It's been an all-comers expression session, an invite-only event, there's been years when it's off the tour, years when it's been on, including times it was the title-deciding last event on the CT, there's even been online-only versions, plus it's current iteration as a broad field of invites half of whom are locals.

The many versions of the Pipeline Masters makes for historical confusion - for instance, Slater's magnificent win from two years ago was the Pipeline Pro, not the Masters - yet that's created no lack of lustre on a Pipe Masters trophy. Short of a world title, it's still the one everyone wants.

As mentioned, the current format has a large field - sixty surfers - including many locals, all of whom are invited at the behest of Vans. It's perhaps not the ideal format but with sixty specialists and a leaderboard style of ranking it's simple enough to follow.

This year the waves came and Vans also put together this great highlights package.