At just before 9 am on Saturday morning in Australia, the horn sounded for the third and fourth rounds of the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro. Main Break was pumping: six-to-eight foot faces, blown clean by an offshore breeze. Although there was a tentative plan to run at The Box, the period wasn’t quite right, and the call was made for Main Break.
“We have kept a close eye on the conditions at The Box and have realized it is not as ideal as we first thought,” said WSL Deputy Commissioner Renato Hickel. “The Box is a wave that works best on a short period, large swell. The period today is quite long and is causing the wave to break in the wrong spot. Unfortunately, it isn’t contestable for our athletes so we will move back to Main Break. The good news is that there are some sets in the 10-to-12 foot range at Main Break so regardless of our move, it’s going to be a spectacular day of surfing.”
Hickel was right. As a massive SSW swell filled in, Main Break turned up the volume. As the day progressed, there was a very clear standout: John John Florence. Not far behind him, though, was recently recovered Owen Wright.
Right away, Kelly Slater was dispatched by Jack Freestone. A defeated Slater blamed only himself. “The waves are amazing today and I think maybe I got a bit over-amped and was just going for those bigger ones and trying to get barreled instead of being smart,” he said. “It’s hard not to get over excited when the waves are like this, especially when you haven’t seen waves like this for a while. This is a great event and when it all lines up, it could definitely be one of the best on tour.”
John Florence posted a near-perfect heat total of 19.16 in his heat against Michel Bourez and Conner Coffin.
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