Dusty Payne, On the edge, Backdoor, Hawaii

During yesterday’s Billabong Pipe Masters, Dusty Payne surfed a heat against Mick Fanning that would define how he spent 2011. If Dusty won, he’d be back on the dream tour that he’s come to know and love, on with the world’s best surf spots and on with the tour life. If he lost, it’d be back on the ‘QS, slogging away to accumulate enough points for re-qualification.

This photo, shot by Jimmy Wilson, was taken moments before Dusty paddled out to take his future into his own hands.

With 10 minutes remaining, Dusty needed a combined two-wave total of 17.94 out of 20 to overtake Fanning. Dusty scratched into a bomb and raced the tunnel to earn a 9.00. Then for a while, nothing happened. With 20 seconds left, he needed a very solid score. He saw a set coming and tried to suppress all the emotions that could well lead to a mistake. Dusty’s next wave was a 9.87. And just like that, he was back on tour.

Post-heat, Dusty said: “Mick (Fanning) is not a guy you want to draw anywhere in the world. I knew whoever I had was going to be tough and that I just had to make it through the heat. I was out there thinking “this is how you’re going to lose, you’re going to get comboed at your own spot?” Then I got that 9. Then with 20 seconds left there was another one. I got so weak because I knew I had to catch that wave and make it. I was filled with emotions and thought I was off tour, then I saw that last one and knew it was a 9.”