Taj Burrow, burning through round 2 at the Billabong Pro, Jeffreys Bay, South Africa

“Inconsistent heats are my biggest fear,” said Taj Burrow after his round two heat at the Billabong Pro, J-Bay. “I Hate them. I like catching waves, I like wave count. It was pretty terrifying sitting out there for so long, you really have to make every wave count.” Although Taj beat local danger and giant-killer Sean Holmes and progressed to the next round, his post-heat sentiments were shared by that of all competitors. Pre-game deliberation saw surfer’s rep Kieren Perrow over-ruled by two ASP reps, with the organisers wanting to run and Kieren opposing due to minimal waves. It’s tough-going when y’got a sorry-looking forecast for the entirety of the waiting period. Due to the long lulls, heat duration was bumped up to 35 minutes but even then, as Taj said, there was some worrying downtime between sets. Fingers’ll remain firmly crossed in all J-Bay camps for a serious pulse in the next few days. As will ours. Check out more of Ryan Miller’s awesome work here.