The weekend's swell on the East Coast was one to keep the working man happy; it hit Friday, built Saturday to an overnight peak, then tapered slowly on Sunday.

On the eve of the Pipe Masters a clean mid-range swell gave competitors a last chance to fine tune equipment before competition began.

“Go to Mozambique NOW. It's too small for Skeleton Bay and there's nothing of interest at J-Bay.”

Highlights from two days of waves somewhere on the East Coast. A place that demands maximum commitment from the surfers who run the gauntlet between the shallow rock and the double-sucking face.

Sitting in sixth spot on the 'CT rankings and first in the One World system, Julian Wilson had no need to go to Hawaii early and fight for qualification. Following Portugal Jules had an extended break at his Sunshine Coast home, where a lack of swell meant plenty of small wave practice. 

Ryan 'Wanga' Waine and Kerry Langdon Down trade waves at an East Coast reef. The depth of the water betrayed, not only by the shape of the waves, but also by the ever-present boils in the water.

"I was building confidence through each heat," said Ezekiel Lau after his win at Sunset. "It seemed like things were going in my favor and I was just getting the waves I needed at the right time."

Every time we tell tales of sessions that stretched our legropes, we also tend to stretch the truth. So as October started we werenʼt sure how much truth was in the stories we were reading. There were claims starting to emerge that this was going to be the biggest swell to hit Indonesia in several years.

The surf dropped from Saturday's peak, but in exchange for big wave drama, spectators at the World Cup were treated to the top seeds making an entrance and upping the performance levels.