The first day of competition at the Pipeline Masters went down in clean but inconsistent 8 foot waves. The tricky conditions were reflected in the scores: surfers in tune scored very high - John John 18.60, Owen Wright 17.50 - but others barely cracked a point. In fact, four surfers scored a two wave total less than two points.

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These photos by Matt Dunbar.

Michel Bourez shows what's on offer during the morning freesurf - hard off the bottom of a Backdoor double up.

Kai Otton deceptively deep. Otton managed a two wave total of just 1.67 points.

Smiles from Wilko before he paddles out.

Though he had little to grin about in the water racking up just 2.23 points.

Gabriel's steeds lined up for battle.

Board chosen, Gabriel enters the fray.

...and exits in style. Medina had to work hard in a wave-starved heat.

Parko stretches out his back showing no sign of last week's injury. He won his heat and skips to Round 3.

Mick adopts the middle distance stare prior to paddling out.

The psyche up clearly works: Mick easily accounted for Aritz Aranburu and wildcard Makai McNamara.

Slater surfed solidly but was overtaken by a last minute charge by Adam Melling.