The Volcom Pipe Pro surf contest trials started Saturday morning in solid 10- to 12-foot surf detonating on the reef at the Banzai Pipeline.

But by 10:30 a.m., the waves were 15 feet, with a tide surge making the conditions dangerous enough for officials to call off competition for the rest of the day.

The morning, however, was filled with some heroic rides and some gnarly wipeouts.

The day’s top scorer, Kauai’s Stephen Koehne, got a critical injury to his knee on one such wipeout.

"I pulled into the barrel and next thing I knew I just got shot in the knee by my board," Koehne said.

Dr. Leland Dao said it was a serious injury that required 20 stitches or more to three layers: muscle, fascia and skin.

In such big and tricky conditions, many heats were made on one good ride. Young Californian Parker Coffin won his second-round trials heat with a 5.70 total for one tube ride.

Pipeline looked angry, eating up competitors in every heat. Hawaii’s Derek Ho, Tom Dosland, Morgan Faulkner and Mark Healey were among those who took some horrific wipeouts.

David Wassel had a big day. The North Shore lifeguard is renowned for his big-wave charging and his knowledge of water safety.

"It’s huge surf and it’s nonstop," Wassel said. "It’s too much surf for Pipeline now. … We were expecting about an 8-foot swell — it’s double that and still increasing, which makes me wonder how big the swell on Monday is going to be. Good call to call it off. Safety is our No. 1 concern."

Wassel, Koehne, Oliver Kurtz and Mikey Bruneau advanced out of the trials and into the main event.

Volcom Pipe Pro contest officials are expecting the contest to run today with a forecasted decline in swell.