After one day of relative relaxation after the madness of the Eddie event we're straight into the Pipe comp... Here's some nugs from Day 1-
From first light it was pretty obvious it was cooking- Billabongs Twitter account was pooping out pics from dawn and it all kicked off at 8. Overlapping heats and a hell of a lot of local trialists to work through (unlike the regulation 4 at every other WT event)...
When the wildcards are guys like Andy here, Brucey, Dorian, Jamie, etc it's not such a bad thing (unless you happen to be a low end WT guy seeking to requalify with a big result. The judges were looking for barrels but there was the odd end section to go to town on...
Dusty Payne may have qualified for the tour next year but he felt the pain in Rd1 as he got Aranburued. Never bet against the Basque in good barrels...
The overlapping heat format is a good thing. No wasted waves. It's not a good thing when you are trying to figure out who the hell wildcards that you don't know are... I think this is Hank Gaskell. Answers on a postcard if it ain't.
The morning session was all about Backdoor, towards lunch things shifted to Pipe legendary local charger Liam McNamara got one of the first good long Pipe kegs of the day... and boy was he happy about it. Did a right good claim he did...
Bruce went both ways in a narrow heat with Reef McIntosh, going through with less than a points lead. Fellow Backdoor guru Sunny Garcia was meant to be in the next overlapping heat but was late and the event director wouldn't let him out. Word is there was some wrestling. That'll be Sunny's Triple Crown shot up in smoke then...
Micky Picon scraped by a firing Manoa Drollet in Rd1 with a total of 10.50, then went away, thought about what he'd done and came back in Rd2 and wiped the floor with Kerrzy with a 19.76 for two awesome long Backdoor kegs (he actually got three but yer only scored on two these days). Highest heat score of the day by a mile. Your naughty photog managed to watch and yet not shoot all three waves in Rd2. This is from Rd1...
Manoa not to bothered about losing after a bunch of waves like this sans the normal fierce crowd of 50+ pros...
Flynn Novak impressed all with a brace of Pipe beauts like this one... He had a bit of snappage on the board front but still went through...
Jon Jon has been surfing Pipe since he was a fetus and it shows. He may not fill a rashy yet but he has got his backyard spot totally wired...
Casual and cool in the pit, frontside or backside... JJ is gonna be one to watch in Rd2...
Jay Thompson didn't go through getting pipped by Mason Ho. This sucks because it means Bots needs to use his WQS spot to requalify- if he had done it through this event then he wouldn't of needed his QS slot and Frenchie Joan Duru woulda been on tour next year... C'est la vie.
Jamie O had a weird heat. He didn't get a wave for the first 35-minutes of his 40-minute heat while opponent Phil Macca got some nice little tubes under his belt. He was waiting for the bomb that never came. He did get one sweet Pipe keg for an 8.50 and needed a 4 but time was not on his side. The claim here when he came out the tube was squarely aimed at who now?
Mid afternoon and Off The Wall enjoyed a heavy freesurf session as a nice sideshow to the main event, don't know who this is but he's in a whole world of pain...
Timmy Reyes was unlucky not to advance against Brucey in Rd2 I think he gets claim of the day for the double hander after this sweet ride...
Shane Backdorian is through to Rd3. Pity the poor bugger that draws him...
Kerrzy has been a stand out whenever Backdoors been on this season, he went down fighting to Micky P with a score that would have won him every other match up in Rd2. Which has to suck, just a little...
After a long day of competition the event finished at 4 and a mad freesurf froth developed. But that's another story...
So there you go. That was Day-1. The forecast is looking good so we should be back on tomorrow and maybe finish on Saturday. Mick surfs in heat 2 of Rd3 and Parko is in heat 15. If Joel goes down Micks champ- simple as that. The big guns come out tomorrow and I reckon we're gonna have a helluva contest on our hands...
