The most striking footage of Pipeline this year came from Eric Sterman, a young videographer from Hawaii who perched cross-legged on the sand with a remote control in his hands as Kelly Slater paddled into a set during the Pipe Masters.

It was a day for the record books on Saturday when perfect surf, blue skies and radical surfing combined into what many were calling the best conditions for a Jim Beam Surftag event in its 13 year history.

"The shark is five metres long, he's stuffed and his name is Frankie. My father caught him in a 3.5 metre dinghy when I was about four years old."