live, have gone through serious injury,” Griffin said. “He can use that to make himself stronger. So it sucks now, but in the long run, it’s the best thing for him.”

Longtime friend and fellow San Clemente surfer Cole Houshmand, 24, said he learned a lot in his first year on tour land and is heading into this year with more experience.

“Last year was eye opening in every aspect of the tour, because everything was so fresh and new to me,” Houshmand said. “I’d like to think I adapted pretty well.”

After he won the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach and made the mid-year cut, Houshmand admits to taking his foot off the gas. So this year, he wants to work on consistently making finals through the entire year, he said.

His biggest takeaway – it’s a marathon, not a sprint. And first stop in the race is the Pipe Pro.

“It’s definitely one of the events I most look forward to,” Houshmand said. “And probably one of the scariest ones as well. The waves are gnarly. People get hurt all the time.”

Huntington Beach surfer Kanoa Igarashi said the off season was a good time to reset and prepare for intense months ahead.

While at home, he got to go out to a last dinner with family and friends in what has become a cherished tradition over the years.

“I’m just really excited to represent Orange County, represent Huntington Beach on tour,” he said. “When I came home, it really made me realize how much I missed it.”

After back-to-back Olympic appearances for Team Japan, Igarashi said it feels weird going into the season without that extra level of competition on the line. But with Olympic qualifications off the table, for now, he can focus his energy on the World Title race, he said. Two years ago, he landed a spot in the Final 5.

Now 27, he’s in his ninth year on tour. He said he’s ready to get rid of his “kid mentality,” and embrace that he’s no longer a young guy on tour, but instead a veteran with years of experience.

“I’m just maturing on tour as I go,” he said.

Olympic gold medalist and world champion Caroline Marks, a Florida surfer who has lived in San Clemente the past decade, is ready to put the jersey back on.

The last two years have been the best of her life, so to restart again is an interesting feeling, she said. Other than the goal of winning events, she’s hoping to improve her surfing – and have a lot of fun.

“Just really enjoy every moment – the places I’m in, the people I’m with, and not be too worried about the end result or the next event,” she said.

She said the first surf break on the tour, the Banzai Pipeline, is one of her most challenging venues, not somewhere she feels very comfortable.

“It’s one of the most iconic waves in the world and it’s fun for me to have that challenge,” she said. “It’s a big goal of mine this year to hopefully get some fun waves out there and really take advantage of being in the jersey out there with only one other girl. It’s a really cool opportunity for me, and a really fun challenge.”

Marks joined the World Tour at age 18. Now at 22, she’s one of the more experienced surfers in the field, with a group of youngsters coming up behind her.

“It pushes me a lot, too, because I know all the young girls are really hungry and really want it. And there’s no secret that women’s surfing is just on fire right now,” she said. “It’s just really cool to see and it’s amazing to be a part of and also witness it.”

Among those up-and-comers will be San Clemente’s Bella Kenworthy, who made the cut for this year’s World Tour at just 17 years old. 

Caitlin Simmers, who has earned the moniker the “Pride of Oceanside,” last year won the Pipe Pro, kicking off a rampage through the competitive year that eventually saw her win her first WSL world title at Lower Trestles in September.

Now 19, she has already amassed five World Tour regular season wins – a massive feat considering she just joined the tour in 2023.

During her time off, she found solace outside of the surf, taking camping and backpacking trips to Big Sur and Lake Tahoe, she said, and spending time with friends.

“I wasn’t surfing that much,” she said. “Now, I’m just here surfing and enjoying this island.”

Of all her regular season wins, not including her world championship, the one she’s most proud of was the victory at last year’s Pipe Pro because of the prestige of the dangerous and respected wave, she said.

“It’s a very difficult wave and you have to learn a lot about it before you even can get a good wave there,” she said. “It just felt really good to win there, and I felt very accomplished. But I still don’t think I’ve conquered Pipe, at all. It’s still one of the hardest waves in the world, and I think the more you know about it, the more scared you are about it.”

Inside Pipe’s beefy, death-defying barrel is both the most beautiful and terrifying place to be, she said.

She is also excited about watching women’s surfing talent continue to progress with the athletes even younger than herself joining the world’s best this year.

“I think the future of women’s surfing is in very good hands,” she said. “They’re just going to keep pushing it and keep pushing forward. I’m excited to see that and hopefully be a part of it for a number of more years.”

Brazilian surfer Filipe Toledo, who now calls San Clemente home, won back-to-back world championships in 2022 and 2023 before taking a break from competitive surfing last year, except the Olympics.

“It’s good to be back,” he said. “I’m here to have fun, get in the rhythm and enjoy every stop of the tour.”

Toledo said he’s approaching his career with a new outlook: If he makes it to the Final 5, that would be amazing, if he doesn’t, that’s amazing, too.

During his year off, he was able to step away from the pressure, he said. He got to spend time with his two young kids at his home in San Clemente and do things he’s never been able to because of the rigorous travel schedule, like taking them to school.

He also explored other types of surfing, more for enjoyment, like longboarding with friends at San Onofre. He took surf trips that didn’t revolve around points on tour. He worked on businesses outside of the surf world, including a Hawaii-style poke enterprise he and a partner are bringing to Brazil and a vegan peanut butter snack bar he’s bringing to the U.S. market.

“It was a good year to reset my body, my mind, and come back stronger this year,” he said.

Still, he never stopped training through the year.

“You know, just getting my mind out of all the pressure of competition – it got me to a way better place,” he said. “So I was able to figure that out and put myself back in this situation, but a lot stronger mentally and physically.”

Even though the 29-year-old joined the tour 11 years ago, Toledo said he still has a lot in the tank.  Long-term, he’s eyeing the 2028 Olympics, he added.

“Every year I had fun, it was always my best years,” he said. “That’s what I want to keep doing. We’ve been doing it for so long, everything is so hard already, we gotta turn things around and make things fun again.

“It’s gonna be a good year,” he said.

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