You’re aware of the circus on the North Shore right now. It’s been a surprisingly quiet circus, but it’s a circus no less. The swell simply hasn’t shown up–a blessing for the out-of-towners that don’t have a lot of interest in triple overhead Pipe, but a frustrating few days for event organizers.
“It has been tough because this window started off with really nice conditions, but we had no swell,” said WSL Commissioner Kieren Perrow. Today, despite mediocre waves, the Pipe Trials got underway. “We decided not to use that decreasing swell day one, and we’ve turned up today with a lot more swell, which is great.”
Determining the wildcards into the main event, the Pipeline Invitational Trials sees 32 surfers slug it out for two slots. Last year it was Jack Robinson and Jamie O’Brien.
