Jeremy Flores, bluetooth tunnel, Tahiti

Day one of the Billabong Pro, Tahiti started off “cloudy and sinister with strong south-east winds that made the wave less than desirable,” says local photog Dom Mosqueira (who shot this). “But, luckily by 9am the winds backed-off enough and the waves started to clean up to create some of what everyone looks to Teahupoo for – barrels. They were tough to make, but it showed the skill of the crew threading them and making it out the other end.”

One of those men was Jeremy Flores, pictured here. He stroked into a west bowl, took off behind the peak and doggy-doored for a 9.57. But, this ain’t it pictured. The wave you see here was a deep, bigger set that Jeremy raced through hands-free, before being swallowed whole and scoring 2.13 for an uncompleted ride. His only other wave was a 1.33. But, he did enough to beat CJ Hobgood and Freddy Patacchia. Cliched as it may be, it’s a real fine line between glory and bust when Chopes ain’t working mechanically.