Watch: Molly Picklum Scores Perfect 10 In Firing Surf At Pipeline
With the waves firing at Pipeline on finals day of the Pipe Pro, Australia's Molly Picklum picked off the wave of the event. Taking off steep and deep on a flawless eight-foot wave at Pipe, Picklum set her line, grabbed her rail and a few seconds later came flying out behind the spit, hands oh-so stylishly raised in the air. The judges didn't hesitate, awarding her with a perfect 10-point score for the effort.
Picklum has been one of the in-form surfers of the Pipe Pro from her opening heat, where she scored an 8-point ride to cruise to an easy win. She kept rolling in the next round, where she handled U.S. rookie Alyssa Spencer. And in the quarterfinals, she took out France's Johanne Defay.
This set her up with a showdown with North Shore local and rising Championship Tour star Bettylou Sakura Johnson in the semifinals. The surfer from Hawaii jumped out to an early lead, but with the waves firing, Picklum found a gem and turned a lifelong dream into a reality.
One of the most historic, and soon-to-be iconic moments in the history of women's surfing, the wave stands as one of the best ever ridden in competition. Picklum then went on to face 18-year-old Californian Caity Simmers in the final, setting up what some consider to be a preview of the world title race at the end of the year. Simmers eventually took the win, while Picklum got the wave of the day on a monumental day for women's surfing at Pipeline.
Thank You Carissa Moore, The Future Is Now Wide Open
With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.