Kelly Slater, Snapper Rocks, Australia

Yesterday, during round two of the Quiksilver Pro, the waves seemed from the beach to be of a decent standard, but many competitors like Dusty Payne and Kai Otton said conditions were extremely difficult. Dusty said it was the hardest he’s ever had to work in a heat, and Kai said that organisers shouldn’t have run the event. But having had a week of laydays and  with the waiting period running out, there was little choice but to run. Kelly Slater, (pictured here), said himself that he was surprised the heats were run. But once round two finished, as luck would have it, as soon as the call was made that round three would not run and an expression session would instead be sent out, the waves turned on harder than they had all day. Kelly was the standout of the first expression session. This was one of many waves the champ dropped into deep behind the rock.