The pecking order is set. Five surfers — and none from Hawaii — are out to nab the WSL world championship that will be decided in the Billabong Pipe Masters.
The waiting period for the annual season-ender at Pipeline began Sunday and runs through Dec. 20.
Brazil’s Italo Ferreira is in the driver’s seat and ranked No. 1 as the points leader with 51,070.
Two fellow Brazilians — two-time world champion Gabriel Medina (50,005) at No. 2 and Filipe Toledo (49,145) at No. 4 — are also in the chase, as are No. 3 Jordy Smith (49,985) of South Africa and No. 5 Kolohe Andino (44,665) of San Clemente, Calif.
For Andino to take it, the four others would have to make early exits. But for those other four, it’s a better bet, with 1,925 points separating them.
Under the points system, the winner gets 10,000.
After that, 7,800 goes to the runner-up, 6,085 for equal third, 4,785 for equal fifth, 3,320 for equal ninth, and 1,330 for equal 17th.
The higher you finish, the better chance you have of nailing it down.
The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title will also be decided at the Pipe Masters, the third leg of the series. Australia’s Ethan Ewing has the lead after two events.
