![](\"http:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/imagesnews\/kalani-robb_pipe05tostee_t.jpg\")
\nLive on www.aspworldtour.com and www.billabongpro.com<\/p>\n
[i]Friday 16 December, 2005
\nPipeline, Ehukai Beach, Oahu, Hawaii<\/p>\n
RIP CURL PRO PIPELINE MASTERS
\n(8-20 December)<\/p>\n
\nLive on www.aspworldtour.com and www.billabongpro.com<\/p>\n
The Banzai Pipeline, on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, stole the show today as it turned on deep tube ride after deep tube ride for the competitors in rounds two and three of the Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters. <\/p>\n
In what many have described as being one of the best days ever seen for the event, Pipe consistently pumped at around two to three metres (six to 10 feet) all day despite the wind slightly affecting the wave faces later in the afternoon. [\/i]Surfers revelled in the conditions with five-time event winner and newly crowned Foster\u0092s ASP Men\u0092s World Tour champion Kelly Slater (USA) scoring the highest total heat score of 18.67 out of 20 in heat four of round three, with the soon-to-be-retired Luke Egan (AUS) scoring a 17.73 in round two and defending event champion Jamie O\u0092Brien (HAW) staying on their heels with a combined score of 17.04. <\/p>\n
Overcoming a chest illness he\u0092d been suffering during the past week, Slater was back to his best pulling into what one commentator called \u0093possibly the roundest 10 foot keg seen at Pipe.\u0094 On that particular wave, Slater stood tall behind the curtain as the masses hooted long and loud. When he magically appeared before the wave slammed down on the reef it didn\u0092t take the judges long to award him a 10. <\/p>\n
Slater attributed his win to all the hours he has put in over the years surfing at the famed break.<\/p>\n
\u0093All those years of surfing here all day long paid off in that heat,\u0094 said Slater. \u0093I could see where the waves were going to pop up and I could see where the wedge was going and whether it was going to pit on the reef or on the sandbar.<\/p>\n
\u0093When I got that 10 I had a clean line and I took off pretty deep. It broke on the second reef and I got a little bit of a ramp in and then had to pump to get speed. It almost threw me off and I was kinda partying in there. Then it let me out.\u0094<\/p>\n
Slater who had had a run of second places earlier in the event felt like he was now starting to wind up.<\/p>\n
\u0093I finally got myself in synch in that heat,\u0094 said Slater. \u0093I don\u0092t mind getting a couple of seconds early in the event but as it goes on you want to have some bigger and better performances and not mess around. Hopefully I didn\u0092t use up all my good fortune and I\u0092ll have a few more good heats.\u0094<\/p>\n
Egan, who is set to retire from competition after this event turned back the clock and looked more like a crazed grommet as opposed to a veteran as he launched himself into tube ride after tube ride in both his round two and three heats. <\/p>\n
Egan claimed his motivation to charge into each and every wave was coming not only from him wanting a win to cap off his amazing two decades-plus career but more from the fact that it will be his last opportunity to surf one of his favourite waves with only four guys out. <\/p>\n
“It\u0092s so good to see a big swell come up out of the west for this place,” said Egan beaming after his round two heat. “I don\u0092t do too well at Pipe until it starts looking like this today and I\u0092m just glad that at this tender age of 36 I\u0092ve still got a bit of form in me. This is my kind of spot and this is the last event I\u0092ll ever surf and… well actually it\u0092s the last time I\u0092ll ever surf out here with only three other guys, and that\u0092s the main thing that\u0092s driving me on.\u0094<\/p>\n
Egan went on to finish behind Andy Irons (HAW) in round three. <\/p>\n
O\u0092Brien meanwhile really threw down the challenge to the big guns of the tour when he blasted through to win in front of Mick Fanning (AUS), Tim Reyes (USA) and Fred Patacchia (HAW). <\/p>\n
O\u0092Brien\u0092s local knowledge really came to the fore today as he dropped into a true three metre (10 foot) Pipeline beast with his back facing the wave. He then grabbed his rail and hung on under a huge lip of water as it crashed around him. The wave then sensationally \u0093spat\u0094 or \u0093blew out\u0094 a fine mist of water behind him as he emerged into the channel. <\/p>\n
Up to that point O\u0092Brien was sitting in third in the heat and was looking like he was going to be beaten. After the wave he was raring to go, and wasn\u0092t showing any signs that any pressure he is feeling to maintain his trophy is getting to him.<\/p>\n
\u0093I was kinda deep and I saw it doubling up,\u0094 said O\u0092Brien about his excellent wave. \u0093I got as much speed as I could and just sat in there. It started to spit so hard and I was telling myself \u0091you\u0092ve gotta make it\u0092. I was really stoked after it and really fired up. I\u0092m just taking it heat by heat at the moment. There\u0092s a little bit of pressure, but there are a lot more worse things going on in the world other than hanging out at Pipeline surfing the best waves in the world.\u0094<\/p>\n
Tomorrow\u0092s forecast indicates that Pipeline will again be pumping. The swell is expected to hold out and like today the surface will be oil smooth until a light onshore breeze blows up around lunch time. <\/p>\n
With that in mind we can expect a monumental finish to the Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters and the Foster\u0092s ASP Men\u0092s World Tour. <\/p>\n
The Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters is the third and final event on the Vans Triple Crown Of Surfing and the Foster’s ASP Men’s World Tour.<\/p>\n
Results Round Three:
\nHeat 1:
\n1. Jamie O\u0092Brien (HAW) 17.04; 2. Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.50; 3. Tim Reyes (USA) 13.84; 4. Fred Patacchia (HAW) 8.83
\nHeat 2:
\n1. Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.00; 2. Lee Winkler (AUS) 7.90; 3. Victor Ribas (BRA) 4.17; Bruno Santos (BRA) 1.43
\nHeat 3:
\n1. Cory Lopez (USA) 14.16; 2. Trent Munro (AUS) 5.34; 3. Luke Stedman (AUS) 4.07; 4. Greg Emslie (ZAF) 2.07
\nHeat 4:
\n1. Kelly Slater (USA) 18.67; 2. Kalani Chapman (HAW) 8.56; 3. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 2.40; 4. Danny Wills (AUS) 1.27
\nHeat 5:
\n1. Andy Irons (HAW) 11.00; 2. Luke Egan (AUS) 9.50; 3. Paulo Moura (BRA) 5.83; 4. Makua Rothman (HAW) 4.23
\nHeat 6:
\n1. Nathan Hedge (AUS) 13.00; 2. Tim Curren (USA) 9.16; 3. Jake Paterson (AUS) 8.76; 4. Kalani Robb (HAW) 6.14
\nHeat 7:
\n1. Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 9.67; 2. Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 9.27; 3. Dean Morrison (AUS) 9.17; 4. Phil MacDonald (AUS) 5.17
\nHeat 8:
\n1. Bruce Irons (HAW) 15.84; 2. Sunny Garcia (HAW) 8.24; 3. Shane Beschen (USA) 5.00; 4. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 4.74<\/p>\n
Stay tuned to the live webcast on www.ripcurl.com and www.aspworldtour.com The full heat draw for the quarter finals is also available on the live site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[i]Friday 16 December, 2005 Pipeline, Ehukai Beach, Oahu, Hawaii RIP CURL PRO PIPELINE MASTERS (8-20 December) Live on www.aspworldtour.com and www.billabongpro.com The Banzai Pipeline, on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, stole the show today as it turned on deep tube ride after deep tube ride for the competitors in rounds two and three of … Continue reading “BANZAI PIPELINE STEALS THE SHOW AT THE RIP CURL PRO PIPELINE MASTERS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-surfing-news-archive","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}