Dane Reynolds, Back In a Jersey, Lower Trestles

Dane Reynolds returned to competition yesterday, after quite a stint on the couch thanks to a crippled knee. Last year in Hawaii the Venturan tweaked his limb and, after the Billabong Pipeline pro, underwent surgery. His hinge didn’t heal in time for  the Quiksilver Pro, Snapper Rocks, nor the Rip Curl Pro, Bells Beach, but Dane deemed himself ready for competition shortly before the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro, happening now.

Yesterday morning he surfed in a contest jersey for the first time this year and looked to be well-recovered. This FS slob was one of the better moves he torched on the waist-high (if that) Lowers. He placed second to Kekoa Bacalso, beating Conner Coffin and Gony Zubizarreta, but was a little worried about the condition his leg’ll be in for the remainder of the event.

“That was the hardest I’ve pushed it so it might swell up a bit tomorrow,” Dane said. “That was a bit different than my normal routine since I’ve started surfing again. Usually I’ll get a good warm up and go catch a couple of waves and today I was around the contest site all day. There definitely felt like there was less flexibility going.”