Note sponsored by Volcom - Cover photo: WSL/Keoki. Surfer: Marco Giorgi

The Volcom Pipe Pro is like the Pipe Masters made for anyone who loves heavy pipes and has the courage to master them. There are surfers in different corners of the planet who are looking to collect points in other tournaments just so they can surf Pipe with three other people in the water.

Of the 36 competitors who participate in the Pipe Masters, sometimes half of them don't know how to surf Pipe, and some don't even want to. In a Volcom Pipe Pro there are 144 of them, 144 of whom are willing to go headfirst into whatever is in front of them and almost all of them know how to surf heavy.

The condensation of the action becomes very interesting; it is not the same to see an event in which the same 36 people go into the water several times in 47 series as it is to see 144 people in 71 series.

For the kind of event it is, there are only 3000 points up for grabs, so why is it so successful that it has an endless waiting list? Because points don't matter, what matters is surfing Pipe, the queen of the waves; what matters is glory in one of the most challenging places on the planet.

There is no way to surf this tournament, there is no way to succeed if there is no risk; there are no safe spots. Defeat is guaranteed if the competitor is going to play a safe game.

Something amazing is always about to happen, and that's why following this event becomes very special.

The waiting period is long enough and the conditions, by magic and because January-February have been having the best days in Pipe, almost always become incredible.

And Pipe is Pipe, it doesn't carry the title of being the queen of the waves for free. Pipe is history, Pipe is risk and Pipe is the most beautiful and most feared wave on the planet. An event with 144 people who love tubes, in the best tube in the world, is always going to be impressive.