Surveillance on the North Shore is Orwellian. If you pick your nose at Foodland, chances are, an image of your finger jammed up your nostril will appear or already has appeared on some incarnation of an Internet blog.

That’s just the way it is now.

Consequently, it doesn’t take a detective to unearth news at the biggest surf contest in the world: The Billabong Pipeline Masters. When Pipeline’s youngest competitor, sixteen-year-old John John Florence, posts a near-perfect heat, people tend to hear about it. What people may not know, is that the victory was among John John’s first in the entire Triple Crown, where he went winless at both Haleiwa and Sunset.

“At Haleiwa I had a horrible start and at Sunset it was huge all over the place and I had a bad heat again,” said John John Florence. “I was coming here just thinking that I can’t put so much pressure on myself…I surf here literally every single day. And I was kind of nervous because I live here and I feel like I have to do well, but I tried to just think of it as a freesurf. I was just trying to have fun.”

Florence was among several Hawaiian wildcards who fared well in the event, including Andy Irons, Hank Gaskell, and Flynn Novak. “My strategy was just to roll the dice, and pretty much go on anything. Eventually I got one that opened up and luckily towards the end I was able to get a real one at Pipe, because this is the Pipe Masters, right?” said Flynn Novak, who considers himself somewhat of an ambassador for the Hawaiians unable to compete in the event. “Ultimately you’re doing it for yourself, but at the same time I dedicate every single good contest finish that I have to the Hawaiians who can’t do it, because there are a shitload of guys who are better than I am or at the same level that would be doing the same thing if they could.”

While the surf certainly sank a bit when compared with the historic run of swell in days prior, Andy Irons seemed content with conditions, appearing excited to return to the World Tour with his 18-point heat against Drew Courtney.

“I’m just having fun,” said Andy Irons. “I love days like this where it’s a lot of fun; you’re not terrified on the sets. I’m not really worrying about any ratings or the Triple Crown. I just want to go out there and surf good Pipe and have fun. It’s what I look forward to all year.”

With a good chance the contest will run tomorrow morning as a new swell begins to fill in, check back to SurferMag.com for more coverage of the 2009 Billabong Pipeline Masters.

Trust us, we’ll be watching.

REMAINING BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 8: Torrey Meister (HAW) 14.83 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 14.00
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) 16.93 def. Sion Milosky (HAW) 8.37
Heat 10: Chris Ward (USA) 15.50 def. Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 14.66
Heat 11: Flynn Novak (HAW) 14.17 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.84
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 18.90 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 3.24
Heat 13: Gavin Gillette (HAW) 14.20 def. Mick Campbell (AUS) 8.97
Heat 14: Dayyan Neve (AUS) 14.16 def. Tim Boal (FRA) 13.17
Heat 15: Hank Gaskell (HAW) 16.44 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 15.67
Heat 16: Andy Irons (HAW) 18.40 def. Drew Courtney (AUS) 9.74

BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Dean Morrison (AUS)
Heat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Torrey Meister (HAW)
Heat 3: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Andy Irons (HAW)
Heat 4: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. John John Florence (HAW)
Heat 5: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Flynn Novak (HAW)
Heat 6: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)
Heat 7: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. Chris Ward (USA)
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Hank Gaskell (HAW)
Heat 9: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Liam McNamara (HAW)
Heat 10: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 11: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Bruce Irons (HAW)
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)
Heat 13: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Phillip MacDonald (AUS)
Heat 14: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Shane Dorian (HAW)
Heat 15: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Gavin Gillette (HAW)
Heat 16: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)