If Pipe has been a tease, then the ASP has been positively cruel. Since rounds one and two were held in solid but wind-affected and challenging conditions, the waves have been mostly too small and too windy; but on Saturday afternoon Pipe roared into life, producing perhaps the best surf the North Shore has seen so far this season. It was wild and unwieldy, but the potential for entertainment was huge.

The problem was that the contest had been called off for the day, the surf having been deemed “uncontestable”, and so the remaining competitors joined an assortment of Pipe locals and travelling pros in the water for an epic free-surf session instead. The decision not to run heats seemed bizarre, and Kieran Perrow may well come to regret it, although the low scores that predominated in Round 2 put it into some sort of context. We have already pointed you in the direction of Matt Warshaw’s hilarious Beachgrit take on events; now see what “uncontestable” looks like in the above video courtesy of Surfing Magazine.

Here’s another angle of the same session.