No doubt you have seen the footage from Pipeline’s Black Friday. In a day which saw some of the best Pipe in a long time, it was Nic von Rupp that scored one of the waves of the day. We spoke to Nic just before he bailed from Hawaii to talk us through the session.

We’ve seen some crazy footage of you surfing Pipe on Black Friday, how did that session all go down?
It was weird you know I had been knocked out at Sunset and was pretty bummed and was just going to come home. Then I saw that swell and initially it looked pretty massive. My friend Alby Layer said to come over to surf Jaws, and seeing as I don’t have all that much experience in waves like that I was going to the give that a go. However the swell dropped and the winds looked good, and looked like Pipe could be on, so I hung around to surf and try my luck.
How was the session?
Well I paddled out early it was huge. Like breaking out way past third reef. But to get the good ones at Pipe you have to sit super deep and just wear the roll throughs, especially with a big west swell. So I did that, and went deep and waited but I didn’t get any waves.  I just got hammered by the clean up sets and eventually my leash broke, so I came in and has some breakfast. Around 11 I saw a couple bombs and decided to go back out.
How long did you have to wait?
It was weird that first wave came straight away. It was still super crowded, but a few people had just come in and at Pipe there is only a really small area where you are in the perfect spot. I have been coming to Hawaii for ten years and Pipe has always been my priority and that was the first time I had ever been in that perfect spot and then that sick bomb came. At Pipe its all about timing and I just got lucky with my timing.
Was that your best wave at Pipe?
It’s been my only really proper good wave at Pipe. All those years I have never had one of those second reef sets, so I finally got one.
It only took ten years then.
Yeah, a decade, that’s the way it works at Pipe
And did you get any others?
Yeah I ended up getting three, it happens sometimes you just get on a roll. But that first one, that was the one.
What now?
I’m flying home, going back to Portugal and get ready to chase some swells at home or in Ireland, or wherever really.