"Today I was just looking toward the Pipe contest," said three-time world champion Andy Irons of Kaua'i. "But in the back of my mind, I'm thinking how big the waves are going to be (today). It could be death-defying."

But Pipeline can offer a death-defying wave at almost any size, so yesterday's first round could not be overlooked.

Florida's Kelly Slater, who owns records of six world championships and five Pipeline Masters championships, was the standout of the day. His two best barrel rides received scores of 9.77 and 9.33 (out of 10).

"This is a great place to have an event when it's like this," Slater said. "It's one of those perfect-size days where it's not real dangerous, but there's still that risk factor."

No surfers were eliminated after yesterday's first round. Instead, the first-round winners were rewarded with a bye in the second round.

The second- and third-place surfers from each heat of the first round will surf again in the elimination second round.

Among the surfers winning heats to advance directly to the third round were Slater, Irons and Sunny Garcia.

"It moves you that much closer to the final," Garcia said. "It's nice to win one round and then get another one out of the way."

Garcia, 34, showed his experience at Pipeline yesterday by patiently waiting for the best waves. He won his heat with a 7.33 ride in the final minute.

"I hope everybody is enjoying the waves today, because this is as good as it gets," he said. "We have perfect surf. Perfect lefts and perfect rights."

Garcia and Irons also remained in contention for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing championship, which is awarded to the best overall surfer in three separate North Shore contests. The Pipeline Masters is the third contest in the Triple Crown.

Garcia, who already owns a record five Triple Crown titles, is in second place in the standings and Irons is third.

Australia's Phillip MacDonald has the Triple Crown lead, but he did not win his heat yesterday and must now surf in the elimination second round.

"It's exciting for me to be part of the chase because there's five or six guys who can win it," Garcia said. "I can't remember a time when so many guys were so close going into the last event."

Other top-scoring barrel rides went to Daniel Wills (9.87), Dean Morrison (9.73 and 9.23), Mark Occhilupo (9.73), Tim Curran (9.70) and Kalani Robb (9.33).

Waves could be too massive today for the Pipeline Masters, but it could be just right for the Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay.

"I'm totally shaken to the core and freaked out about it," Irons said. "It's going to be a little hard to sleep tonight."