With a monster swell peaking overnight, and backing off just enough make the first reef rideable, contest organizers decided to send the boys out in giant Pipeline today for rounds 2 and 3 of the Volcom Pipeline Pro.

For every insane tube ride, of which there were many, there were at least two horrendous wipeouts, as Pipeline truly showed her teeth today. Not many competitors left the beach without some flesh missing.

Perfect 10s were dropped by Balaram Stack, Dylan Graves, and Dusty Payne, though there were at least a handful more 9-somethings that could have very easily been tens. Massive second reef roll-ins, double-ups, backwash, and the odd backdoor death trap were all on the menu today,

Poor Dusty Payne started the last heat of the day by snapping his board trying to paddle out, and wouldn't catch a wave until there were 5 minutes left on the clock. The wave would be a giant backdoor bomb, expertly threaded for a perfect score, but as luck would have it, Dusty would again get caught inside, unable to get the 3 point ride he needed to advance.

Round 4 is set to go tomorrow, and with a good amount of pulse left in this swell, the contest could very well get the green light again at 7:30 am Hawaiian time.

Video and results to come.. In the meantime check out the photos here.

A fair amount of anticipation has surrounded the kickoff to the Rip Curl Pro Search 2011. Another new venue, a big city, and a surf spot that has it's share of personality.

Ocean Beach is renowned for angry locals, rip currents, sharks, and big winter peaks.

Day 1 would see all of those, except maybe the big winter peaks. Fun sized peaky surf and clean conditions started the day off before the wind shifted sideshore as the swell increased, making for lots and lots of paddling.

The morning started with Joel Parkinson having what he described as a potential heat winning wave taken from him by a local who refused to clear the lineup in Heat One. Local surfers are generally happy to have the world's best ripping apart their local beach. Not in Norcal. Locals up North don't seem to care much for ratings points, heat strategies, or your hipster surf blog. Joel went on to say that at that point he was already having a terrible heat so he wasn't going to complain to the contest director or anything like that.

Hawaiian Dusty Payne encountered a different kind of local in Heat Four. Dusty picked off an inside wave with 6 minutes left. He stonds stark upright, making to effort to surf the wave. He instead looks back over the shoulder and motions to the churning water behind him. Going straight in, despite still being behind in the heat, he is met by beach commentator Shmoo, where he steps in front of the camera, still visibly shaken.

"I've seen plenty of dolphins. That wasn't a dolphin. Biggest fin I've ever seen. Coming right at me."



Eek!

Kelly Slater moved within one heat of clinching his eleventh title by winning his Round One heat today. He will now need to win his Round Three heat to clinch. The champagne is on ice.

Several top seeded aussies fell in the roulette-type conditions at Ocean Beach. Parko, Owen, Mick, Julian, and Kerr all failed to win in Round One. Owen and Joel battled back in Round Two, with the rest yet to surf.

And Dane Reynolds showed up! The Ventura local took a little road trip up North to Frisco for some beers and some duckdives. Dane would finish his first heat one aerial short of victory, and due to deteriorating winds today, he will have to surf the first heat of the day tomorrow. Like most good beer drinkers, Daynolds is typically terrible in early morning heats, so this will be interesting..

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SAN FRANCISCO ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Adam Melling (AUS) 12.50, Taylor Knox (USA) 10.80, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 10.50
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.60, Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.43, Dane Reynolds (USA) 9.00
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.67, John John Florence (HAW) 10.67, Daniel Ross (AUS) 7.00
Heat 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.10, Dusty Payne (HAW) 7.87, Tom Whitaker (AUS) N/S
Heat 5: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.67, Owen Wright (AUS) 6.10, Dillon Perillo (USA) 4.86
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.03, Kai Otton (AUS) 10.90, Dean Brady (AUS) 9.97
Heat 7: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 15.10, Julian Wilson (AUS) 11.43, Tiago Pires (PRT) 9.33
Heat 8: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 16.53, Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.23, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 9.77
Heat 9: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.50, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.10, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 9.77
Heat 10: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 16.40, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 16.33, Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.37
Heat 11: Chris Davidson (AUS) 16.10, Damien Hobgood (USA) 12.26, Mick Fanning (AUS) 11.10
Heat 12: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 11.10, Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.77, Brett Simpson (USA) 9.30

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SAN FRANCISCO ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS) 11.16 def. Dean Brady (AUS) 8.07
Heat 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 8.60 def. Dillon Perillo (USA) 6.50
Heat 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.57 def. Taylor Clark (USA) 8.76
Heat 4: Daniel Ross (AUS) 14.00 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.00

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SAN FRANCISCO REMAINING ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 5: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 7: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 9: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Kai Otton (USA)
Heat 10: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 11: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. John John Florence (HAW)
Heat 12: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)

The world's top surfers gathered this week for the first-ever ASP World Tour competition in San Francisco. They knew they'd have to contend with possible fog, bone-chilling wind and water temperatures.

They did not figure on sharks coming into play, but only four heats into Tuesday's opening round, Hawaii's Dusty Payne was frightened out of the water after spotting what he described as "the biggest fin I've ever seen in my life coming at me."

The surfer assured, "I've seen dolphins and it wasn't a dolphin."

Payne was competing against South Africa's Jordy Smith, who remained in the water long enough to easily win the heat.

[More on the Rip Curl Pro Search in San Francisco]

Lifeguards and rangers patrolled the lineup in an inflatable boat during a brief interruption and as the Rip Curl Search competition resumed. But one Bay Area shark expert questioned the wisdom of holding a surf contest in San Francisco at a time of year when dozens of white sharks are gathered at the Farallon Islands, 25 miles offshore, to fatten up on seals and sea lions.

"You wouldn't hold a blind hop-scotch competition on the interstate freeway. You just wouldn't do it because it's insane," said Patric Douglas, a commercial shark-diving tour operator and CEO of the Shark Diver company. "You could also say it's a middle finger to the white sharks, because it's their habitual range, and the arrogance to assume that nothing is going to go on ... the fact that they saw a fin should have closed that contest out."

San Francisco is within the so-called Red Triangle, which extends from Bodega Bay north of San Francisco to just beyond the Farallon Islands, to just south of Monterey. The triangle is notorious white shark habitat.

On Saturday a surfer was bitten by what is believed to have been a large white shark just north of Monterey. He sustained moderate injuries to his shoulder and neck and the shark tore a 19-inch chunk from his board. Since 1926, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File, there have been four unprovoked attacks off San Francisco, 10 off Marin County and nine off Monterey. The last fatal attack off San Francisco occurred in 1959.

But surfers are a different lot and realize the danger posed by sharks. The Rip Curl competition is being staged at Ocean Beach, where ordinary surfers grace the lineup on a given day, when there are waves.

The ASP World Tour features events in South Africa, Hawaii, Australia, Tahiti and other locations known as being shark haunts. Besides, the implications of the Rip Cur event are huge, as Kelly Slater is trying to clinch his 11th world title.

Most tour surfers have seen sharks, but not massive great whites, which Payne claims to have seen.

[Kelly Slater pays tribute to his fallen rival on the eve of his 11th world title]

When asked about how shark sightings might affect competitions, ASP spokesman Dave Prodan forwarded a rule that explains heats can be stopped when the is "extreme danger potential as decided by a majority of the Contest Director, the ASP Head Judge and Surfer Representative."

Article 106.02 states, "If a Surfer feels they are in danger due to shark or similar creature attack and they leave the water the head judge must stop the heat and use the above procedure [continuous horn blasts] to warn fellow heat surfers, even if the head judge can't see the danger."

That did not happen Tuesday, Prodan explained, because the incident occurred toward the end of the heat and "there wasn't ample time for the [Payne] to advise the contest directors of the situation, so there was no heat stop."

Smith, however, was well aware of what was going on. "I saw his face and he was spooked," Smith said of Payne.

The Rip Curl event will run over the next several days, barring incident.

-- Images showing Dusty Payne (top, in action, and bottom wearing cap) and the contest venue at Ocean Beach are courtesy of ASP/ Cestari/Kirstin

More from GrindTV.com
• How Kelly Slater's goals will shift after his 11th world title
• The latest Northern California shark attack
• Kayaker enjoys incredible encounter with humpback whales

In the long run this may be a war, but today the aerialists won the battle in Santa Cruz.

Due to a lagging South Swell, delays and lulls attempted to sour an otherwise great day of competition at the O'neill Cold Water Classic. Heats 1-12 of the first round were run at the fabled point at Steamer Lane.

The list of heat winners reads more like the Modern Collective cast plus the entire ...Lost/Mayhem team than a typical WQS heat sheet. Mason Ho, Ratboy, Cory Lopez, Kolohe Andino, Nate Yeomans, Davo, Luke Davis, Dusty Payne, Evan Geiselman, Julian WIlson, Wilko, Miguel Pupo. All moving on to Round Two after solid performances in head high rights at the Lane. Innovative surfing: rewarded.

A peaking South Swell should see competition resume tomorrow morning. Watch it here.

O'NEILL COLD WATER CLASSIC ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Mason Ho (HAW) 12.53, Jason Collins (USA) 12.10, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 11.87, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.03
Heat 2: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 12.37, Cory Lopez (USA) 9.20, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 7.24, Brent Dorrington (AUS) 4.83
Heat 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) 16.63, Richard Christie (NZL) 13.90, Michael Dunphy (USA) 9.93, Rudy Palmboom (ZAF) 9.06
Heat 4: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 14.90, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 13.23, Adam Robertson (AUS) 12.07, Sunny Garcia (AUS) 11.87
Heat 5: Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 13.10, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 11.77, Gavin Gillette (HAW) 10.86, Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY) 9.37
Heat 6: Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.94, Hizunome Bettero (BRA) 12.50, Austin Ware (USA) 11.33, Tim Reyes (USA) 10.90
Heat 7: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 15.34, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 9.80, Brian Toth (PRI) 7.17, Roy Powers (HAW) 7.16
Heat 8: Luke Davis (USA) 15.37, Joel Centeio (HAW) 10.60, Alain Riou (PYF) 8.03, Nicholas Squires (AUS) 7.40
Heat 9: Nat Young (USA) 15.27, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 13.30, Heath Joske (AUS) 12.24, Kevin Sullivan (HAW) 7.17
Heat 10: Dusty Payne (HAW) 15.67, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 13.84, Joan Duru (FRA) 11.73, Dale Staples (ZAF) 8.47
Heat 11: Evan Geiselman (USA) 11.50, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 11.07, Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 10.77, Jeronimo Vargas (BRA) 6.66
Heat 12: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.47, Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 13.10, Mitch Crews (AUS) 12.86, Matt Myers (USA) 9.90

With Kelly Slater closing in on his remarkable 11th world title a lot of big ASP tour drama is shifting to the massive race to make it into the Top 32 of the world rankings. With more than ten surfers either in danger, or in the hunt, interesting twists and turns are happening daily.

But a quick look at the world rankings is only half the story, because before surfers can gain any ratings ground, they first must backup any of their Top 8 results that might expire, as each result has a shelf life of exactly 12 months. With that in mind it's important to note that some surfers have much bigger holes to dig out of than others.

Here's a look at who's on the bubble, beginning with number 22 ranked Taylor Knox. After looking closely at the hill each surfer has to climb before any ground can be gained, I took the liberty of predicting the likelihood of them doing so. As you'll see, the current rankings are very fluid indeed.

22. Taylor Knox is 6,636 points shy of replacing the 10,800 points expiring before year's end. Probability: Low. He can't afford any slips, and needs one more solid result just to stay put, so he's in danger despite this ranking.

23. Patrick Gudauskas is 3500 points shy of replacing the 7000 that expire before year's end. Probability: Low. With two world tour events left, he's got work to do. Hello Santa Cruz.

24. Chris Davidson has a whopping 12,058 points that are expiring before year's end and very little in reserves. Probability: Low. But he's already in Round Four at Portugal, which means he's now only 8058 points shy.

25. Travis Logie is 2867 points shy of replacing the 5292 points expiring before year's end. Probability: Good. A win against Adriano de Souza in Round Three would have gone a long way toward getting him out of the hole.

26. Dusty Payne is 4,949 points shy of replacing the 9050 that will expire before year's end. Probability: Good. But if he doesn't get past Parko in Portugal on Tuesday, Payne will need another strong Pipeline finish to hold his ground.

27. CJ Hobgood is only 1750 points shy of replacing the 7050 that are expiring by year's end thanks to his strong reserves. Probability: High. Ceej needs one more quarterfinal in a Prime to stay put. Anything more is gravy.

28. Kai Otton has already backed up what's set to expire by year's end. Probability: High. He has a good chance of moving up from here.

29. Brett Simpson has 258 points shy of replacing the 3550 that expire before year's end.Probability: High. Brett also has a good shot at moving up the ladder.

30. Yadin Nicol has no way of replacing the 4626 points that will expire by year's end, but he will likely get the injury wildcard anyway.

31. Kieren Perrow is 6250 points shy of replacing the 8000 that will expire before year's end. Probability: Very Low. He blew up at Pipe last year. He'll need to do the same this time to survive.

32. Tiago Pires is 1159 points shy of replacing the 3016 that expire by year's end. Probability: High. Although turning lower after his Round Two loss at home in Portugal.

33. John Florence is 1691 points shy of replacing the 3941 that will expire before year's end. Probability: High. Being eligible for three world tour events (including one in his backyard) should help him dig out and climb.

34. Kolohe Andino (below right) is 1137 points shy of replacing the 2057 that will expire by year's end. Probability: Good. One more solid result could put him on tour, and he knows it.

35. Freddy Patacchia has already replaced the 4753 points that will expire by year's end, and then some. Probability: High. Having ripped his way into Round Four, and Hawaii around the corner he's ready to start climbing.

36. Adam Melling is 804 points shy of replacing the 3807 points that will expire by year's end. Probability: High. But after bombing out in Portugal expect to see him at the Prime in Santa Cruz.

37. Dane Reynolds has a whopping 12,500 points to replace before year's end and no motivation to do so. Probability: Very Low: Don't fret, there will be more Yellow Teeth giveaways on his blog.

38. Tanner Gudauskas is 1857 points shy of replacing the 4114 that will expire by year's end Probability: Good. He cant' be counted out being that he's been on a tear lately.

39. Daniel Ross is 3474 points shy of replacing the 7074 that will expire by year's end. Probability: Good. He's a battler with multiple shots. That said, he's got serious ground to make up.

40. William Cardoso is 2177 points shy of replacing the 3503 that will expire before year's end. Probability: Low. But he shouldn't be taken lightly.

41. Thiago Camarao (right) is only 168 points shy of replacing the 868 that will expire by year's end. Probability: High. He's a real threat with a strong chance to climb.

42. Jesse Mendes is 1157 points shy of replacing the 3557 that will expire by year's end. Probability: Good. He still has ground to make up but look out for this kid in 2012.

43. Cory Lopez is 4560 points shy of replacing the 6417 that will expire before year's end. Probability: Low. The odds certainly aren't in his favor, but Cory being Cory and all, he's still a dark horse worth watching.

Upon further examination, the aforementioned surfers fall into one of four categories:
1. On shaky ground: Though currently in qualifying positions, Taylor Knox, Chris Davidson, Patrick Gudauskas, Dusty Payne, and Kieren Perrow are all in danger of sliding fast given the holes they're in.
2. Holding steady: Travis Logie, CJ Hobgood, John Florence, Brett Simpson, Tiago Pires, and Adam Melling each have work to do, but are on solid ground.
3. Clear and present dangers: Freddy Patacchia, Kolohe Andino, Thiago Camarao and William Cardoso are ready to pounce and make the most of their opportunity.
4. Outside looking in: Dane Reynolds, Tanner Gudauskas, Daniel Ross, Jesse Mendes and Cory Lopez are long odds, but well within striking distance.