Gerry Lopez, also known as Mr. Pipeline. And for good reason. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Gerry Lopez is one of surfing’s most iconic characters. When it comes to Pipeline, his name is synonymous with it. Surfing wouldn’t be what it is today without his contributions, and although nearly everything has changed since his heyday, from the equipment we use to the level of skill, his cool, measured approach to Pipeline will forever be the benchmark for how to surf waves all over the world.
The short clip you see here features Lopez in his prime. During the 1970s, he was, bar none, the guy at the top of the pecking order in a relatively thin lineup. It’s just a small part of a film called Super Sessions, which features Lopez, Larry Bertlemann, Barry Kanaiaupuni, and Jeff Hakman surfing in Hawaii, California, and Australia. It’s a look back at a different time in surfing, when it was still a little more on the fringe. A time when surfers seemed to be a little more devoted. It was harder to live a normal life and be a devoted surfer back then, though.
“If you had the chance and the space that we had back then, then you got to enjoy it,” he told me in 2014. “I had a long affair with the Pipeline. Twenty-five Pipe Masters events. I got to surf against guys that hadn’t even been born when I surfed in my first one. It was a spot that, I guess, I was intimidated with at first, but I got to know it, and eventually became pretty comfortable there.”
The proliferation of work-from-home jobs and far more accurate swell forecasting makes it possible for a surfer to score and still make it into work on time. The days of waiting for weeks on end, fingers crossed and breathe bated, hoping against hope for a swell to arrive, are in the rearview. And while that is indeed a blessing, it made surfing lose something intangible. But Gerry Lopez remembers that intangibility, and he’s lucky to have been in that particular place at that particular time.
