And on the third day, Kelly Slater created webcast magic

As you’ll watch above, or probably already saw on the webcast, Kelly Slater scored a perfect 10 at main break Margaret River this afternoon in round three of the Drug Aware Pro. The previous two days, the event’s most exciting moments have been the morning sessions at The Box, followed by some less inspiring big wave directional changes at main break. But Kelly doesn’t do boring. And against Glenn Hall in the last men’s heat of the day, he put away a 9.50 (look at the closing turn under the lip below), and a 10 (the wildly big barrel and huge carve above). “I’ve been coming here since 1993 and that’s probably the best surf I’ve had in a heat,” said Kelly. “There were a lot of good waves out there in the heat. I had three of four chances on good waves. I rode a little bigger board and tried to draw lines out and that’s the biggest adjustment I’ve made, my board.”

But The Box also delivered. The standout was Jay Davies, who beat his second world champ in as many days at the wild old ledge, sending Mick Fanning home with a 13th. Stab spoke at length with Jay about his current form, which you can read over here. But to pluck the most pertinent for our purposes here: “This morning was so glorious. It was champagne hour when I hit the water. It was slow between waves but you could tell when they were coming. You just had to have faith and hope that something was going to come in time. I’ve made a few errors in the last few heats, but I made sure I picked the best waves I could against Mick. I got lucky with priority today.”

The two Hawaiian regular footers, John John Florence and Seabass, both killed again today. While Bass sent Joel Parkinson home, John John looked #flawless in the tube against Adam Melling. Unfairly, Melling happened to score wipeout of the day, an exceptionally rattling experience in itself, let alone while facing one of the least desirable opponents in the draw at The Box. “The Box is one of the most challenging barrels out there,” said John John. “It’s one of the scariest waves I’ve surfed. Some of the waves let you in early if you’re lucky, but then you still have to deal with the steps. There’s a lot of water moving out there so you need to pick the ones when there’s some water on the reef.”

Taj Burrow and Owen Wright were the other two standouts once things moved back to main break. TB, on a very long board suited to very large waves, went in hard off the top on his highest scoring ride and belted the shit out a solid end section, beating Freddy Patacchia with a 15.16 combined total. Owen swung the best backside turn out of the lip that we’ve seen since the tour landed in WA. Simple as that.

If you had to work a double and want a more visually comprehensive experience, then go get at the Heats On Demand.

Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Men’s Round 3 Results:
Heat 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA) *Heat did not surf
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.23 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 10.94
Heat 3: John John Florence (HAW) 15.20 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 6.10
Heat 4: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 14.30 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 7.50
Heat 5: Nat Young (USA) 13.50 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.37
Heat 6: Jay Davies (AUS) 16.83 vs. Mick Fanning (AUS) 13.90
Heat 7: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.60 def. Ricardo Christie (NZL) 4.37
Heat 8: Julian Wilson (AUS) 7.50 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 6.77
Heat 9: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.16 def. Freddy Patacchia Jr. (HAW) 15.04
Heat 10: Josh Kerr (AUS) 14.50 def. Italo Ferreira (BRA) 13.66
Heat 11: Owen Wright (AUS) 16.33 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 12.50
Heat 12: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.50 def. Glenn Hall (IRL) 11.03

Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Men’s Round 4 Match-ups:
Heat 1: Jeremy Florence (FRA), Michel Bourez (PYF), John John Florence (HAW)
Heat 2: Sebastian Zietz (HAW), Nat Young (USA), Jay Davies (AUS)
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Julian Wilson (AUS), Taj Burrow (AUS)
Heat 4: Josh Kerr (AUS), Owen Wright (AUS), Kelly Slater (USA)