Wednesday, 15th February 2012, Ehukai Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii – Day one of the 2012 IBA Pipe Pro started off with two Rounds of Women in flawless 4 foot waves at Pipeline and Backdoor. Emma Cobb (AUS) was a standout amongst the ladies, drawing clean lines and negotiating through a long barrels, showing that she deserves a spot in the quarter finals. By mid morning the top 16 Women had been decided as a new Northwest swell started producing a constant flow of bigger sets.

Round 1 and 2 of the Mens got under way in building 4-8 foot offshore waves.
Working his way through the trials and into the main event, Lewy Finnegan (AUS) managed to scoop into a perfect Backdoor barrel, exiting cleanly to earn him the only 10 point ride of the day.
“It was pretty unreal, I was just lucky to get onto that wave, it pretty much did it for me.” Finnegan commented. “To get a 10 in a comp like this…I am pretty happy. I can’t wait for tomorrow to get some big pits.”

Other standouts and heat winners included, Nick Ormerod (AUS), Micah Oh (HAW) Bud Miyamoto (HAW), Tim Hamilton (HAW) and JB Hillen (HAW).

Records were broken as 12 year old Tanner McDaniel (HAW) became the youngest rider ever to compete in the Pipe Challenge main event. Although blitzing his trials heats, McDaniel was unable to keep his momentum in Round 1 and was eliminated by Ruben Quinones (PUR) and Micah Oh (HAW).
During his post heat interview, McDaniel commented: “I got a couple good waves, not the best, but it was so much fun. I am so glad I got to do this.”