When it comes to seeking the crown at Pipeline it is best to consider getting on the good side of the Queen. Waimea may be the king and Sunset the Grand-Duke, but the lady Pipe wields a glass axe that can snap a board or smash a surfer.

In the flash of an emerald ring, Pipeline can pinch in and crush a tube rider cold in its dark recess, or bend on the coral head and open up to broad sparkling daylight. Pipeline is a fickle lady, and winning the Billabong Pipe Masters is contingent on finding her sweet spots and avoiding her wrath.

Last year Taj Burrow did it by catching Pipe in a playful mood when he could inject all his tricks to win her favour. Can Taj coax the same combination of timing, tuning and tack-sharp body language to seduce her again? All eyes will be on Taj when he takes his dance moves to Oahu.

Everyone will also be watching for the most familiar name in surfing - Kelly Slater - even if he has wrapped up his unprecedented 10th World Title. This could potentially be Slater's last hurrah with the Queen. The 2010 Billabong Pipe Masters may just be a well-deserved victory lap. He's already Pipe's most successful suitor: he owns six Masters Trophies. It's been a long-term affair for Kelly-he won his first in 1992 and his last in 2008. He may woo her again and he may not. Either way, he'll be courting Pipe heavily when the swell starts to pump on the Banzai reef.

Others will be beckoning at her door too: Bede Durbidge, who won her heart in 2007, will be looking to repeat that result with his indefatigable efforts. He's not much of a romantic, but he gets the job done - and that counts. Jordy Smith in firm second place in the ASP rankings would love to prove his strength here, and become the first ‘big man' since Simon Anderson to power-pop Pipe. Youth has always been an attraction to Pipeline - ever since Tommy Carroll's audacious courtship in the Eighties. Another suitor Shane Dorian is an old favorite of the queen. He knows how to court Pipe; he's been to her door many times. He will be at the Billabong Pipe Masters once again this year, always a threat for a shot at the ring.

But in the end, there is no predictability to Pipe: she can be hot and cold, consistent or temperamental, playfully forgiving or lethal as a slamming backdoor. Her mood swings with the tide; her disposition changes like the wind. You can know her well, be one of her favorites and she'll still break your heart - and your board. But as anyone who has experienced it knows, Pipeline has the power to grant you the thrill of your life - and crown you King for a year. Come December we will see who the lucky man is for 2010.