By Andrea Swayne
Griffin Colapinto, 17, of San Clemente turned in the top performance at the World Surf League Pipe Pro Junior on March 22 on the North Shore of Oahu.
After spending much of the winter training in Hawaii, his time there paid off in a big way at this event.
“It felt really good,” Griffin said in a post-event WSL interview. “I stayed at the Billabong house all winter long and I surfed out here in all conditions, so I was pretty confident with everything knowing the lineup.”
Dropping the second highest wave score of the event in the final, a 9.40, Griffin had the field comboed early in the heat, leaving Braden Jones (Arroyo Grande), Cody Young (Hawaii) and Ryland Rubens (Pacific Beach) trailing, and then finishing in that order.
Griffin’s 15.40 heat total beat runner-up Jones by a comfortable 4.80-point margin.
“All the boys were dropping big scores all day so I knew it was going to be pretty much whoever got the best waves and the biggest waves, and I found two of the best waves and it was good,” he added.
Looking ahead to the next winter season, Griffin said he will continue to train hard and chase a few ambitious goals: surfing in the Triple Crown, winning a Qualifying Series event and cracking the QS top 50 by the end of the year.
With the amount of talent and dedication Griffin has shown thus far in his career, we believe he’s got a great shot at making his plan a reality.
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