Jordy Smith burns Jules Wilson, La Graviere, France

There’s a new trend – have you noticed it? Lose the heat, then in the dying seconds, when the winner takes off on a wave, burn him. Blatantly drop in on him. Try a throw-away air, do whatevs you want – just make sure you ruin his wave and glean the slightest amount of vengeance. It doesn’t hurt his result and it’ll make you feel a touch better. Harmless. Example one: Hurley Pro, Trestles, quarterfinal number two. Kelly Slater beats Josh Kerr. With seconds remaining Kelly takes off, pumps a small transitional air, races down the line and hucks an ‘oop. Josh appears on the shoulder and, though Kelly laughs about it and smiles at Josh, expecting him to share the joke, Josh walks up the beach without looking at Kelly. It was innocent, but if y’watch closely, also kinda spiteful. Example two:This wasn’t even in the dying moments. With six-and-a-bit minutes remaining in their Quiksilver Pro, France semi-final, Taylor Knox drops-in on Gabriel Medina (who has priority and has already won with a 10 and 9.57). Gabriel, unabashed, puts hands on hips in joking, then jumps to switchfoot. Taylor, who’s always favoured rail surfing, tries an air off the back and comes nowhere near landing it. (The camera then cuts straight to Kelly, who seems to be really enjoying the burn.) Example three: The photo y’see above. With four seconds remaining in the second semi of the Quik Pro, France, Jordy Smith drops-in on Jules Wilson (who’s already won with a 9 and a 9.5). In the previous two examples, the heat-winner has struck some kinda mock-pose and laughed it off, but Jules don’t play like that. Instead, he hammers a turn on Jordy’s wake and sprays the South African, then tries a finner. No animosity, but plenty of cheek.