Australians Jack Robinson and Tyler Wright got their World Surf League seasons off to a flying start with dominant performances in round one of the Pipe Pro in Hawaii.
Both surfers have an affinity with the island waves, with Robinson winning the competition at Banzai Pipeline in 2023. Wright was runner-up the same year, and in 2021 won the women's event at nearby Maui.
They both scored the top rides of the day, although the women's competition was cut short with two heats held over, including that of leading Australian Molly Picklum.
West Australian Robinson, who won an Olympic silver medal last year, started with a bang as surfers took to the water after a two-day delay.
With waves between one and two metres on the North Shore of O'ahu, Robinson opened with a barrel that scored 8.00.
Lining up against compatriot Liam O'Brien and Alan Cleland, the first Mexican to compete full-time on the championship tour, Robinson kept busy and added a 5.10 from his seven waves for a convincing win.
Cleland's two-wave total of 8.43 pipped O'Brien's 8.17, sending the Queenslander into the sudden-death round.
"At Pipeline you've trying to be safe and respect the wave," said 27-year-old Robinson.
"It's been a long time I've been coming here, like 16 or 17 years, and every time you go out there you respect it, but that was a beautiful way to start."
Eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater, who came out of competitive retirement to take up a wildcard, was a heat winner, as was reigning world No.1 John John Florence, who announced last week he planned to take the year off after his home-town leg.
Slater, 52, showed he was still one of the best in the business at Pipe, which he last won in 2022, by beating Brazil's world No.2 Italo Ferreira to win the heat.
Of the rest of the Australian brigade in the men's event, fifth-ranked Ethan Ewing finished behind South African Matthew McGillivray but avoided the elimination round.
Rookie George Pittar, who grew up in Vanuatu before moving to Sydney, was top two in his heat, while another newcomer, 21-year-old Joel Vaughan, and veteran Ryan Callinan were third so were headed for sudden-death.
The women followed the men into the water, with Sally Fitzgibbons first in action, but the 34-year-old couldn't match the might of Brazilian duo Tatiana Weston-Webb and Luana Silva.
Isabella Nichols squeaked into second in a heat dictated by world champion Caitlin Simmers, then Wright also booked her third-round berth.
The 30-year-old scored 7.33 for her opening wave, the best of the women's field, then backed it up with a 6.5.
"It's nice to catch some waves," said Wright, from the NSW South Coast.
"I haven't really surfed over a foot at home, and this is a really playful size, you can feel the power of the ocean.
"I feel like this year I'm trying to find that balance of actually enjoying what I'm doing.
"Last year was rough, I was injured a lot, but I feel good and I'm healthy, so I'm enjoying surfing."
