The first round belonged to John John. Scratch that: Pipeline belongs to John John. In his heat he caught just three waves, but they were by far the best three of the heat, and his combined score of 18.16 was the highest of Round 1. Neither Matto Wilky nor Mitch Coleborn, high-scoring with a 1.23 and 2.07 respectively, got anywhere near John John’s third highest score, a 7.17.

He was back in the first heat of Round 3, getting the day underway with some extraordinary surfing. First he paddled for the left of an approaching peak, then with his final few strokes changed tack towards the right – and more or less took off right – before at the last moment redirecting left on his way down the face. As if that wasn’t quite enough to be getting on with, he reached behind him for a layback stall in the barrel, notching up a high seven in the process.

He finished off his second wave, a slightly longer if more conventional barrel, by launching into what at first looked like a throwaway air, but began increasingly to resemble a backside air-reverse as he hung high and inverted above the lip. He landed on his feet, but was unable to ride out. His total score of 16.33 was again the highest in the round.

What does not yet belong to the most exciting surfer on tour is a Pipe Masters. He bowed out to Josh Kerr in a low-scoring quarter final for which the waves more or less switched off. He looked genuinely gutted. I’m not sure he did anything particularly wrong; for the second year in a row, he was simply unlucky.