Video: Carissa Moore Surfs Last Heat at Pipeline...in Two-Foot Waves

Carissa Moore, five-time world champion, has surfed her last heat at Pipeline as a full-time competitor ahead of her retirement from the Championship Tour.

On Friday, February 9th, Moore paddled out for the elimination round of the Lexus Pipe Pro. The waves were painfully small and opportunities were limited. After 22 minutes of waiting, Moore finally caught her first wave. Clipped on a doggy-door exit. Then, with one minute remaining, she caught her second. Clamped on a two-foot tube.

A 2.37 heat total, and last place. It was an anticlimactic finish to Moore’s storied career and previous performances at Pipeline, an event she won last year.

Back in January, Moore made her retirement announcement, stating that she will end her competitive career at home in Hawaii at the Lexus Pipe Pro. She will also compete at the Shiseido Tahiti Pro in May, and defend her Olympic gold medal at Teahupo’o, Tahiti during the 2024 Paris Olympics in late July, early August.

Riss wrote:

“Surfing is a part of who I am, and it always will be. This is by no means the end. I’d like to think of this instead as an evolution, the start of the next chapter, a new beginning. The Pipe Pro will be my final event on the Championship Tour. It seems most fitting to finish at home where it all started.”

Related: Carissa Moore Is Retiring at the Top of Her Game; Here’s Why.

What’s next for one of the greats of women’s surfing? Who knows. But she will undoubtedly do it with grace, as she always has.

“I’m learning to trust more in myself, listen to my intuition and lean into my belief,” she continued. “I’ve found that my favorite rides have often come when my heart starts to race a little, there is a tingle of fear, but I paddle over the ledge anyway. This is one of those moments that I can feel the butterflies. The most important lesson surfing has taught me is to commit, paddle hard, let go of the rails and enjoy the ride. Who knows, I might just fly. So that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

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