Trestles Pro 2025: Finals Day

Brilliant Finals Day at Trestles that should once and for all - though probably won't - end all debate about whether Lowers should be a CT stop.

A brief summation of the thinking goes like this: There's only one true justification for the sport's governing body and that is to produce a credible World Champion. A credible World Champ has to excel across the range of disciplines and wave types and heights, from 2 foot to 20 foot. By and large, that has been the case, apart from a handful of notable exceptions - Filipe Toledo being the most high profile and recent example. Although Trestles as a Finals Day venue produced that anomaly, as a standard CT stop it functions perfectly for sorting and exhibiting the avant-garde in high performance small wave surfing. Way more than any other stop on tour.

It performed that function perfectly today, culminating in the best small wave final of recent memory, and possibly the greatest of all time.

Yago (WSL/Sharon)

Eventual winner Yago Dora credited God for supplying the turning point wave of the day for him - a last minute ride in his Quarter-Final with Ethan Ewing. Needing a 6.86 to broach the deficit, Yago went left and launched a tail-high reverse to garner a winning 7.60. That was a template no-one else was able to match, or really even attempt today. Heading left into a slight air wind (more W/SW than the previous days southerly breeze) and boosting, often twice per ride. If a surfer in the draw can do something no other surfer can do or even attempt he or she gets to set the terms of the exchange. The contest is now being effectively conducted on their terms. Which is exactly what happened in the mens final - more on that in a moment.

The remaining two Womens Quarters were not competitive heats. Gabby Bryan had a meltdown against Sawyer Lindblad to log a 5.17 heat total in glassy overhead Trestles, while Caz Marks was only able to log a solitary scoring ride against Bettylou Sakura Jonson. Surfing her 19th heat for the year through seven contests held around the world, it was Marks' first excellent ride for 2025. If I were coach Luke Egan that would be keeping me up at night. Almost ten hours of surfing in front of judges to only log a single excellent ride is not good pro surfing. They are sending her a clear signal, and I'm not sure the message is being received.

Sawyer (WSL/Sharon)

The last hurrah of what I call the surf star era culminated in the Quiksilver Young Guns program. Super yachts in Indo, private helicopters on board, big budget productions etc etc. Kanoa, Leo, Jack Robinson all feted, and had their profiles boosted courtesy of a surf industry with its Last Days Of The Roman Empire largesse. Showered in cash, global travel, and opportunity before they were teenagers. Griff was similarly pumped up by Billabong. Those surfers made up the bulk of the Finals Day combatants on the men's side. Just by contrast, to show how far we are removed from those days, rookie Jackson Bunch showed up to Bells having never surfed it, likewise Joel Vaughan at Trestles.

The Last Surf Stars, plus Yago dominated the Quarters. Griff smoked Joel Vaughan, Jack Robinson pushed past Cole Houshmand, and Kanoa edged out Connor O'Leary. By the end of the Quarters it was obvious a functional if not exceptional air game was going to be required to win the event. Even a full repertoire of turns was now being considered a notch below lofted airs. That will annoy some but I find the argument judges put forth hard to rebut. As performed by Yago Dora the air has to be lofted, has to be tail high and has to be landed clean.

It looks more like snowboarding with its emphasis on hang time than the typical, low-altitude flat spins on end sections that at times have infested pro surfing.

Yago (WSL/Sharon)

No such progression sighted on the women's side. Apart from a perfunctory and forlorn end section air which Caity Simmers failed to execute in a losing performance to Molly Picklum, it was all on the face. Molly's 9.60 was the best wave of the women's event and was enough to get past Caity for her first win in seven encounters leading her to exclaim, “oh my gosh, that was a long time coming”.

Caity hasn't looked interested at Trestles. It seems hard to go back a month and realise she was runner-up at Margs, such has been her form compared to last year. The body language has been inconclusive, she looks over it. But yet, she is coasting on pure talent to second in the world. Possible to do a Slater and pull a sickie for Brazil while rekindling the fire before J-Bay..? Just a thought.

Caity (WSL/Sharon)

I thought Pickles was the best female surfer on Finals Day. She carved harder back against the grain and smashed sections with more authority. However, she was well beaten by Bettylou in the Final. Her win against an imploding Sally Fitz at Burleigh could have been written off as a fluke but there was no denying this performance. She went huge on the biggest wave of the final with two massive turns for an 8 and then shredded the absolute bejesus out of a soft Trestles runner for a 9.

Pickles could not answer either the scoreboard pressure or find the better waves but heads to Rio third in the world, sitting beautifully off the shoulders of the front-runners if she can muster a late-season charge for the finish line.

Bettylou (WSL/Nolan)

Before Bettylou was even out of the water the beach crowd erupted as Yago threw down another massive, inverted air for a 9.53 to start the final. He said afterwards he was dreaming of surfing the Lowers Left after watching it go unloved for years during the Finals Days.

That opening ride lent a sense of manifest destiny to Yago's ascent through the Finals Day. He'd overcome Griff in the Semi-Final with a late left after scoring a 3 for what was the biggest air ever done at Trestles (according to R.K. Slater). A huge, corked out air on a right that Slater termed a “psychotic air” and insisted was a make despite Yago overbalancing on landing and falling on his heels.

Yago (WSL/Sharon)

Kelly also noted, as the surfers were clearly enjoying themselves, as opposed to locked into fierce competition, that if you are “internally inspired and at peace with yourself you do your best surfing”.

That was quite the prophecy for the Final as Yago was clearly treating a thirty-minute session at Trestles with 10,000 points and $USD 80,000 on the line like a casual free surf. He styled out of one air combo before landing on his back and performing an inverted, underwater dying cockroach (or gecko) as claim. This was not a bloke feeling pressure or competing with anger in his heart.

As stated earlier, the air set the terms of the contest and Kanoa refused to accept them, sticking to the face and shredding but unable to get above 8 points. By the time he accepted the inevitable he couldn't quite find the level of aerial expertise required to get the massive numbers required.

Every facet of small wave shredding was performed to the highest degree on Finals Day. The surf star era is over, it appears the fierce competitive era gone with it. Young Guns and fellow travellers surfed with light hearts, Womens winner Bettylou Sakura Jonson summing up the prevailing vibes when she was asked her keys for success: “stay happy and surrounded by your loved ones”.

// STEVE SHEARER

Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Women's Final Results:
1 - Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 17.00
2 - Molly Picklum (AUS) 14.23

Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Men's Final Results:
1 - Yago Dora (BRA) 17.90
2 - Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 16.07

Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Women's Semifinal Results:
HEAT 1:HEAT 1: Molly Picklum (AUS) 16.37 DEF. Caitlin Simmers (USA) 10.84
HEAT 2: Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 16.24 DEF. Sawyer Lindblad (USA) 14.33

Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Men's Semifinal Results:
HEAT 1: Yago Dora (BRA) 17.23 DEF. Griffin Colapinto (USA) 15.20
HEAT 2: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 17.10 DEF. Jack Robinson (AUS) 16.10

Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Women's Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Caitlin Simmers (USA) 12.10 DEF. Erin Brooks (CAN) 11.66
HEAT 2: Molly Picklum (AUS) 12.50 DEF. Lakey Peterson (USA) 11.47
HEAT 3: Sawyer Lindblad (USA) 15.50 DEF. Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 5.17
HEAT 4: Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 17.83 DEF. Caroline Marks (USA) 8.70

Lexus Trestles Pro Presented by Outerknown Men’s Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 16.40 DEF. Joel Vaughan (AUS) 12.17
HEAT 2: Yago Dora (BRA) 15.37 DEF. Ethan Ewing (AUS) 14.63
HEAT 3: Jack Robinson (AUS) 16.27 DEF. Cole Houshmand (USA) 15.94
HEAT 4: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 15.16 DEF. Connor O'Leary (JPN) 13.37