Lau, Walsh advance at Volcom pipe pro

The ocean was a veritable salt-water cauldron of doom that offered up high scores and gnarly wipeouts all day at the Volcom Pipe Pro.

The second heat pitted three Hawaii surfers in Ezekiel Lau, Ian Walsh and Evan Valiere against 17-year-old Italian rookie phenom Leonardo Fioravanti.

The heat started with Lau posting two solid scores right off the bat. Walsh quickly answered by dropping a 9.50 (out of 10) for navigating his way through a hefty wave, which saw him pull in perfectly, then emerge seconds later standing tall.

Then Fioravanti took a late drop into a nasty looking wave, which grabbed him on the way down and took him straight to the bottom. After resurfacing he immediately called for a watercraft assist. Upon reaching the beach, Fioravanti remained motionless with a look of intense pain on his face. He was taken up the beach on a stretcher with a possible back injury.

Valiere made a late charge, catching a nice Pipe wave of his own, but time ticked down before he could catch another quality wave to advance. Lau took the heat, with Walsh coming in second to advance.

"It’s always good to make a heat out here at Pipe and I am glad to get a couple waves and be alive," Lau said.

Mikey Bruneau scored a 9.57 in the last minute of his heat to post the highest-scoring ride of the event thus far. Jamie O’Brien, Dusty Payne and Evan Geiselman were also standouts that advanced to the next round, which will be held on Sunday, surf permitting.