These photos are from the 2005 Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters CODE STL Trials. That's way too many words for an event title. I mean, c'mon, we're surfers. We get along just fine saying not much more than “sick” or “heavy”. Sometimes we preempt our rather economical vocabulary with the word “pretty”. As you'll see, some of these photos are “pretty sick”. And really, most things in our world are either “sick” or “heavy”. Like these photos, which are both “sick” and “heavy”. Next year, let's just call it the “Sick and Heavy Pipe Trials”. Much nicer.

Any who, the trialists were charging, as usual, in big WNW Pipeline lefts, with a few Backdoor waves thrown in. The trials are intense to watch because it's basically the Pipeline Posse going to town in their backyard: Guys like Braden Dias, Jason Frederico, Marcus Hickman, Jamie Sterling, Kalani Chapman, Mikey Bruneau and a few dozen other local boys -they basically own Pipe.

As I write this from the SURFER magazine house, I can peer out the window towards Log Cabins, and when I do, more often than not I see Cory Lopez casually standing in a backlit left hand barrel. Pretty cool view. Oh, I'm also watching the Pipeline Masters webcast from my 'office away from the office' and I see Ola Elogram take one on the head after a miffed drop on a huge one. I'm just about 200 yards away from Pipe and I'm watching it on the web. What a wonderfully weird, wired world we live in, eh?

The top four surfers from the trials will make their way into the main event, and as I watch the webcast the announcers are telling me that those four surfers are Makua Rothman, Dustin Barca, Kalani Chapman and Bruno Santos. The main event should start tomorrow, Saturday, December 10th 2005.

It should be noted-- and it may even be obvious-- that I'm not a true professional photographer of the Brewer, Chang, Servais, Divine ilk; but rather just a guy with a camera and a computer. Hope you enjoy my pics. I think they're pretty sick. --Scott Bass - Editor, SURFERmag.com