Photo: Cola Bros // YouTube
We’re only two events into the Championship Tour season, but it’s off to a solid start. No small part of that was due to a strong season opener at Pipeline (followed by a swell-bender that’s been producing killer footage even after the Tour left the shores of Hawaii). For another perspective on the beginning of the competitive season, we turn to a new edit from Griffin Colapinto.
The San Clemente native has been in swinging distance of a world title for a while now. After back-to-back, third-place CT finishes, he went into last year’s finals a force to be reckoned with – and a fan favorite for many. Unfortunately, it proved to not be his year, as he failed to win a heat, despite the home court advantage at Lower Trestles.
Going into this season, Griff started off with an inauspicious elimination in the round of 32 at pipe and the round of 16 in Abu Dhabi. It feels like a far cry from the roaring hype train that we saw at the end of last year, but it’s still far too early to count him out. Nobody makes that point better than Colapinto himself, who just posted an edit on the Cola Bros Youtube channel that instantly reminds us all exactly what he’s working with.
The clip has a bit of something for everyone. For one thing, it’s always interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look at life on the tour, especially from one of its most vaunted surfers. There’s also just a lot of smooth surfing in lethal waves, with a pretty funky soundtrack to boot.
