Bettylou Sakura Johnson has paid her dues with close calls on the World Surf League’s Championship Tour and has witnessed other Hawaii-born women’s surfers prevail a few minutes down the street from her house.
Why not her, and why not now?
The 19-year-old from Haleiwa, a semifinalist at Pipeline the last two years, will take to the waves in the Lexus Pipe Pro in an 18-surfer women’s field that could begin as soon as Wednesday, conditions permitting for the first CT event of 2025.
Since the WSL combined the men’s and women’s Championship Tour schedules into one, Hawaii surfers have won two of the three women’s titles at Pipeline — Moana Jones Wong in 2022 and Carissa Moore in 2023. Caitlin Simmers won it last year as a harbinger for the Californian’s first world championship.
“Honestly it would mean everything to me to add my name on that list, (next to) all the other incredible surfers,” Johnson told Spectrum News in a phone interview Tuesday. “Hearing the name Pipe Masters, it’s the epitome, it’s like a world title in Hawaii — almost equivalent to that I feel like. It would make so much for me to be able to do that. It would make myself proud and my whole crew proud to have that title under my name. That is definitely a huge goal of mine and a dream.”
As she has done in the past, Johnson will lean into her intimate knowledge of the break. She is set to compete in her opening heat against Australia’s Molly Picklum and France’s Vahine Fierro.
With five-time women’s world champion Moore stepping down from competition to start a family and reigning men’s world champion John John Florence announcing he will take a sabbatical for much of 2025, there is greater opportunity for another local surfer to seize the spotlight.
(Florence subsequently accepted a wild card berth to compete at his home break, and eight-time Pipe champion Kelly Slater is also in as a wild card.)
North Shore native Barron Mamiya is the defending men’s champion at Pipeline as he landed a 10-point wave against Florence in last year’s final. He is one of five Hawaii surfers among 34 on the men’s Championship Tour in 2025.
Johnson is one of 17 women on the Championship Tour, and only one of two competing under a Hawaii flag along with Kauai’s Gabriela Bryan — although Kauai’s Tatiana Weston-Webb (Brazil), Oahu’s Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica) and Erin Brooks (Canada) are also local residents.
North Shore native Wong, dubbed the “Queen of Pipeline,” is back in the field as a wild card. She won it in 2022 with similar entry status and outdueled Moore in the final.
Johnson ranked ninth at the end of the 2024 CT circuit, with her most competitive finishes coming at home. She placed third at the Lexus Pipe Pro (falling to Picklum, 15.60 to 15.33 in the semis) and finished second at the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach.
"I was really hoping that I got the score but in the end I didn’t and that just makes me more hungry this time around, for another chance to hopefully get on the podium at Pipe," Johnson said.
She points out that she feels all the comforts of home when she competes here — her own bed, her personal space and her mom’s cooking.
Johnson, an avid gymnast and dirt biker, started surfing at age 6 and graduated to Pipeline at about age 14 once she'd cut her teeth on her home break at Haleiwa.
Her big break came in 2021, when she won the Haleiwa Challenger Series event.
Johnson, who was still considering which surfboard to select from her quiver on Tuesday, has come of age competing in places like Brazil, Australia and Fiji as she prepares to begin her fourth year on the CT, and third as a full-time member.
“I feel more prepared than ever, just because of the previous years learning all the little things that mean so much and that adds so much into the picture into the final end of it all,” she said. “Learning to strive through all the hard times, missing home and the losses and all of that, to have a positive mindset into the next event. I think I did learn a lot from all those years. So, I feel more matured and prepared for this coming year.”
Adding to the weight of Pipeline, Sunset Beach was not included on the CT schedule this year. The competition window runs through Feb. 8. After Pipeline, the CT heads straight to the Middle East for the Surf Abu Dhabi Pro from Feb. 14-16.
Note: Story was updated to include Erin Brooks as another women's surfer on the WSL Championship Tour with Hawaii connections.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.