Day Two

Day two for the men at the Billabong Rio Pro failed miserably to deliver dream tour conditions, with what can only be described as an inconsistent, closing out and junky swell, the best surfers in the world were sent out anyway to roll the dice. Not a lot happened, except world champ and winner of the last event Mick Fanning got knocked out. That was it really, Mr Consistent was downed and the world kept turning.

Day Three

Into round three, and the waves were bigger, cleaner but still a bit of a rip ridden closeout and it was going to be tough. First heat though hometown favourite and current world number one Gabe Medina got off to a flyer against Travis Logie, an underrated South African.

The heat seemed to be won on that first wave, a solid 8 + ride. Travis chipped away, workman like but whilst Medina backed his eight up with a six, Travis’ best score was a six, it didn’t look good for the birthday boy. The crowd on the beach were in samba mood, Medina was looking good to hold number one spot, until Travis dropped into an impossible section, and got spat out twenty yards down the beach with just fifty seconds left not he clock. It was the tube of the contest so far, and a 9.50, and the world number one joined the world champ in the early exits.

Elsewhere Kolohe Andino continued his run of form, whilst John John Florence lost to friend Sebastien Zeitz. The usual consistent crew of Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson, Adriano De Souza and Kelly Slater all sailed into round four, meaning it is likely one of these guys will be at number one when the contest finishes.

Conditions may have been poor, but it’s poor for everyone, so a contest is still a contest and world title hopefuls Fanning and Medina have to ad this to the throwaway pile and move on to Fiji. Meanwhile the contest is now a day of surfing away from completion, which could well be today. Tune in at www.aspworldtour.com at 11am BST for the morning   show.