The beauty of a QS event, am I right? 1-2 foot, onshore, mushy, terrible slop that basically nobody wants to surf; Surely nobody wants to watch. Except for me. And Parker Cohn.
I skipped the recap from Saturday (R64 + R32), so we’ll briefly catch up on that before we get into Finals Day down at the WSL Vans Jacks Pro QS4000 presented by 805.
ROUND OF 64
Top seeds finally made their season debut. 32 surfers were seeded straight into this round, and of that 32, 24 made it through to the Round of 32. 75%. A bit of a different story from what we were talking about in prior rounds. If you’ll remember from just the other day, 32 surfers made it out of the Round of 128 – and of those 32, 10 made it out of the Round of 96. 31%. What I am getting at is there is a reason these guys are seeded higher – they surf better. Or they pick better waves. Or have a higher Heat IQ. Something. They make it through more Heats than lower seeded surfers, on a statistical standpoint, as a whole.
Now I don’t know if any of that made sense to you. To me, it helps explain how damn difficult these QS events are, even more so if you are not seeded well. Anyways, standouts from this Round were: Ryan Huckabee, Eeli Timperi, Luke Wyler, Jabe Swierkocki, Josh Burke, Nick Marshall & Taro Watanabe.
Josh Burke and Nick Marshall finally, after 2 full days of competition, cracked the excellent scale – each dropping an 8.0. Marshall by going tail high air reverse, and Burke for a couple of back-to-back finners in a real tight transition. Glad to see the scale moving up.
With top seeds showing up means top seeds going down. Big losses in R64 were: Tyler Gunter, Dane Libby, Nolan Rapoza, Kepa Mendia, Jett Schilling, Cole McCaffray, Titus Santucci, Jhony Corzo and my personal favorite from the first few days, Carl Burger.
Almost a 3 Hour break for the Womens Heats before the next round started up, which I couldn’t make it back down for, unfortunately.
In all fairness I wanted to cover the Ladies side of the draw as well, but I just didn’t have the time in my schedule to stay down there, keep up, and post a recap on it. I do feel bad and I will be better.
ROUND OF 32
I thought the waves were going to be much worse by this point. It was howling wind. I tried to get back down there with the family, but it was too windy and cold for them. My mistake.
Surprisingly, they had little makeshift double-up sections all over, and the inside bar was working a bit. It was basically just a messy small windswell. I thought the East Coast guys would love it. That’s not what happened, results wise, aside from one pleasant surprise, which we’ll talk about in just a minute. Standouts from this round were: Ryan Huckabee, Levi Slawson, Kade Matson, John Mel, Lucas Cassity, Carlos Munoz, and Hayden Rodgers.
And here is where the draw really starts to thin out. Basically every name that falls at this point is a threat to take out the entire event, but notable losses in this round were: Back-to-Back reigning champion Lucca Messinas, Michael Dunphy, Nick Marshall, Sam Reidy & Taro Watanabe.
ROUND OF 16
Back the next morning around 9am and my goodness. If yesterday was tough, I’m not even sure what to call today. Pretty classic QS grind stuff. You know I was fired up to tune in. Not sure how fired up some of the competitors were..
But, guess what? Someone’s got to win. Contest is still on. Someone’s going to get paid and get some valuable points towards qualifying for the Challenger Series next year. Who wants it?
Lucas Owsten and John Mel did not want it. They both lost with 1 wave in their scoreline. Kade Matson almost did the same thing if not for scraping into a wave with under a minute remaining.
John Mel just did not catch a wave until just over 1 minute remaining, and that was always going to be too little too late.
Owsten was in Heat 1, and I’m pretty sure he was just pouting over what he thought should have been an interference call. Kyan Yang was on a left, and he (Owsten) got up closer to the pier to go right. There was no priority established, meaning whichever surfer got to their feet first would have the right of way. I’m not sure if he did get up first or not, it was hard to tell on the broadcast, but he didn’t even force an issue. He kicked out the back of the wave putting his arms in the air, while Yang was finishing a backside slam. He then sat on his board and continued with his hands up in the air, questioning, asking for it. He did not catch another wave. Didn’t know the rules maybe? I’m not sure. He was obviously trying to get some kind of INT call on Kyan Yang, which even if that happened, Owsten wasn’t advancing out of that heat with just 1 wave. Completely threw him out of rhythm, at least that’s what Simpo said.
Speaking of Simpo, my hometown hero, big shout out to him again on the mic. He’s right up there with Paul Evans as one of the great QS commentators I’ve had the pleasure of tuning in to. There was one specific comment I really appreciated; at some point over the weekend someone did a pretty clean air reverse. I think it was John Mel. Anyways, score came in pretty low for what he (Simpo) was expecting, and he goes, “I don’t know how many judges are doing that..”
Epic.
He goes on to say he knows the judging crew and a lot of em do rip. He name dropped a few of em, and I know for sure that Asher Nolan can pop an air reverse better than whatever was just thrown down. Simpo knows that too, he was being cheeky, as he did all week long, and I thought it was fantastic. I can see how it could be misconstrued, but it was great viewing and listening. Shout out to the rest of the guys that I saw up in the tower too – McCabe, Stidham, not sure if Drummy was there. All those guys sincerely rip. It’s what makes me love to work with them and respect them and their opinions so much. End tangent.
Kade Matson, similar to Owsten, he did force an Interference. In a split peak situation, for example what happens at Lowers all the time, he and Carlos Munoz tried to cross each other – Cali looking left towards the pier and Kade going right away – Kade got the upper hand. When this happens, judges will look at the wave from the “center of the peak” and decide if it was predominant left or right, and which surfer was positioned better on the inside for that wave. This was a tricky one as the waves were absolute shit, and you couldn’t see it from the webcast. I saw guys in earlier heats make it around a section and slam the left for a score, namely Kyan Yang and Huckabee. But, a decision had to be made, and I’m guessing Kade had more open face to work with. They could have easily gone double triangles, I think they do a lot down at Lowers. Kade got kind of lucky, but did nothing with that luck. He sat with that 0.50 until under a minute on the clock, as mentioned.
And speaking of Carlos Munoz, he wanted it; he wanted all of the smoke – terrible conditions and all. He got through that heat with the Interference. He beat Kade and Josh Burke with a triangle in his scoreline. Burke was on a roll. That is some shit that fires me up. Good fucking on you Carlos.
Other advancers into the Round of 8: Ryan Huckabee, Kyan Yang, Levi Slawson, Cannon Carr, Greyson Grant, Lucas Cassity and Parker Cohn.
Huckabee really impressed me. Dude is 6’4, and he was the only guy in Heat 1 to make the inside section for a couple of shorey slams, and some bonus points on the shoreline. In his post heat interview he talked about switching to an epoxy board yesterday afternoon. Interesting call, because I’ve always struggled with epoxy in the windy, choppy conditions, but this is what he accredited making those sections to. Simpo made note that Huckabee had “done his homework,” meaning he studied the lineup and knew which waves he was trying to find. Advanced stuff right there.
Levi Slawson looked like he was absolutely cruising. Yesterday in his post heat interviews he was cool, calm, and collected. After watching a lot of these surfers talk throughout this event, this was a clear point of difference. When you hear about someone “looking dangerous”, speaking about their demeanor, I think I now understand. There was an air of nonchalance, but you could not see that in the water. He was fucking ripping, on the backhand specifically.
ROUND OF 8
This was a little confusing to me, as far as the Format goes. R16 was essentially Quarterfinals, as there were 4 Heats of 4.
This Round is kind of like a double Semi, where it’s 2 heats of 4. The top 2 move on to the real Semi’s, where there are 2 heats of Man-on-Man. Anyways.
Ryan Huckabee and Levi Slawson got through the first heat, knocking out Kyan Yang and Cannon Carr, both who were looking solid, and will feel good about this result (5th and 7th, respectively). 1,900 points for 5th and 1,680 for 7th. Keeper results. Shout out to Kyan – guy came from the Round of 128. Great work.
I thought one of these two (Huckabee & Slawson) would take out the event for sure. Both in really sharp form, marquee names, no stranger to the podium. Slawson obviously just won the US Open here last year. Huckabee has a few runner up 2nd places, but he’s never won a QS event yet. It’s coming soon.
Here’s where I was even more confused at the format – shouldn’t these 2 have been split up for the Semi’s? Instead, they had to surf against each other, which we’ll get to next.
Parker Cohn and Lucas Cassity made it out of the next Heat, which I consider the Blue Collar Semi. Blue Collar with a Shiny Button. 33 year old Carlos Munoz is still at it after 15 years of QS event grinding. He could not get to a clean section in this one. He came in 4th, but again, keeper result.
Greyson Grant is a kid I judged a year or two ago. Nobody on the panel had ever heard of him, and I’m pretty sure he dropped two 10’s in the same day. Underground, relatively unknown Nice Guy that fucking rips. Think he’s from San Diego somewhere but he’s got the Swedish flag next to his photo – maybe some ISA thing. Anyway, he came up just short in 3rd, and that result really maybe could have gone either way with Parker Cohn. Greyson had a nice little check snap to a fin throw reverse I thought was pretty clean. That came in 4.63, under Parker Cohn’s two turn combo that had a bit more power in it, 5.07. This was the difference in the Heat, and what turns out, the event.
So yeah, Parker advanced in 2nd, and he was fired up. Can see the gratitude as he rides his last wave in playing defense and knows he’s advanced. Backhand is looking really strong, and he’s getting scores on just about every wave he surfs. He concludes the last of the Blue Collar grinders in this group.
The Shiny Button – Lucas Cassity, this kid is a bit touted. He was just on the CS. Pretty sure he’s gone to the Stab High events. He had a massive air at the very last event of the ‘25 Challenger Series season that had massive qualification implications, keeping Dimitri Poulos off Tour. He is certified. He took this Heat Win nabbing a left hander that he somehow tagged four times. A magic trick. I think he was on some kind of Dark Arts board, and it was working – well.
SEMI FINALS
Levi Slawson vs Ryan Huckabee
5’7 vs 6’4. Levi had the upper hand before they even paddled out. And then he had Ryan combo’d in less than a minute. He found the biggest wave I had seen maybe all day, and even though he missed the turn a little bit, he snags a 5 ranger, which was solid for today. He backed it up immediately with better turns on a smaller wave, similar score. Huckabee sitting on just a 0.50 to Slawson’s 10.83 early.
Ryan had a great use of priority for his first scoring wave – a little inside double up right with really only one small section. He did well to fit his big frame in and kick the tail a bit, all while staying in front of such a weak wave. He leaves that wave to Levi though, and he likely does some kind of big punt. Smart surfing for Huckabee. Unfortunately for him, Levi just found the better waves this heat. About halfway through Levi got another set left and tagged it twice, this time not missing the section, and he dropped a 7.17. Ryan already needed a 5.70, now he’s looking at a 7.54 requirement. Levi goes hunting on the inside under priority, and on his 3rd look he found it; really clean backside reverse, 6.07. Huckabee needs an 8.11. He surfed well on a couple lefts to get a backup number, but he didn’t find the section he needed for a major maneuver, and this was where he bowed out. Levi Slawson into the Final.
Lucas Cassity vs Parker Cohn
Absolute fucking nailbiter here. Back-and-forth, see-saw battle that Parker showed nerves of steel in. Really impressive stuff. Cohn won the first exchange and held the lead for the early stages. I was surprised to see the score come higher for Parker Cohn. Lucas threw a bucket of spray off his first turn, which I also thought was more vertical. That was a major, in my opinion, though he didn’t quite button up the rest of the wave. Parker maybe showed more power. The best wave I could describe it is like when a boxer has heavy hands; Parkers turns pack a punch. Cassity hangs a three turn combo with priority to take the lead around mid-way through. He also sneaks in a flat little backside reverse that didn’t better his situation. Judges deliberated that score for a minute.
Parker sat for almost 14 minutes with priority needing a 4.63. Lucas Cassity was literally paddling circles around him, sitting directly in front of him blocking Cohn’s view out to sea, waving his arms for a situation update – it was a circus show. To be completely honest, after seeing all of that, I was really stoked that Parker got gifted that wave with about 1:40 left on the clock. He smashed it twice, fell on the third, and got a 5.07, onto the Final against Levi.
FINAL
Any person with an interest and a dollar would have thrown two bucks down on Levi Slawson to win this Final. From the first exchange I would have doubled down – before the scores came in. I couldn’t tell you exactly what the judges were seeing and liking so much in Parker’s backhand compared to everyone he was surfing against, but it was apparent even to the commentators. Maybe he was tighter to the pocket? I’m not sure, either way, Cohn wins the opening exchange 4.93 to 4.67. He got a quick inconsequential backup just to add some pressure.
Levi finally found that little right double up section. He popped a clean little tail high air reverse that looked to be complete, but judges deemed incomplete because he didn’t ride out in front of the white wash completely. Those are so tough. Nobody ever understands why it’s not complete, even though it keeps happening again and again. This put a pin in Levi for the time being.
Parker then pins a left twice in the hook and drops the best number to this point – 6.67, leaving Levi needing even better than that, a 6.93. The incomplete definitely shot down his mojo. There were a few falls, and he kept searching, browsing, scratching for that section. He almost found it, he got there just a hair too late and his launch was just off.
Then, he did find it. Under a minute left, under priority, on a wave that looked less than a foot tall – he pumps into the double up, speeds past a section and throws a tail high, open faced reverse and sticks it clean, rides out in front of the white water and stares at the judges, chest out. Huge.
Time ticks out while the score is coming in.
Camera is panning to Gerlach (Parker Cohn’s coach) and his squad looking like they don’t know what to do.
Surely everyone thinks he got the score.
6.17. Under.
Parker Cohn is your 2026 Vans Jacks Pro QS 4000 Presented by 805 Champion.
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield