Yadin Nicol, blissed-out at Backdoor, Hawaii

The Pipe Masters, which we’ve all been waiting for with totally bated breath, is finally rolling. And with the odd exception of men like Gabs Medina, who owned his round two heat via the Pipeline, it’s kinda been all about Backdoor. Yadin Nicol, pictured here, flexed the rights to his advantage in round against Kahea Hart, locking into this box for an 8.50. You’ll notice the duel heat format is in effect, which makes for some interesting circumstances: “It was fun, it was a shoot out,” says Yades. “There wasn’t that many waves. Actually, when we had priority I don’t think any of us got a score. There was a weird thing going on when we didn’t have priority with Kaimana (Jaquias). He went to first and he was just, like, a deer in the headlights. He didn’t know what to do with priority, he didn’t know whether to go a wave or not. And then, I saw him give a good one to Kahea, and I thought, he must be giving him some Hawaiian love. But, then he didn’t go the next one! And I got an 8.50 on it, and Kahea got an 8.77. So, we both started off pretty good.” Live, here.