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Although the swell dropped plenty brah o’night, that’s like saying the temperature inside the volcano’s crater dropped from ten thousand degrees to ninefifty. Still hot. Outer reefs were the the go. I was sitting down by V-land and witnessed all kinds of assaults out da back Between Yards, Phantoms and Revvies there was all kids of surfriding. Skiis, paddle in, it looked from the beach a bit overhead and a bit, but was actually around solid 15ft Hawaiian still. Mike Parsons strolled down with a 10 foot gun and paddled off into oblivion, a good kilometer or so outside Velzyland. At Pipe in the evening, an apprehensive Ace Buchan checked it with his dad and wasn’t all that pleased to see outer bombies still firing au large. Adrian joins a list of Euros who need to step up big time at Pipe if they are to survive on the WCT via non-wildcard methods, although he won’t be surfing in Rd 1.  Meanwhile, Jay Bottle needs to get 5th in order to requalify throught the WCT, thus liberating his WQS spot to Joan Duru.

Meanwhile, the coast here now looks slightly different to what it usually does. This used to be Sunset Beach. The sand usually continues out past the trees and only dips right at the water’s edge. Now there’s a cliff cut under the roots of the trees and not really a beach to speak of. Photo: Me

Last night before dark the crew were (kind of) beavering away furiously to get the event site ready.

BILLABONG PIPELINE MASTERS ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Jihad Khodr (BRA) vs. Gavin Gillette (HAW)
Heat 2: Gabe Kling (USA) vs. Kalani Chapman (HAW)
Heat 3: Andy Irons (HAW) vs. Marcus Hickman (HAW)
Heat 4: Aritz Aranburu (EUK) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 5: Nathaniel Curran (USA) vs. Liam McNamara (HAW)
Heat 6: David Weare (ZAF) vs. Hank Gaskell (HAW)
Heat 7: Bruce Irons (HAW) vs. Reed McIntosh (HAW)
Heat 8: Nic Muscroft (AUS) vs. Sunny Garcia (HAW)
Heat 9: Michael Picon (FRA) vs. Manoa Drollet (PYF)
Heat 10: Shane Dorian (HAW) vs. Kamalei Alexander (HAW)
Heat 11: Dayyan Neve (AUS) vs. Jonah Morgan (HAW)
Heat 12: Luke Stedman (AUS) vs. Flynn Novak (HAW)
Heat 13: Dustin Barca (HAW) vs. Sion Miloski (HAW)
Heat 14: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Danny Fuller (HAW)
Heat 15: Jay Thompson (AUS) vs. Mason Ho (HAW)
Heat 16: Phillip MacDonald (AUS) vs. Jamie O’Brien (HAW)

BILLABONG PIPELINE MASTERS ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 2: Roy Powers (HAW) vs. TBA
Heat 3: Greg Emslie (ZAF) vs. TBA
Heat 4: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) vs. TBA
Heat 5: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 6: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. TBA
Heat 7: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 10: Chris Ward (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. TBA
Heat 12: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. TBA
Heat 13: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 14: Tim Boal (FRA) vs. TBA
Heat 15: Ben Dunn (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 16: Drew Courtney (AUS) vs. TBA

BILLABONG PIPELINE MASTERS ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 3: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 4: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 5: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. TBA
Heat 6: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 7: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. TBA
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 9: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 10: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 11: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. TBA
Heat 13: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 14: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA
Heat 15: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. TBA
Heat 16: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. TBA