Gerry Lopez and Jock Sutherland – Talkin’ Pipe Pt. 5

by Gerry Lopez

Jock Sutherland was my first and foremost hero at the Pipeline. It somehow seemed destined that my first time out on a small empty day as a sophomore in high school, Jock would paddle out and give me a key tip on how to surf the difficult place. It would be the beginning of a long friendship and a lot of waves shared.

I found this opportunity to get together with Jock at the Cardiff store to “talk story” about riding Pipe a wonderful experience. To do it in front of over 500 people seemed a little intimidating at first but Jock and I go back so far that it turned out to be very relaxing and quite fun. I think our audience enjoyed the experience as well. Our perspective is unique because we were able to spend a lot of time at the Pipeline before it became so popular and so crowded. In those quiet moments, in spite of the thundering tubes, there is the space to reflect deeply about all that is happening around us and to come to some profound understandings about this thrilling and dangerous surf spot.

Now the Pipeline is a household name, very familiar at least in reputation to anyone in or near the surf world. So whether or not our listeners are going to use any of our little insights or observations about the place, I think it was interesting to have us two old war horses telling how it used to be.

[Visit the Talkin’ Pipe page at Patagonia.com to watch parts 1 – 4.]