Surfing Champions Trophy Recap From Pumping Sultans

The Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy kicked off in fine fashion at flawless four-foot Salzmans this morning with single-fin surfboards the order of the day at the world's most luxurious surfing event. The Surfing Champions Trophy sees competitors battle it out in single-fin, twin-fin and thruster divisions. Start times are staggered from oldest to youngest and in 2023 Joel Parkinson will surf 31-minute heats while Adriano D'Souza will enter the water at the 28-minute mark, Mason Ho a minute later, Koko Ho and Khud Ahmed a minute after that, while Connor Coffin joins the field at the 25-minute mark. While D'Souza needed the first half of his heat to adjust to his equipment, once things clicked he engaged contest animal mode, finding barrels and aggressively attacking the lip to comfortably advance with a 15.5 two-wave total. Ho quickly found her groove atop an XO Koko single-fin, one of many offerings from the new surfboard brand she has founded with shaper Matt Parker. In the second heat of the day Parkinson came up against Ho's brother, renowned Hawaiian free surfer Mason Ho and Californian style master Connor Coffin. Parkinson, already sitting on an 8.5 opener, pulled into a long deep tube backed up by a series of trademark carves on the first wave of the exchange. While Ho threaded the best wave of the heat to lock in an eight before bowing to the gods while kicking out, Adriano's mixture of turns and tubes saw him advance with a pair of sevens. The second semi saw Parkinson put on a tube riding clinic. The opener, a barrel sandwiched between trademark swoops, earned him a 6.5 before Ho had even entered the lineup. The last set of the encounter saw Parkinson take off deep on a boat weight ribbed wave, come from behind the peak and thread the pit to perfection. This resulted in the best wave score of the day, a 9.27 and a front row seat as Ho threw peace signs in the tube on the wave behind. After a slow start, Parko got the ball rolling with a wider wave that didn't look like much off the bat, but ended up a 6.43 as it grew down the line and let Parkinson sink his JS single fin into a series of long strong turns. Adriano found a late consolation 8.43 for a series of wild hacks, but to the victor go the spoils and Parkinson took out the single fin division to light up day one with his Cheshire cat grin. Another perfect Maldivian sunrise set the scene for the second round of the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy to run in non-stop four-foot waves that sold yesterday. In the earlier heats, all of the Surfing Champions Trophy competitors put on a show with Maldivian wildcard Hood Ahmed threading one of the longest tubes of the event on his backhand to lock in an 8.83. Once again, Hawaii's favorite siblings, Mason Ho and Coco Ho threaded tube after tube with style to burn to find themselves in the finals where they lost to Parkinson and D'Souza respectively. While all of the competitors feel fortunate to be enjoying life at the Four Seasons Resort Maldives, Conor Coffin might consider himself slightly outdone by in competition, finding himself one wave short of advancing in both of his heats so far. Although Parkinson got off to a flying start in the final dropping an 8.9 and a 9.63 to leave D'Souza chasing a combination of scores, the Brazilian surfer came roaring back into the picture with a 9.7, the highest score of the event so far for a deep, clean barrel that he backed up with a string of powerful turns. With time running out, D'Souza chasing an 8.83, he found the opportunity he needed and launched into one of the turns of the event in the first section before the wave backed off a little. D'Souza stuck with it and unleashed an arsenal of maneuvers on the inside when the wave stood tall once more, and although he couldn't have done more with the cards he was dealt, the final score came in as an 8.47, agonizingly short of his requirement. Despite the flawless weather, it was raining 8s and 9s in the water with Joel Parkinson walking away victorious over Adrian and D'Souza for a second day running. After competing on single fins and twin fins over the opening rounds, performance levels jumped today as the field reverted to more orthodox thrusters before tearing into three-foot, highly rippable conditions at Sulphur's. World champs Parkinson and D'Souza joined 2021 world number four Conor Coffin in the water for the first heat of the day, and performance levels immediately soared. Parkinson threw away a 7 and an 8 but banked a 9 and an incredible 9.87 for a series of sizzling turns and tubes to lock in an event-high 18.87 two-wave total. D'Souza and Coffin both had 8s, the unlucky Californian somehow finishing third with 15.93 points, narrowly shaded by D'Souza's 17.4 total. In the day's second heat, Maldivian wildcard Hood Ahmed came up against Mason Ho and Coco Ho in the first ever heat between the two siblings. Blood proved thicker than salt water when Coco joined Mason in the lineup for their heat, and he immediately felt obliged to ignore priority and let his younger sister catch the first waves that came their way. Coco's rhythm saw her lead from her opening wave to the final siren and earn a third straight slight in the semi-finals. When Parkinson opened the final with an 8.07 and backed it up before the younger D'Souza had even entered the lineup, a feeling of deja vu came over the event. Although starved of opportunity in the final, D'Souza was happily back on a thruster and philosophical after Parkinson added an 8.83 to put the final beyond doubt. After their powerful performances this week, Parkinson and D'Souza will square off in the event's ultimate heat, and despite the 3-0 scoreline, the winner-takes-all grand final will determine who hosts the Surfing Champions Trophy in 2023. Conditions at Salton's were pumping and pristine once again for the ultimate showdown, a world champ matchup between Joel Parkinson and Adriano D'Souza. Yesterday, the two men swam together with sharks. Today, the two apex predators of the Surfing Champions Trophy met up with prestige, prize money, and oversized novelty checks on the line. After the ocean lay dormant for the entirety of Parkinson's three-minute head start, determined by age, he eventually opened proceedings with a 7 for a string of vicious carves. A few minutes later, D'Souza replied with an 8 of his own, a powerful layback jam on the first section earning the bulk of his points. Parkinson struck back with a 7.27 before D'Souza rode one of the longest waves of the event all the way to the Coral Beach and locked in a 6.57 to regain a narrow lead. Parkinson turned his nose up at the first wave of the next set, and D'Souza went to work on the inside to record a 6.57. After a faultless week of wave choices, nothing changed in the final, and Parkinson's elite ocean reading prowess proved its worth once again as the second wave stood tall, stretched out, and allowed the 2012 world champ to unleash his expansive repertoire. Parkinson had locked in a 9.1 by the time he kicked out and started the long paddle back to the top of the lineup. With D'Souza now in charge of priority, he didn't take long to play his trump card. A wide set saw him work through the gears, build momentum through his turns, and finish on the inside with a big closeout jam to move back into the lead with an 8.07, but there were more twists to come. With less than a minute to go, Parkinson paddled into a long wall and tore into section after section seemingly to take the win, an uncharacteristic claim after his last turn suggesting the Aussie felt the same. After four days of incredible competition, Joel Parkinson today completed a never-before-seen clean sweep of all three rounds in the grand final to claim a thoroughly deserved win at the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy.